BETTING ESSENTIALS - CC says: "Betting Essentials helps readers understand not just what to look for, but why it matters."
Warren Block's Daily Report - Friday, 29 May 2026
- Jockey-Trainer provincial stats - five states - Spotlight on Grant Buckley
- Matrix day-by-day results for Friday and Saturday racing
- Wizard Freebie - The Wizard Matrix Report
- Wizard Ratings, Raceday, Matrix, and Selectives Results
Jockey-Trainer provincial statistics - five states - Spotlight on Grant Buckley
Today, jockeys in each of the five mainland states who are currently prominent in their state 2025-2026 provincial premiership, with the stats covering the past two years. Note, however, that these stats cover the rider's results in all races, irrespective of location.
The Jockey/Trainer combinations that are included 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.
To add to this weekly insight, here is a Spotlight Profile of Grant Buckley (via ChatGPT, and other sources) which makes for some interesting reading.
Grant Buckley, based in New South Wales, has accumulated over 2,500 winners since his debut in 1990. He has ridden in some 30,000 races throughout his career and has been a stalwart of the provincial and country racing circuits. Over time he became known throughout the industry as Bucko, a rider willing to travel long distances to secure mounts at metropolitan, provincial, and country meetings. Country Punter
Family Background
Grant comes from strong racing pedigree as the son of Clarrie Buckley, a Group 1 winning jockey who enjoyed success in the 1960s and 1970s. In a fitting start to his career, Grant won his first race on Impossible Mission at Hawkesbury in 1990, defeating his father in the process. He is married to Chantelle Buckley, a former jockey, and Sky Racing presenter. johntapp+2
Apprenticeship and Career Development
Grant began his apprenticeship with Gary White at Hawkesbury before transferring to John Holgate's stable. Throughout his career, he has developed a reputation for consistency, riding at least 96 winners annually since 2017/18 and breaking the 100-win mark in five of his past eight seasons. countrypunter
Key Racing Locations
Grant's success spans across New South Wales, having won on 50 different tracks. His most successful provincial venues include Kembla Grange, Newcastle, Hawkesbury, Gosford, and Wyong. He has won the NSW Provincial Jockeys' Championship title multiple times. countrypunter
Successful Trainer Partnerships
During his 33-year career, Grant has enjoyed particularly successful associations with numerous trainers, particularly with Bede Murray and John Morrisey.
Major Wins and Career Highlights
Grant is a 14-time Group and Listed winning jockey with two Group 1 placings. The highlight of his career was his brief but successful association with Private Steer when trained by Lee Curtis. In 2002, he guided Private Steer to victory in the Listed Reginald Allen Quality Handicap (1400m) at Royal Randwick before finishing third on the mare in the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1660m). His first Group 3 victory came in the mid-2000s when he partnered with the Bede Murray-trained Jamberoo to win the 2006 Summer Cup (2400m) at Royal Randwick.
Matrix day-by-day results for Friday and Saturday racing
The tables show the results for the past eight weeks for the day on which racing occurred. So, today being Friday, this Matrix DOW (Day of Week) report covers the past eight Friday and Saturday 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 Freebie - The Wizard Matrix Report
The Wizard publishes on this page one of its Wizard reports or special features, either completely or a part thereof. Today, a Wizard Matrix (First Four) Report for one meeting. The full report and all other reports for all meetings for today are available now for subscribers
The Wizard Matrix report aims to assist subscribers contain the number of bets to manageable proportions and improve the strike rate.
Click here for an explanation of the Wizard Matrix report.
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.)
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