PENANG,  25 December 2006

The top two trainers in Malaysian racing in the past four years will be out of the scene in the new season starting Jan 1.

Marinus van Breukelen, champion trainer for three consecutive years from 2002 to 2004 in Malaysia and Lee Yoke Bill, who beat him by a solitary winner last year, are not named in the list of trainers being granted licences for the 2007 season.

At the start of the 2006 racing season, Marinus saw the majority of his string being transferred to his younger brother Evert. And Marinus has not have a runner for the past 11 months!

Lee still leads in the championship by one winner at 48 for the 2006 season which concludes on Sunday.

But Lee has been left without a single horse in his stable when his only patron transferred his entire string out his stables early this month and he has no runner for the current meeting in Penang.

Second-placed Frank Maynard, who has more second placings than Lee, need just one more winner to overhaul Lee at the top of the table after saddling five winners over the weekend.

Maynard has two more racing days to achieve his dream of winning the premiership since he started training in Malaysia, and in the process collect a RM100,000 incentive from the Penang Turf Club.