Racing: Barriers a nightmare

Mark Walker could hardly believe his luck when barrier draws were made for the first day of the Wellington Cup meeting.

Walker has seven horses entered for Trentham today and the luck was almost all bad in the feature races.

In the group one $300,000 New Zealand Oaks, his top chance, Arlingtonboulevard, came up with barrier 21 in a field of 23.

In the other group one feature, the $100,000 Telegraph Handicap, it was barriers 16 and 19 in a field of 19 for Rapid Kay and Martique.

The bad luck continued in the group two $100,000 Wakefield Challenge Stakes, where Walker's unbeaten Kindacross drew 14 of 15.

His only saving grace was his second Oaks candidate, El Bulli, who has barrier six, and Bankside Boy drew No 1 in a maiden race.

Walker acknowledged that he had a good team of horses entered but said the draws had dampened his hopes.

"They look good on paper but the draws haven't helped much."

He was more to the point assessing the chances of Martique, who will be ridden by Sydney jockey Chris Munce in the Telegraph.

"She's very lightly raced, she's down in the weights but she's got the draw from hell," Walker said.

"We'll see how good Chris Munce is."

Martique is making her debut for Walker. She was previously trained in Sydney by Gai Waterhouse and has a record of six starts for three wins and a second.

Martique is bred to be top-class. She is by super-sire Danehill out of Melbourne Cup runner-up Champagne and is owned by her Auckland breeder, Bob Emery.

Walker said Emery had brought Martique back to New Zealand for a spell and thought she might as well resume racing.

Martique has not raced for seven months and when it was pointed out that the 4-year-old mare had won first-up twice before, the response from Walker was not so positive.

"It bloody hard to win a Telegraph fresh up."

Ironically, Walker achieved that very feat when King's Chapel took out last year's Telegraph at his first start for nearly two months.

Arlingtonboulevard's draw of 21 in the Oaks was eased in that a good barrier is not crucial for a 2400m staying contest, but Walker was keen for her not to get too far back.

El Bulli is also a good chance in the 3-year-old fillies' classic, but Walker wondered if the head-strong Zabeel bay had the temperament to cope with the big occasion.

He played down the chances of Kindacross, who will be the favourite for the Challenge Stakes (1200m).

Kindacross is unbeaten from three starts, of which the latest was in track-record time when clocking 57.23 seconds for 1000m at Te Rapa on December 11.

Walker, however, said the Cape Cross gelding was no certainty.

"To be fair, he probably hasn't beaten that much yet and you can't get too confident," he said.

"You come back to Earth pretty quickly in this game."

Walker agreed that 1200m was probably short of the best distance for Rapid Kay in the Telegraph, but the horse was capable of a bold race while fresh and was down in the weights at 50.5kg.

Maroofity should be an improver in the $35,000 Anniversary Handicap (1600m).

The former top 2-year-old was last of five runners at Taupo on January 9 but had his problems leading up to the race.

"He had a foot abscess and missed some fast work, which wasn't ideal. But his form before that was very good."

- NZPA