Racing: Silks ruled off colour but Walker in the pink

Michael Walker rides Alward to victory at Flemington. Photo / Darryl Sherer

A puzzling decision that forced expatriate Kiwi jockey Michael Walker to dress down for the occasion at Flemington on Saturday didn't take the gloss off a New Zealand victory.

The Chris Waller-trained Alward impressively opened his Australian account for New Zealand syndication company Go Racing, but with Walker sporting the club's silks.

"The stewards deemed that our colours were too close to those of Lloyd Williams, which was a bit odd, but hopefully Chris will be able to sort all that out now," syndicate manager Albert Bosma said.

Alward's success signalled a change of fortune for the four-year-old, who is expected to make his mark in stakes company in the future.

"There's a lot of upside to him, he's a pretty smart horse," Bosma said. "Not many horses that can stay can sprint like that at the end of 2000 metres. It was also a very good ride by Michael.

"The horse had no luck in his first two starts over there.

"He got blocked in and couldn't get out all the way down the straight first-up and second-up there was an on speed bias. He had to go back from a wide draw and made up a huge amount of ground.

"We certainly think that he is a Group horse and he can win a lot of money taking him through the grades before we look at the bigger races.

"He'll probably go to Sydney now and there's a race in two weeks' time at Rosehill or in three weeks at Randwick. He could be an outside chance for something like the Metropolitan later on."

Alward is Go Racing's first foray into the European market and he was purchased on their behalf by Kiwi agent Guy Mulcaster for 35,000 guineas at the 2016 Horses in Training Sale at Newmarket.

"He ran in some nice races in France and won his maiden there by four lengths," Bosma said.

"We syndicated him in New Zealand and a couple of Australian owners have also bought into him."

Alward's victory continued Go Racing's lengthy association with the champion Sydney trainer Waller.

"Chris was our very first trainer and we've been with him since he was here in New Zealand," Bosma said.

"We've got three more horses we bought at Karaka heading over to him as well - a Savabeel colt, a Reliable Man filly and one by Shamexpress. Their breeding suggests they could be classic-type three-year-olds."

Go Racing's New Zealand interests are split between Stephen Marsh, Lisa Latta and Andrew Carston and in Singapore with Marsh's father Bruce.

- NZ Racing Desk