They have helped Baker to an incredible A$16,862,000 in stakes won in Sydney metropolitan races alone this season, with a staggering 21% of his starters there winning.
Overpass almost added to that strike rate when he was just beaten in the T.J. Smith at Randwick last week but now he returns to Perth to try for a Quokka three-peat at the track where he has also won the G1 Winterbottom Stakes twice.
Overpass is the $2.50 favourite for the Quokka with Crocetti at $17, with Craig Williams confirmed to ride.
Walker realises his fellow New Zealand trainer holds all the aces.
“We have been following the form of his likely rivals since we accepted the slot and Overpass clearly looks the one to beat, because he loves Perth,” says Walker, who trains in partnership with Arron Tata.
“But you can’t worry about things like that. I don’t like it when everybody thinks a big race is a one-horse race so we are going to give it a crack.”
Crocetti capped a frustrating summer by downing Alabama Lass in the Railway at Ellerslie on Karaka Millions night before chasing her in vain in the Kings Plate on March 8.
“He had a week off after that and has come back up well since,” says Walker.
“He had a really good gallop on Thursday and we are happy with him.
“We realise he might take a couple of days to settle in over there but he is a sensible horse so he should handle it.”
While not at the level of the major Sydney or Melbourne sprints, the Quokka is shaping up to be strong with the added challenges of travelling to West Australia, which can be very micro-climatic and sees some horses thrive while others spit the dummy.
“I think he will be fine and we are all looking forward to it. It will be hot but it has been pretty hot here lately too,” says Walker.
“It is a big challenge but exciting and we feel very fortunate the TAB and Racing W.A. offered us the slot.”
Crocetti heading to Perth is one leg of a diverse set of travel plans for three of New Zealand’s Group 1 winners over the next fortnight.
Grail Seeker, who won the first Group 1 race of the season, the Westbury Stud Tarzino Trophy on September 7, before also capturing the Telegraph, will head to Sydney this Saturday to make her Australian debut in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick.
Her trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott took Waitak to the Quokka last year where he finished ninth.
New Zealand’s highest-rated galloper El Vencedor will travel further than both Crocetti and Grail Seeker though as he heads to Hong Kong later this week to contest the QEII Cup at Sha Tin on April 27 with Hong Kong’s superstar jockey Zac Purton to ride.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
