WA Trotting Media Guild 2016/17 season wrap up

Stuart Lowe has once again shown why he's the best tipster in Western Australia after winning the WA Trotting Media Guild's tipping competition for the recently concluded 2016/17 harness racing season.

Lowe, who has been the leading tipster for the past two seasons and has finished high in the placings in recent years, typically downplayed his achievement. "I've won the tipping competition at least twice," Lowe said when asked how many times he had finished on top in the Media Guild's competition."And I've run a few placings, but I'm not sure of the exact record."

Lowe finished the 2016/17 season with an excellent record of 44.3 per cent for tipping winners. He also led the field for the most number of winners on a night when he selected nine winners on the card on "Black Friday" – January 13, the night of the WA Pacing Cup won by Chicago Bull.

Coming to the last race, Lowe had selected nine out of nine winners and was staring down the barrel of every tipster's dream – tipping the card. Unfortunately, his selection in the last finished a close second.

So Lowe wins the prizes, generously donated by the WA Trotting Association, for leading tipster and most winners on a night.

Guild president Wayne Currall finished second behind Lowe with a percentage of 42.3, while TABradio's race caller Matt McDermott ran third with 41.6 per cent, just pipping form expert and previous winner Ken Casellas on 41.4.

Longshot maestro Pat Harding once again walked away with the prize for the longest priced winner. Harding, who has made a habit of finding winners at cricket-score odds, tipped Firebomb at a meeting early in the season and the horse duly saluted at the juicy odds of $61.20. He also put punters on to Muffins earlier this month when the filly won at odds of better than 20/1. It's the sixth year in a row that Harding has taken the prize for the longest priced winner.

Members of the WA Trotting Media Guild would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the WA Trotting Association for their kind donations of prizes for the tipping competition. The WATA's generous contribution keeps all of WA's harness racing tipsters "on their toes" and keen to find more winners for the punting public.

Wayne Currall