Walker raises the bar to an unprecedented level

Having raised the bar to an unprecedented level in the just completed season, Mark Walker now has his sights on his next challenge at the helm of Te Akau training operations.
Two years ago when predecessor Jamie Richards set a record of 160 New Zealand wins, nobody would have anticipated an additional 40 wins would be possible. Walker ditched any such notion with a season of milestones that was completed emphatically with win number 203 in the very last race of the season at Te Rapa on Saturday.
That took his tally of trainers’ premierships into double figures – five during his initial stint at Te Akau’s Matamata base, another four titles during his decade in Singapore and one more in the 2022-23 season making a grand total of 10.
In November Walker had completed a century of stakes wins in New Zealand with Aromatic’s Gr. 3 Counties Cup, in January he broke another Jamie Richards record for the fastest 100 wins in a season, a month later he took his New Zealand win tally to 1,000, and in April the inexorable march clicked over to the new benchmark of 161.
The onset of winter brought an inevitable slowdown but there was still no stopping Walker, and he went into the final week of the season needing three wins to reach the double century. One win at Cambridge last Wednesday took the tally to 198 and a strong team sent south to Awapuni on Thursday did the business. Wins to Redsheis and Angels Wings brought up 200, then Treaty Of Paris and Star In The Sky rounded off an historic day by taking the Te Akau tally to four wins on the six-race card.
All four Awapuni winners were ridden by Michael McNab, maintaining his hot form to the very end of the season. The 37-year-old had claimed his first jockeys’ premiership with 144 wins in the 2021-22 season and there was no stopping him on the way to back-to-back titles. His final win, on the Andrew Forsman-trained Turn The Ace, came at Te Rapa on Saturday, taking him to 164 wins.
McNab’s season was headlined by Group One wins on the Walker-trained Prise De Fer, Mustang Valley (Andrew Forsman), Pier (Darryn and Briar Weatherley) and Prowess (Roger James and Robert Wellwood), for a record stakes tally just short of $4.8 million.
“Having good jockeys to call on is a big part of our success,” says Walker. “We’re all very proud of what Michael has achieved, he’s always been a good rider and over the past two seasons he has really worked on it and reaped the rewards.
“Opie (Bosson) is a class act who can ride with the best of them anywhere; we were reminded again with his William Reid Stakes win on Imperatriz at Moonee Valley. That was on top of everything he did for the stable at home, and I’m looking forward to seeing him back in action this week.”
Following his Awapuni haul, Walker was able to relax and enjoy the final act of the season, making several relevant points as he recapped on the record.
“It was good to get to 200 with a bit to spare, that took the pressure off everyone heading into the final day,” he said. “It’s been an amazing season, one that you could never have predicted, but thanks to everyone involved we ticked off a whole lot of milestones.
“David and Karyn (Ellis) deserve so much credit for the way they’ve built the business, all the staff from the senior team members, trackwork riders, the ground staff, our raceday jockeys, there have been so many people who have played their part.”
Major changes are pending for New Zealand’s biggest and most successful training operation, with an Australian stable due to open next month at Cranbourne, on the outskirts of Melbourne. Staffing changes include former assistant trainer Sam Bergerson now Walker’s Matamata-based training partner and another respected young horseman, Australian Ben Gleeson, appointed assistant trainer at Cranbourne.
“Ben put out a feeler once it was public knowledge that Cranbourne was going ahead and when we saw his CV we realised he was just the person we were looking for, someone with a very good understanding of the local scene,” Walker said.
“Sam has been a big part of our Matamata operation for a while now – he’s a very smart operator and has certainly made my job easier since I got back – so he fully deserves a training partnership. Plus we’ve got another of our seniors, Nicole Shailer, the new assistant trainer and another vital member of the team is our racing manager Reece Trumper, who has really blossomed in that role.
“The Matamata stable will still be the main base and it’s not as if the traffic between the two will all be one-way. With the contacts that Dave has developed in Australia and elsewhere, we’re expecting horses owned over there in the new stable, and I can see horses based in Cranbourne targeting races back in New Zealand. We definitely haven’t lost sight of the very significant stakes increases being rolled out here.
“It’s an exciting development for Te Akau, one that we’ve been working towards for a while, and gives us an ideal opportunity to tap into what’s on offer in Australia.”