Southland standardbred trainers Kirstin Barclay and Paul "Tank" Ellis are set to join forces next season.
The pair have worked alongside each other recently and thought they would combine their skills, Barclay said.
"We have sort of being working in together for a little while. I have been working some of his young ones and he has been doing some of my older ones, on and off."
"We get on really well and thought why not give it a crack."
The training partners bring skills sets and facilities that complement each other.
Barclay’s Tisbury base and her experience are perfect for the development of young horses.
Ellis is a renowned for rejuvenating out-of-form or injury-prone horses through his work at Oreti Beach.
Barclay hopes her new partnership’s ability to beach train horses will stem the flow of horses leaving the province.
"A lot of horses go out of Southland to be trained on the beach up north and we can do it as good as anyone if not better," she said.
Barclay and Ellis are set to be the only large-scale trainers who offer fulltime beach facilities in Southland. Other trainers in the province use beach training, but most float the horses from their stables.
The new stable hoped to develop young horses who would be competitive in feature races, Barclay said.
If the two trainers can build on their combined results this season it should resulted in them being among Southland’s leading trainers next season.
Barclay has trained 10 winners this season and Ellis 12.
Brett Gray leads the Southland trainers’ premiership with 34 wins ahead of Nathan Williamson on 24 and Tony Stratford on 23.
