BETTING ESSENTIALS - IM says: "The money management and staking chapter is vital for any success".
Warren Block's Daily Report - Wednesday, 17 June 2026
- The "winningest" trainers report - Spotlight on Todd Pollard
- Wizard Freebie - Wizard Watch report
- Matrix - day by day analysis of Wednesday & Thursday racing
- Wizard Ratings, Raceday, Matrix, and Selectives Results
Australia's "winningest" trainers last week - Spotlight on Todd Pollard
Here is the list of trainers who trained at least a double at any of the Tab meetings last week, along with the jockeys for who rode the winners. This table is colour coded to highlight the outperformers and it is worth noting these stables and the combinations.
A key factor to be considered in selection-making is the stable, and the trainer-jockey combination. The Wizard weekly "winningest" trainer report is a valuable guide as to which stable/trainer and jockey-trainer combination is currently in form.
To add to this weekly insight, we SPOTLIGHT a particular stable and post an in-depth coverage of its record with different riders, over a period of two years.
Here is the Spotlight on Todd Pollard which makes for some interesting reading.
The Jockey/Trainer combinations that are included here are based on the following criteria: The Jockey/Trainer combination is listed when a jockey's record shows at least 2 wins when riding the Wizard top-rater, or at least 3 wins when riding the race favourite, or 4 wins if the runner is in the $2.00 to $5.90 odds range, for that stable. Also included are the overall percentage stats for the jockey when riding a Wizard top rater or race favourite, for any stable. Note, that these stats cover the rider's results in all races, irrespective of location.
Todd Pollard is a New Zealand-born horseman now training in his own right in Queensland, with a background that spans an elite international thoroughbred training program and leading stables, here and overseas. anzbloodstocknews
Early life and family background
Todd Pollard was born in Matamata, New Zealand, and his extended family had an involvement in the breeding side of the industry. A mix of family background in breeding thoroughbreds and proximity to racing in Matamata ignited his ambition, and by age of 12 he had an afterschool job with local trainer Graham Richardson, an experience that convinced him he wanted to become a trainer himself. ttrausnz.com
Education and formative industry experience
Alongside his early stable work, Todd completed a Bachelor of Commerce at Massey University, giving him a commercial grounding that complements his practical horsemanship. He then secured a place on the prestigious Godolphin Flying Start program in 2016, gaining global exposure to leading trainers and operations in Europe, the United States and Australia. During that time he worked with trainers such as Roger Varian in the UK, Phil DAmato in California and Bjorn Baker in Sydney, broadening his understanding of different training systems, facilities and placement strategies. After Flying Start, Todd returned to New Zealand as Racing Manager for trainer Stephen Marsh. A chance conversation with bloodstock agent Andrew Williams then led to his recruitment as assistant trainer to Annabel Neasham, initially at Warwick Farm in Sydney and later to head the Queensland satellite stable. ttrausnz.com toddpollardracing.com
Stable location and launch of Todd Pollard Racing
In February 2026 Todd launched his own operation, Todd Pollard Racing, based at Eagle Farm. From Eagle Farm he has access to highquality training surfaces, metropolitan racing and major provincial circuits. His early runners made an impact, with reports noting that he recorded his first winner as a trainer in his own right with just his second runner.
Jockey associations and key early wins
While Todd is at the beginning of his career as a licensed trainer in his own name, his previous role managing Annabel Neasham's Queensland team brought him into close working relationships with top riders. As his own team develops at Eagle Farm, he is expected to continue leveraging those existing relationships with senior Queensland and interstate jockeys. Currently Ben Thompson is the best performer for the stable. However, it is worth noting the jockeys he favoured when he was heading the Neasham/Archibald Brisbane operation, and the following stats illustrate those connections. facebook
Most Important Win So Far
Because his independent training career only commenced early this year, Todd is in the initial stages of on-track success. However, his breakthrough Group winner has landed already, with Midnight In Tokyo winning the Listed Hinkler Handicap at Eagle Farm last Saturday.
