Walker chasing more G1 success in Sydney

Sunday 11 March 2018, 3:29pm

Michael Walker isn't afraid of hard work if it will secure him Group One success.

Walker put his body through some pain last week to ride So Si Bon at 52.5kg in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.

While So Si Bon wasn't successful, the dedication paid dividends two races later when he rode Harlem to victory in the Group One Australian Cup.

It was Walker's second Group One win of the season after the Caulfield Guineas last spring on Mighty Boss.

Both were long shot winners with Mighty Boss at $101 and Harlem at $61, but that matters little to Walker who at 33 says he's riding better than ever.

A debilitating back injury followed by hip surgery robbed Walker of crucial time last year, but he is hoping his form this season paves the way to rides on horses the market think have better chances.

"In Melbourne I believe we have the best jockeys in Australasia so its hard to get those good rides," Walker said.

"Any trainer can throw their colours in the room and be happy knowing that whoever picks them up is a good rider.

"That makes it hard, but this season I've had two Group Ones and most seasons I ride a Group One winner, so hopefully something snowballs from it."

With one Group One race remaining in Melbourne this season Walker is already looking towards the Sydney carnival.

He heads to Rosehill on Saturday to ride Comin' Through in the Ajax Stakes and Mighty Boss in the Phar Lap Stakes.

Walker has ridden Comin' Through to three of his four wins.

"Hopefully I can win on him and then he can get into The Doncaster," Walker said.

He has also picked up the ride on New Zealand filly, Danzdanzdance, who shares the top line of betting with Luvaluva at $8 for the ATC Australian Oaks at Randwick on April 14.

"She ran third in the New Zealand Derby last week and I'm riding her in the Vinery and the Oaks," Walker said.

"She's already the early favourite for the Oaks, so fingers crossed, she looks a great chance."

– AAP

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »