“That is what they do week in, week out in Australia, in Hong Kong and I reckon you will see them coming here more because of the Entain stake money boosts, so I let them worry about the race-tactics stuff.”
Damask Rose is a good filly, maybe a really good one, but she failed last start on the 12-day turnaround so Walker and training partner Sam Bergerson have put their energies into getting her right.
First recovery, then fitness and finally adding blinkers to her gear, which can act like a mental turbo button.
Walker is certain he has a happy, fit horse so he isn’t giving Damask Rose’s wide barrier draw too much thought.
“That is Blake’s job and he is already doing that form so I won’t give him too many instructions.”
If Shinn finds Damask Rose the right horse to follow and she produces her best down the centre of the Ellerslie straight, she can win - something that has been a rarity for Te Akau Racing at the new Ellerslie.
Remarkably, our biggest and best stable has struggled since the StrathAyr track was opened a year ago.
It has won just five races from 87 starters there, a stat it would like to recalibrate on Saturday.
“We have had some bad luck in some big races but a little bit of it is the Opie [Bosson] factor,” Walker says about the recently retired jockey.
“He and I had a great understanding going back a long time and that makes training easier and we have missed that.
“I think there are some really good jockeys in New Zealand. We will see who steps up to that role.
“But we are also lucky we can call on world-class jockeys like Blake and Craig to ride at these big days and there is nothing new in that. It happens all over the world, it is just more attractive here now because of the money.”
Tonight’s 3-year-old race is a tough one. If Damask Rose doesn’t win, the alternatives are many - maybe Yaldi is the best of them, just ahead of Bourbon Proof and Tuxedo.
While it doesn’t dominate Ellerslie, Te Akau dominates the Karaka Millions 2-year-old race. They won it seven years straight before finishing second last year and have three of the four favourites on Saturday night.
Walker favours To Bravery Born just over La Dorada, with Belle Du Monde set to become the hunter rather than the hunted.
“We didn’t expect To Bravery Born to win like he did last start and he has improved again so he is our best chance just over La Dorada, who is a real little racehorse.
“We have been riding Belle Du Monde too handy so it will be interesting to see if she can find a length or two ridden further back.”
Walker says punters should be on Skew Wiff (race three, No 2) each way from her perfect draw in the $600,000 Westbury, while he hasn’t given up on Captured By Love, even from her wide draw in the $700,000 Sistema Railway.
“A lot will depend on tempo but, late in the day, if they are coming down the middle of the track she could get her chance.”
Earlier, the exciting Move To Strike (race one, No 1) resumes but has a tie-forward operation in his throat and finds himself in a race that maps to suit Poetic Champion.
So far the new Ellerslie has been a Rubik’s Cube that Te Akau hasn’t been able to solve.
On Saturday, with some help from Shinn and Williams, the tangerine stickers might all end up in the right place.
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.
