Sutherland was the most successful trainer over the four major days of Murrumbidgee Turf Club’s autumn carnival and picked up $2500, courtesy of Arlington Park Racing.

The Wagga trainer scored most of his points on Prelude and MTC Country Cup race days, then maintained his lead on last week’s two big days.

Sutherland finished on 51 points, ahead of two-time winner Gary Colvin on 40 and Albury trainer Brett Cavanough on 38.

Sutherland said the carnival had been a particular focus of his stable.

“It’s a nice little bonus,” Sutherland said.

“It’s something we targeted a bit this year over the four days now we knew a little bit about the system.

“I think we performed pretty well, our horses were consistent.

“We would have liked to go better over the two big days but I think we had 13 horses draw outside barrier 13 and that was probably the difference between an outstanding couple of days, and that’s the way things ended up.”

The points system is designed to reward trainers that perform strongly over the carnival, in particular the feature races.

Sutherland currently leads the SDRA trainer’s premiership by two wins over Wagga counterpart Chris Heywood.