Hunter Durrant has been rewarded for his commitment to leading Te Akau Racing’s Riccarton barn with promotion to assistant trainer for the trans-Tasman operation.

Te Akau principal David Ellis was impressed with Durrant's dedication and success as foreman for their Riccarton stable last season, with their southern base contributing 63 wins to Te Akau trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson's national premiership-winning 169-win season tally, and Ellis felt it was fitting to reward Durrant with a promotion.

"Hunter looked after everything when we started a permanent base of stables last season at Riccarton, and he continues to do a fantastic job," Ellis said.

"Much like Nicole Shailer, our assistant trainer in the stables at Matamata, and Ben Gleeson, our assistant trainer at Cranbourne in Melbourne, Hunter is the eyes and ears for Mark and Sam when it comes to how the horses and staff are performing, and the training regimes are worked out through the upkeep of data and communications.

"We love supporting South Island racing and first had stables in 2002 at Rangiora, which helped Mark (Walker) to win five premierships before he left to set up stables for us in 2011 in Singapore.

"It was timely to set up permanently again there last season, with the stables at Riccarton, and Hunter has been instrumental in the success.

"He's a level-headed young man, a really good horseman, doesn't get flustered, and has a great personality to get on with our owners and staff.

"We feel very fortunate to have Hunter in our team and elevating him to assistant trainer is the right thing to do because he deserves that sort of reward for all his hard work."