Mark and Nathan will officially end their partnership at the end of the season but the training bond will remain close.
The father and son duo have been official partners since the start of the 2023 season when Samhara scored for them at Motukarara in one of two wins of the day. They have trained 171 winners in from less than 700 starters in that time and their charges have won over $6.6m.
While Mark was seen as the senior partner Nathan has played a full role in proceedings with some impressive individual achievements such as winning the Queensland Derby with Rubira over the winter.
It was always the plan that Mark would retire from the partnership when Nathan was fully established in the north and the practical demands of training have hastened the decision.
“Dad was finding the tie to the day to day running of the stable and the travelling needed to work the Auckland horses and keep in close touch a bit harder than he had expected” Nathan said
“Ideally I would have appreciated another season perhaps but he will still be playing a major role in our setup. His advice and assistance will be valuable for us even if his name isn’t on the licence and he is keen to continue race driving. He will also be helping us select the yearlings so his involvement will still be valuable for us”
Mark will train a small team on his own from Morrinsville after the Auckland Cup meeting but will be a regular visitor to Pukekohe when required.
“He intends to cut back on his commitments to that level and it is understandable in the circumstances”
Nathan has trained on his own in Australia where he had a number of notable successes and he earlier trained in partnership with Cran Dalgety and also with Cran’s wife,Chrissie. This will be the first time has trained on his own in New Zealand.
Mark has spent much of this century in training partnerships,firstly with Grant Payne from 2008 to 2012 (559 wins) and,after one season on his own in 2013, then with Natalie Rasmussen (898 wins) then a season and a half with Hayden Cullen (129 wins) in 2021 before going into partnership with Nathan. He also trained 908 winners on his own account in New Zealand and has an Australian record unequalled by any Kiwi trainer.
Mark had been planning to reduce his involvement in the professional training ranks ever since moving north and will now restrict his commitments to Akuta and Oscar Bonavena, in both of which he has ownership associations and a few youngsters. He has been based at Tony Shaw’s property in the Waikato and gave the former top horseman a share in Akuta as an appreciation.
The stable is hoping the parntership can end on a high note when Akuta lines up for the Auckland Cup on Decmeber 31.He will come north for a solid workout on Saturday at Pukekohe to measure his progress after recovering from setbacks which blighted his New Zealand Cup week campaign.
PIC: Nathan and Mark with connections of Millwood Nike one of the superstars of their training partnership