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Warren Block's Daily Report - Wednesday, 1 July 2026
- The "winningest" trainers report - Spotlight on Brad Widdup
- 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 Brad Widdup
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.
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.
Here is the Spotlight on Brad Widdup which makes for some interesting reading.
Brad Widdup is based at Hawkesbury. Brad has been around horses since a very early age and transitioned into the training ranks after an unusually thorough grounding with some of the best trainers in the business. bradwiddupracing.com]
Background and Family in Racing
Brad grew up in Albury, is the son of trainer Pat Widdup, and was involved with horses from an early age through his father's stable. This family background gave him a practical education in stable work and race preparation long before he became a licensed trainer. Before training in his own right, Brad, over a period of more than twenty years, worked first with his father, and then with mentors such as Guy Walter, Peter Snowden and John O'Shea (Godolphin). barastochorse.com johntapp
Stable Location and Facilities
Brad's stable, Brad Widdup Racing, is situated directly behind Hawkesbury racecourse. The complex, provides for some 70 boxes. The business is described as a familyrun stable with a strong emphasis on performance and animal welfare, and the operation has expanded to include Fernleigh @ Brad Widdup Racing in the Richmond Lowlands, a dedicated spelling and rehabilitation facility designed to manage horses' recovery and longterm soundness. bradwiddupracing.com
Jockeys Most Successful with the Stable
Brad has a record of success with both established and younger riders. Christian Reith has long been part of the stable's success, and rode Brad's first ever winner, Junglized at Canberra in 2017, and was aboard both Afloat and Tequisoda when Brad sealed his first Hawkesbury trainers' premiership. Other jockeys who have delivered for the stable over the past two years include Tyler Schiller, Alysha Collett, and Tommy Berry. Also, from the younger brigade there is Mitch Stapleford who has been prominent recently. bradwiddupracing.com hawkesburyraceclub.com
Major Wins and Training Record
Since saddling his first winner in 2017, Brad has trained around 400 winners, and that includes multiple Group and Listed race winners. Brad's breakthrough performer was Icebath who won The Invitation in 2021 (worth $2 million at the time) and the 2022 Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington when ridden by Craig Williams. In the current 2025-2026 season Brad ranks 13th in the NSW Overall Trainer Premiership, and 2nd in the Provincial Premiership, with a provincial strike rate of 15.6%.
Training, Preparation and Horse Placement
Brad's operation emphasises horse welfare and sports science. The availability of his Fernleigh spelling and rehabilitation facility allows for a planned program in which horses cycle between intense preparation and managed rest and recovery, which improves horse longevity and consistency. His Hawkesbury base allows him to place horses strategically across provincial and metropolitan circuits as he is relatively close to the major Sydney tracks. johntapp instagram
Other RacingRelated Activities
The familyrun nature of Brad Widdup Racing and its integration with Hawkesbury Race Club has positioned him as a local industry stakeholder who contributes to the region's racing. bradwiddupracing.com]
Sources include:
(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