Trainer Joe Pride begins every racing season in the same predictable manner: with a blank whiteboard, two substantial targets, and a high degree of optimism.
Two straightforward headings are displayed in the trainer’s office: ‘metro wins’ and ‘feature wins’. Each is accompanied by a target number, goals that Pride readily admits are intentionally difficult to reach.
For the 2025/26 season, Pride established the ambitious target of 60 metropolitan victories, a figure that ultimately proved just shy of his reach.
“I never meet the targets because I set myself lofty targets for each one,” Pride stated. “The target was sixty metro wins. I count the interstate ones as well, and we got forty-four or forty-five, which is a good season.”
The second part of the whiteboard tracks stakes winners by name. Pride had set himself a goal of 18 black-type winners and feels he came closer than many give him credit for.
“I had (a goal of) eighteen stakes winners. There are sixteen on my board. Everyone tells me it’s fifteen, but the Alan Brown is a black type race. It wasn’t last year, but I’ve counted it,” Pride remarked.
After training a winner at the final Sydney metropolitan meeting of the season on Wednesday, Pride updated the final tally, took a photo for posterity, and, with some reluctance, wiped the board clean.
It did not stay empty for long.
Two fresh headings and two new targets are already in place as Pride looks to make the perfect start to the 2026/27 season at Rosehill on Saturday.
While there are no feature races on the program, Pride believes Zouripper is his leading chance in the Congratulations James McDonald Handicap (1100m).
Fittingly, champion jockey James McDonald will partner the gelding in the race named in honour of his Sydney jockeys’ premiership success.
Zouripper is backing up after finishing a solid third behind Hawker Hall at Randwick last week, and Pride is confident the quick turnaround will suit.
“I ran him ten days after his first run and he ran well again, so hopefully he can do it,” Pride explained. “He’s racing really honestly and with a lot of determination.”
Pride will also saddle Aberlour and Gatsby’s in the NSW Jockeys Association Handicap (1300m).
He expects Aberlour to improve with more racing and over longer distances, while believing Gatsby’s can bounce back after struggling in heavy conditions at his latest start.
“Gatsby’s was unlucky the other day because he was trapped wide, but I also wouldn’t run him in those (heavy) conditions again,” Pride commented. “He’s back on reasonable ground with his blinkers back on.”
With another blank whiteboard waiting to be filled, Pride begins a new campaign aiming to turn ambitious targets into another successful season.
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