Mike de Kock could well be the most prolific trainer in South African history and in this past season he went past the 3,500 wins in South Africa mark.
He took out his own license during the 1988/1989 season and according to the National Horseracing Authorities database he has had 3540 wins in South Africa from 01/08/1989 to date.
However, he did start the previous season and had a few winners then, including Evening Mist giving him his first Gr 1 winner in April 1989 in the Administrator’s Champion Stakes.
His most prolific overseas venue has been the UAE.
On the emiratesracing.com website it lists him as having had 186 wins out there.
That takes him up to 3726 wins overall, plus the few in the 1988/1989 season in SA and he has had a few from other countries around the world.
Between 3750 and 3780 should be the total tally.
He had 78 wins in SA this past season, so the exact number of wins he has had worldwide should be calculated and put out there, so there can be fanfare if and when he is able to reach the 4000 win milestone.
At his current rate it could happen in the next two or three seasons.
Justin Snaith should reach 3500 wins this season.
His first win was in August 2000 and the NHA database shows him to have had 3,397 wins.
He has never had a winner overseas, so that 3.397 is his career total and it means he has achieved an incredible strike rate of just over 141 wins per season.
He could soon catch Mike de Kock as the most prolific winner in South African history, although he will be hard pressed to reach 4000 total career wins before the legendary De Kock, even if he breaks his record of 208 wins in a season in the next couple of terms.
Justin has trained for 24 seasons in all and in only the first two and the fourth season did he fail to reach 100 wins.
The table below shows his seasonal breakdown:
Alan Greeff is not far behind Justin. His first season was in 1995/1996. meaning he has been going for 29 seasons and his 3,260 wins have come at an average of just over 112 per season.
Gavin Smith is next best on 2893 wins. His first season was 1996/1997, meaning he has been going for 28 seasons and averages just over 103 wins per season.
Sean Tarry is next in line and has had 2,648 wins in South Africa. His first season was also 1996/1997 and in his 28 seasons he has averaged close to 95 wins per season with a high of 215 in the 2016/2017 season.
Tarry is the only one of these five mentioned who started from scratch. He had three wins in his first season and nine in his second. He is now a five times national champion trainer and his success story is probably the most remarkable of all.
