Last year’s Melbourne Cup Day concluded in success for Mark Walker in the Gr.3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m), a race he will chase back-to-back crowns in on Tuesday with Kiwi mare Quintessa (NZ) (Shamus Award).
Walker won the mare’s feature with Group One winner Skew Wiff, a memory he looks back on fondly.
“It’s massive to win any race on Melbourne Cup Day, the atmosphere is electric with 100,000 people there, so it would be nice to get a winner this year if we can,” he said.
Walker will be represented in this year’s edition by Quintessa, a winner of the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) and Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) during her three-year-old term, which also included fourth placings in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) and Gr.1 Australian Oaks (1400m).
The Shamus Award mare resumed in formidable fashion as a four-year-old when winning the Gr.3 Cockram Stakes (1200m), but was marred by rain-affected tracks in the Gr.2 Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) and Gr.2 Tristarc Stakes (1400m).
“We’ve just struck wet tracks in the last two starts and I think that has been against her, it’ll definitely be a dry track tomorrow so I think she can bounce back,” Walker said.
“The draw (18) is not very helpful, but I think she’s capable of going a good race. Her odds are certainly not how I see her in the race.”
Midnight Blue (So You Think), a last-start Listed Seymour Cup (1600m) winner, will carry the tangerine silks in the Listed Furphy Plate (1800m) earlier on the Flemington card.
“We bought him as a tried horse and he was quite out of form, so it’s been quite a challenge to turn that around and was very satisfying to do so,” Walker said.
“He’s a lovely old horse and his first-up win was very good, sometimes second-up they can be a bit more one-paced, but he gets in reasonably well at the weights also.”
Completing Te Akau’s Australian representation will be promising filly Stage ‘N’ Screen (NZ) (Ace High), who won comfortably on debut at Seymour in mid-October.
The daughter of Ace High was scratched from the Gr.3 The TAB Vanity (1400m) on Derby Day, instead favouring Tuesday’s Listed The Amanda Elliot (1400m) with Michael Dee in the saddle.
“We had trialled her in New Zealand and she looked quite promising, she just had a few barrier issues,” Walker said.
“We’ve got that sorted out with the help of Julian Welsh, he’s a barrier guru over here and she’s been a lot better.
“We scratched her on Saturday from the wide draw and we thought this race was more suitable.”
Back in New Zealand, Walker and New Zealand training partner Sam Bergerson will have a trio of representatives at Ellerslie, including stakes-bound stayer Cognito (So You Think) in the Powerturf 1500.
The So You Think gelding won the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) of 2023, and pleased Walker with a strong return to form at the course behind Meaningful Star on October 26.
“He’s coming back to form and building up nicely, after tomorrow he’ll run in the Counties Cup (Gr.3, 2100m),” he said.
“We think he’s in good form and should be able to get a nice race this season.”
Walker also has a long-term staying feature in his sights for Altari (NZ) (Savabeel), a Savabeel three-year-old who takes his place in the TAB 1400.
“He’s quite a nice horse, we gelded him and he’s just going to get better and better as a lot of Savabeels do with age,” he said.
“We think he has a very nice season ahead of him.
“We do think that he could end up a Derby (Gr.1, 2400m) horse, so we’ll give him a preparation towards that.”
In the final race of the day, Wolverine (NZ) (Tivaci) will carry the 60kg top-weight in the Head To Trackside.co.nz 1400. A Group One-performing juvenile, the mare has been out of the winner’s circle for some time but was only narrowly denied by Sterling Express at Rotorua in the hands of Ngakau Hailey, who retains the ride.
“She raced well last start,” Walker said.
“She’s been a difficult horse to work because she’s a hard-pulling horse in trackwork, but Dan Miller has got her going really nicely lately so she should be a nice each-way chance.”
