Dale out to continue hot run at Narrandera

Coming off his best-ever season as a trainer, Andrew Dale will be hoping his stable can continue its hot run at Narrandera on Saturday.

Having trained a career-high 58 winners in 2024/25, Dale won the Southern Districts Racing Association (SDRA) premiership with 36 wins and the Narrandera premiership with 12 points.

The stable also won at a 12.7% strike-rate in 2024/25, their best since 2018/19, and in the process, cracked $1 million in earnings for a second consecutive season, winning a career-high $1,079,610.

“It was a really good season,” Dale said.

“We had 54 wins the previous year, and 58 last season was the most we have ever won.

“We finished second in the Wangaratta trainer’s premiership behind Ben (Brisbourne), who had a fantastic season, won the SDRA title, and we have been close to 50 wins the past three years, so we’ve been consistent with a good strike-rate and career-best prizemoney.”
Turning out win after win requires a lot of effort, and Dale touched on a good setup and plenty of hard work behind his stable’s success.

“Those numbers are hard to maintain, but we’re building,” Dale said.

“We have 25 in work at the Wangaratta base, and we have a small farm that supports that with 15, so there are 35-40 in work.

“We’re quite busy and it’s demanding, but I have good staff, and both my sons are back involved full-time, and that helps tremendously as well.”

Narrandera has been a happy hunting ground for Dale, with the Wangaratta-based trainer winning 17 races at the SDRA track in recent years, at a very good 15.9% strike-rate.

“There’s no particular reason we go there except that it is inside the parameters of what we are willing to travel, which is three hours,” Dale said.

“That distance is not too taxing on the staff, meaning they are not getting home ridiculously late, and Narrandera is a good track, and it suits some of the horses I have got in the stable at the moment.

“You’ve got to consider the level of stock that is in your stable when going places, and with the horses we have up and going, we are set up nicely to take a big team to Narrandera, which is a little below full TAB.”

The stable has nine runners entered at Narrandera, including both Fortis In Armis (Cory Parish, gate 11) and Deloy And Destroy (Nick Heywood, gate 13) in the feature event on the program, the TC Lee Memorial Cup (1400m).

“We thought they were both placed nicely, and Fortis In Armis was my best for the weekend, but he drew the carpark, and Deploy And Destroy drew outside him, so that makes it tough.”

Brenlyn’s Trooper (Nick Heywood, gate 3) appears to be the stable’s best chance when taking on the Benchmark 50 Handicap (1200m).

The eight-year-old has been consistent this preparation without winning in stronger races at Albury, Echuca, Wangaratta, and Kilmore, and steps down in class at Narrandera, but will have to carry 64.5kg.

“Brenlyn’s Trooper is well-graded despite having 64.5kg,” Dale said.

“He’s Stakes placed and is well back in grade, and I don’t think the weight will be a problem.”

Dale has a few New Zealand-bred maidens going around, including first starter The Narrator (Nick Heywood, gate 4) and Loveofmylife (Cory Parish, gate 5) in the Maiden Plate (1000m) and Quick Spell (Josh Richards, gate 5) in the Maiden Handicap (1400m).

“We have a couple of nice maidens there, and a couple from New Zealand that we think can take their place and be competitive,” Dale said.

Of the stable’s remaining chances, Crusheen Lass (Cory Parish, gate 6) races in the Class Three Handicap (1600m), and Vonk (Nick Heywood, gate 10) and Crimosa (Cory Parish, gate 3) take on the Benchmark 50 Handicap (1000m).

The TC Lee Memorial Community Race Day is the final race meeting of the Narrandera Race Club winter racing season.

Gates open at 11am, entry is free, and there will be a luncheon, bar and canteen, TAB and bookmakers.

First published - www.countrypunter.com.au/dale-out-to-continue-hot-run-at-narrandera