HORSE RACING - Walker a class act

RICHARD EDMUNDS
Waipukurau Cup day was a successful one for New Zealand's leading jockey. With three wins on the day, including victory aboard Enko in the main race, Michael Walker extended his lead on the jockeys' premiership table to 40 wins ahead of the second-placed Chris Johnson.
Anyone wondering how Walker has already scored 87 wins since August and why he has such a strong chance of becoming the first New Zealand jockey to reach 200 only needs to have a look at his ride aboard Enko in the $15,000 Waipukurau Cup.
The Kevin Gray-trained runner, who started favourite, was perfectly placed throughout the race and with a beautifully timed finish reached the line with a half-length advantage over Star Conquer and Madredeus.
The win was Enko's fourth in 25 career starts and took his earnings past $28,000.
Walker's other winning rides came in successive races earlier in the afternoon.
On Mixed Reception, trained by his former boss Allan Sharrock, he won the Treadwells Legal Classic Sprint with another excellent ride.
Thirty five minutes later he guided favourite Spinning Pearl, whose sire Spinning World is also the sire of last Wednesday's Group 1 Avondale Gold Cup winner Spin Around, to a comfortable victory in the Hawke's Bay European Metric Mile.
Walker was also aboard the favourite My Astron in the day's other feature race, the First Sovereign Trust Sprint.
However, the horse ran disappointingly and finished in sixth place, four lengths behind the impressive winner Kitty O'Hara.
Trained by expatriate Irish trainer Francis Finnegan, Kitty O'Hara was a well-deserved winner of this race after having run solid races in much stronger fields throughout the last two seasons.
Hastings-trained No Cash ran another good race for second, and Mega Belt was just over a length behind in third place.
There was a tragic incident after the finish of the sixth race of the day.
Winner Colonial Rose faltered badly after the line and fell, and another runner, Shezahottie, was unable to avoid collision.
Colonial Rose sadly sustained serious injuries and was humanely destroyed, while efforts are being made to save the life of Shezahottie.
Luckily, although both riders Paul Taylor and Hayden Tinsley were stood down from the remainder of their riding engagements that day, both were able to walk off the track under their own steam and have avoided serious injury after the horrible accident.
Although any horse fatalities inevitably cast an enormous shadow over the day's racing, there were a number of excellent races run in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.