Training philosophy, preparation and race placement
Todd's training philosophy has been shaped by his grounding in Matamata, his time in elite international programs and his management of highclass horses in Australia and New Zealand. Interviews emphasise that he enjoys watching horses progress from their arrival in the stable through to race day, suggesting a patient, developmentfocused approach. The Godolphin Flying Start experience, combined with his work under Stephen Marsh and Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald, exposed him to datadriven placement, careful spacing of runs and targeted use of carnivals, principles he now brings to his own programming and campaign planning. racingqueensland.com
Sources
(If you would like to see a particular trainer profiled in SPOTLIGHT let me know via Everyrace Support contact.)
Wizard Freebie - Wizard Watch report
The aim of the Wizard Watch report is to highlight on race-morning which horses have been the most significant firmers overnight and earlier on race-morning. This Wizard freebie is an extract of this report featuring some of the venues being covered today. The full report is available with the other Wizard "market sensitive" reports at 10:30am each day.
Wizard monitors race morning market trends over the first 3 hours of race day betting to determine which horses are anticipated to run above earlier pre-post expectations and which horses have had their higher probabilities confirmed.
Given the significance of this early/informed market action, the odds about the Wizard Watch Morning Movers naturally skew towards the shorter odds, but this is compensated by the strike rate. Double figure odds about successful Market Movers are rare, but each-way odds winners are backable.
Click here for an explanation of Wizard Watch.
As well as Wizard Watch runners populating its "stand-alone" element of Wizard, Watch qualifiers are also highlighted in Wizard's unique Matrix Report. When these Watch qualifiers are also a WRat 100 pointer or a MaxR 100 pointer in Matrix they tend to out-perform on a consistent basis.
Matrix - day by day analysis of Wednesday & Thursday racing
The tables show the results for the past eight weeks for the day on which racing occurred. So, today being Wednesday, this Matrix DOW (Day of Week) report covers the past eight Wednesday and Thursday results. The day-after results are included so that they are available on race-eve, rather than only on race morning.
(The daily Matrix report aims to assist subscribers contain the number of bets to manageable proportions and improve the strike rate. The report is posted to our website between 10:30am and 10:45am each day with an update at 12 noon.)
Wizard Ratings, Raceday, Matrix, and Selectives results
We publish these full results daily so that subscribers can see the results of the Wizard's ratings options, and Report-content, and thereby formulate a selecting and betting strategy that suits them individually. The Wizard ratings should not be seen as "tips", rather as objective assessments that can be used to inform one's own judgement as to the relative chances of the runners in a race.
The full day-by-day results for Wizard (Wrat) top 4 rated runners, the Raceday Qualifier, and the Matrix (MaxR) 100 pointer, the MaxR top-two, the What-IF top-two Filtered, together with the Matrix W1+MaxR100 Selective qualifier, and the Matrix W1+*EO+MaxR100 Selective qualifier. Also included are the overall results for last week and the last four weeks. The 2024-2025 column shows the WRat results for the full racing season.
This results summary is colour coded so that it is easier for readers to track the relative performance of the Top Rated (blue) and Top-Two Rated (green) ratings options on a daily, and longer term, basis. The best overall qualifier (yellow) is highlighted. Also, the single runner options are grouped separately, as are the two-horse and multi-horse options results, again to make comparisons easier.
The following table shows this week's results of alternative options with respect to possible Matrix Selectives combinations, as well as weekly summaries. These combinations are accessible via the Wizard MATRIX report which is posted to our website between 10:30am and 10:45am each day.
(Key: The first of the two columns for each Selective combination shows number of qualifying races and the second column shows the strike rate. Headings: RWM is Raceday,Watch,Magic, RWM 2/3 means two or three qualifying, Rday is Raceday report qualifier , Magic is Magic report qualifier, R/M is Raceday and Magic, WR1 is Wrat 100, MR1 is MaxR 100, Watch is a Watch report qualifier.)
The following table shows where the winner of each race run yesterday was rated by WRat, WMod, WHcp, and WExpk and was the qualifier in the Wizard Raceday Report. (Note: The Wrat [W] winner results report on both the top rated and top-two rated winners.) The Raceday Report winners under the Top Rated column are from those races where there was only one Raceday qualifier, and under the Top 2 Rated on the rare occasions where there were two qualifiers in a race.
Header: WMHER = WRat (W), WMod (M), WHcp (H), WExpk (E), Raceday (R).
For a full explanation of the table click: How to read the Wizard Ratings Results