Racing: Return seems on the cards

Mark Walker would neither confirm nor deny the strongest rumour in racing: that Michael Walker will return from Singapore to be his stable jockey.

The high flying Te Akau Stables is without a stable jockey after Opie Bosson gave in to continuing weight problems.

Asked what was possible to be written, Mark Walker said: "No comment on the rumours floating around in racing."

Michael Walker returned to Singapore yesterday after a week in New Zealand, which followed his first month riding for Paddy Busuttin's Singapore stable.

If Michael Walker does return to New Zealand, which seems the best bet, it is unlikely to be until he has finished the six months for which he is contracted to Busuttin.

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Noel Harris doesn't want to ride Tusker again this season.

Not that he was unimpressed by her runaway victory in Saturday's $100,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Championship Stakes at Ellerslie.

It's simply that another ride on Tusker would ruin a perfect record.

Harris had two rides on champion mare Horlicks for two wins and has now two-from-two on Tusker, a granddaughter of Horlicks.

Harris made those comments lightheartedly then got serious.

Tusker is likely to next race in the AJC Oaks in Sydney and Harris, trying not to appear as though training someone else's horse, believes the ask might be potentially a bit too much.

He believes fillies that chase the Filly Of The Year series in New Zealand take too much out of themselves to later compete at the end of a campaign against the best in Australia.

"I've ridden quite a few good New Zealand fillies under those circumstances in Australia and they're just not at their best.

"I rode the likes of Staring and Kate's First for Murray over there and they didn't find their best. Kate's First wouldn't have won a maiden race when she got to Australia and Murray's a top trainer."

Perhaps in part confirming Harris' opinion, Tusker's stablemate Sahara Flight appeared to have reached the end of her campaign with a fading seventh in the same race. Sahara Flight finished third in the Oaks at Trentham then looked unlucky in Tusker's Sir Tristram Classic at Te Rapa.

Tusker showed plenty of talent, improving wide on the home bend and sustaining a rolling stayers finish to get past pacemaking El Bulli.

"El Bulli fought back well, but my filly had a little bit left if it had got tight," said Harris.

Zaria finished a good third after having to do work early from a three-wide position and Milcape ran on into fourth.

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Don't mention the Melbourne Cup to Jim Gibbs.

It's something you'd naturally be thinking of with a horse like Kerry O'Reilly.

But Gibbs clearly thinks it's tempting fate to declare that Kerry O'Reilly might look at the great race.

"He'll win a nice race one day," said a circumspect Gibbs after Kerry O'Reilly overcame crushing difficulties to land big bets for punters on Saturday.

The emerging star paid $1.95 and looked like a $20 chance when at the back of a tightly packed field on the home bend. The way he stormed past the field in the closing stages said the St Leger at Trentham should be his.

"He did well to come back from 2400m to 2100m today," said Gibbs

Gibbs was looking for an omen when he produced Vaalu into the open sprint later in the day. Kerry O'Reilly and Vaalu were the only two horses he took to the races and when they stood in adjoining tie-up stalls it took Gibbs back a couple of years.

"These two stood side by side in a box for four months - Vaalu had a fractured leg and Kerry O'Reilly had to grow a complete new foot."

It would have been appropriate if Vaalu could have made it a double, but he raced well below his best. Gibbs said after he would ease Vaalu rather than press on for the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie. Stablemate Devoted will still target the Easter.

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Richard Otto had one of the better days of his training career when he produced four winners on Saturday - the winners of the first races at Ellerslie and Waverley, Shemozzle and The Breaker, and the last two at Ellerslie, Penitentiary and British Ensign.

Resurrection continues to race greenly, but looks one of the real emerging horses in the north.

Otto said the Queensland Oaks is a possible target for Shemozzle, who quit maiden class in style. Penitentiary looks an ideal type for Ellerslie's Easter Handicap.