KEY POINTS:
It had the makings of a cliff-hanger end to the season at Te Awamutu today.
After mainlander Michael Pitman vaulted to a two-win premiership lead with an Oamaru treble on Sunday, reigning training champ and transtasman headliner Mark Walker still had two meetings left to wrestle his crown
back.
But Walker admits that with track conditions against him, he knew at the weekend that he had fired all of Te Akau's shots.
Stable entries Electrify, De Lago Dancer and Shacuse are all scratchings today and Walker has bypassed Hastings tomorrow in favour of bigger prizes ahead.
"The premiership has never been a priority; if it happens, it happens," says Walker.
"The first one is always special, though, and I know when I rang Michael to congratulate him on Sunday he was quite emotional.
I can't begrudge him anything. I've seen Michael drive to Invercargill and be at the races the next day at Riccarton. He deserves everything he gets. He always gives his apprentices a good chance; Ashlee Mundy is a credit to the industry."
With a satellite stable in Rangiora himself, Walker knows better than anyone what a herculean effort it's been by Pitman, who set fresh South Island figures for victories (86) and stakes with $1.5 million.
Rex Cochrane, in 1972, was the last mainlander to win the premiership.
"It was a fantastic effort to win, and to notch up that type of money in the South Island," says Walker.
"I look at all the leading trainers' statistics and it shows that racing is really going well. We should be proud of that."
And while he may have dipped out on his fourth premiership in five years, Walker still walks away with a few headline-worthy accolades of his own.
Te Akau won more 2-year-old races than any rival - 23 wins with 16 babies - picked up a third-straight Filly of the Year title, and a record $2.5 million in stakes.
"It's our best season in terms of money won," confirmed Walker. "At the start of the season we thought we'd be rapt to break the $2 million mark but to end up with $2.5 million and to win another $1.4 or $1.5m in Australia [mainly through the deeds of bonny stable star Princess Coup] was a good, solid effort."
Meanwhile, Walker's no-show today, paves the way for promising Cambridge gelding Kurosawa to notch his third win in six starts.
Electrify and De Lago Dancer's defection leaves the Don Sellwood-trained 4-year-old just six opponents in the Te Awamutu feature over 1150m. The way he won fresh-up at Pukekohe on July 9 suggests the grade-rise shouldn't trouble him.
Proven local performer Dankashay can also trim the Pick6 spending in the last.
He was only just caught by Golden Sabre here on July 5 and strikes similar opposition today.