Weir has done something few thought possible in the modern era, winning both the metropolitan and country training premierships without having a city base. His stables are at Ballarat and Warrnambool.

But quantity is only part of the story when evaluating success.

Those at the top of their game do have the most winners, which is why the names of Peter Moody, Mick Price and Robert Smerdon are so often at the head of the trainers' table. However, there is another measure of success – a trainer's strike rate.

A glance at the season-ending statistics from Racing Victoria shows one stable stands out if success is judged by the way it gets the most out of its resources, placing its horses in races they can compete in with a strong chance of winning.

Mornington trainers David Brideoake and David Feek might not be the best-known pair on the racing scene, but this season at least they have shown themselves to be among the shrewdest judges.

The duo – Englishman Feek and former Australian international equestrian rider Brideoake – have topped the locally based top 100 trainers strike-rate table comfortably with a winning percentage of 23.07, sending out a total of 30 winners statewide from 130 runners. A further 24 horses ran second or third.

The closest local was the Flemington-based Team Hawkes, which sent out 32 winners from 162 runners for a strike rate of 19.75.

The only trainer to beat them both was Sydney's  Gai Waterhouse, who tends to restrict her contenders to just the carnivals. She saddled 78 runners for 20 Victorian winners, a 25.64 strike rate, or better than one winner every four runners.

Where Brideoake and Feek deserve credit is for making a little go a long way. They certainly don't receive the blue-blooded progeny the bigger stables get to train and have to carefully evaluate their horses' ability and ensure they don't tilt at windmills by aiming them at races they cannot win.

''You have to be realistic and honest about things,'' says Feek. ''We look at the horses, we see where we think they are at and put them where we think they can win. We would love to have runners in the city all the time but if you haven't got the horses to take to town it's a waste of time doing so.''

Not that they are strangers to the city tracks. The pair sent 52 horses to the metropolitan area last season for eight winners – a respectable strike rate of 15.38, proving that when they have the right galloper they know how to use them.

Weir's phenomenal 20.37 metropolitan strike rate (86 metro winners from 422 runners) aside, the only top-20 handlers with a better city percentage return than the low-key Mornington pair were Sydney powerhouses Chris Waller (24 winners from 148 winners, or 16.21 per cent) and Waterhouse (15 Melbourne metro victories from 67 runners for a strike rate of 22.38), as well as Team Hawkes (17.39).

The stable's biggest success this season has been the staying three-year-old Self Sense, who has notched six wins. That total puts him joint second in the state for the most wins this season, alongside the Weir pair of Gotta Take Care and Trust In A Gust and Mick Price's champion sprinter Lankan Rupee. The most successful galloper was Sistine Demon, from the Andrew Noblet stable, with seven wins.

Self Sense, who showed plenty of courage to give weight away all-round in an off-season handicap at Caulfield last Saturday, tied with Trust In A Gust for the title of most successful (in number of races won) three-year-old.

''He's a tough one, stays well and doesn't mind a battle. He could perhaps be a country cups horse in the spring,'' says Feek.