Danielle Seib enjoyed her best-ever season as a trainer in 2022/23, bringing up 27 winners at an excellent 16.5% strike rate.
Additionally, she landed four Highway Handicap victories, and the stable was full of confidence heading into the new season.
“We were really happy with the season,” Seib said.
“It’s nice to bump up your stable numbers, keep a good strike rate, and keep producing winners.”
Kicking off the new season in style, the Seib stable landed a double on their home track on Monday, with Oneofthetwelve (Nick Heywood, $5) winning the 1300m Maiden Plate before Eight Of A Kind (Jean Van Overmeire, $6) boulted in for an easy victory in the 1200m Benchmark 58 Handicap.
“It was a nice reward for the staff,” Seib said.
“It’s a signal of how well last season went, and it puts you on a good foot and makes you feel positive for the new season; we’ve got a lot to be excited about.”
With 28 in work, the Goulburn-based trainer has a small but hard-working team that keeps the show running.
“We’ve got four riders and six or seven ground staff, but really good staff, which makes it so much easier,” Seib said.
“Gabby Osborne is our junior foreman, and she’s been with me for three-and-a-half years and is stepping up and doing a great job.
“Aaron Day, my partner, is my right-hand man, and he runs a lot of the groundwork side of things, especially when I’m riding.”
Seib believes riding work gives her a good advantage and a real feel of each of her runners.
“I ride a lot of track work still, and yes, it’s a nice advantage to have,” Seib said.
“I can get a feel for their action and confidence, too, and how they feel in themselves.
“Horses that come off a win, for example, you can’t tell me they don’t know it.”
Regarding goals for the new season, Seib maintained a realistic outlook while she was striving to reach new milestones.
“We like to place our horses where we think they can win, so we want to keep up that good strike rate,” Seib said.
“We’re aiming for 40 winners for a season, and we need to keep pushing ourselves.
“I think it’s good to have goals and keep a handle on yourself and your horses, and that helps you make the right decisions when placing horses.
“We’ll certainly head down to the Highways; we had a good run there, and it will be good to have more horses go there and be competitive.”
Headlining the Seib stable is Kosciuszko-hopeful Smokeshow, along with Amarantz, Almahero, Leather Jacket Lew, and Eight Of A Kind.
“I guess there’s Smokeshow, and I thought she had a nice return on Wednesday,” Seib replied when asked which horses were the ones to watch in 2023/24.
“I got good feedback from Tyler after the run, and it looks like there will be plenty of upside with her, and we’ve got the Kosciuszko in mind.
“We’ve also got a horse like Eight Of A Kind, which is a nice horse moving forward, and there is a Highway option at the end of the month.”
Seib and her team will be out to continue their good start to the season at Wagga today and Goulburn on Monday.
At Wagga, the stable has last-start Wellington winner Leather Jack Lew (Jean Van Overmeire) contesting the Riverina Cup (2500m).
On their home track on Monday, Chaotic Beauty (Holly Durnan) takes on the 2100m Benchmark 58 Handicap.
For Wagga fields, click here.
For Goulburn fields, click here.
