Racing: Mark Walker’s winter of content one to celebrate

Mark Walker. Photo / Trish Dunell

Mark Walker celebrated one of the most historic moments in New Zealand racing history by doing the exact thing that helped him achieve 200 training wins in a season.

“I watched the race but had to go straight back to work,” Walker told the Weekend Herald.

That race was the fourth at Awapuni on Thursday, a stock standard synthetic track scamper that would usually be forgotten soon after by all except for the winning owners of Angels Wings.

But not this win. It was the first time any New Zealand thoroughbred trainer had reached 200 domestic wins in a season, with Walker adding two more later in the day.

“I actually missed the last one, win 202, because I was working and I only saw the replay,” he explains.

“I popped inside to see the 200th win but then had some owners here so I had to go straight back to work.

“It was very satisfying though, not only for me but for all the staff and people involved. A lot of people have worked really hard to achieve this.”

While Walker hadn’t exactly set his heart on the 200 wins, others around him had and he admits the count-down has made winter racing more tolerable.

“Winter can be a hard time to train and for all the staff but this has made July go a bit faster.”

The 51-year-old realises whatever number his seasonal tally reaches at Te Rapa today will almost certainly be the New Zealand record for years, maybe decades, to come as Te Akau will open a Victorian stable in September which could see as many as 40-50 wins a season shipped offshore.

His 202 and counting obliterates the previous best season by a New Zealand trainer when Walker’s predecessor at Te Akau, Jamie Richards, trained 160 domestic wins in 2021.

Walker says his best two chances on a day when Te Rapa mixes jumps and flat racing are Dancerina (R7, No3) and Hero Worship (R9, No 1).

Dancerina will be ridden by Michael McNab, who piloted all four of Walker’s winners on Thursday for a remarkable eight winners in 28 hours.

“Michael has so much to be proud of, it is an inspiration how he has turned his life and career around,” says Walker.

By riding at Te Rapa today, McNab relinquishes his last chance to claim the sole ownership of leading black-type jockey for the season, which he shares with Opie Bosson on 17.

McNab could have gone to Ōtaki to try to win the Ryder Stakes but will instead enjoy the short drive home with a second consecutive premiership secured by around 45 wins.

While Te Rapa was a heavy9 yesterday but with potential to improve as far as a slow7, the Ryder looks certain to be run on a heavy10.

That will suit most as the juveniles still racing this late in the season tend to be proficient on wet tracks. But few could have done what Itza Charmdeel did at Rotorua last start and he looks a good bet if he remains north of $3 on the fixed odds.