Another Winning Weekend

Te Akau trainer Mark Walker produced two winners on Friday night at Kranji racecourse in Singapore, extending his tally to 66 and a massive lead of twenty-four into the final third of the season.

“We've had a lot of horses that have won two or three races this season and it certainly adds up,” Walker said.

“We've had a really good season with a bunch of progressive horses and because we're capped at having sixty horses it's unusual to have that much of a lead but Dave (Ellis) has bought a lot of horses that have won anywhere from two to five races this season and that's been the key.”

Hidden Promise (5 g Postponed - Promissory, by Zabeel), purchased by David Ellis for $65,000 at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, from the draft of Westbury Stud, commenced proceedings when coming from last to win the $38,000 Kranji Stakes D 1600 metres.

Winning on the poly track, Hidden Promise showed his versatility having previously won on the turf in June. Walker gave him a reprieve following the win, also over a mile, and his latest victory came on the back of a 1000-metre trial and a third three weeks ago over 1200 metres.

Last of nine after drawing the outside gate, jockey Zawari Razali waited until the 700 metres before setting off around the field and Hidden Promise displayed plenty of conviction in his finishing prowess when called upon to extend at the 300m.

He scored by three-quarters of a length, in 1:39.4 for the 1600 metres, and paid $3.30 & $1.00 on the NZ TAB.

“He (Zawari) is riding in great form and his strike rate is phenomenal,” said Walker, of his apprentice.

“53.5kgs is his lightest, so he's quite solid, but he's a strong rider and tactically he's very good.

Hidden Promise finished second as a two-year-old when undergoing educational trials from the Te Akau stables at Matamata, before transferring to Walker as a three-year-old and now won three of his eleven starts, $77,869 in prize money, for his owners in the Fortuna Hidden Promise Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin).

Interestingly his second at the trials was behind No More Tears (Darci Brahma), a stakes' winner on debut who subsequently won a Group Three race and finished runner-up in a Group Two.

“He (Hidden Promise) is up into Class 4 now so it only gets harder, but he's a horse that has just continued to get stronger and I'd be confident he can measure up to that company,” Walker said.

“He'll get 2000 metres eventually, when he's strong enough and being out of a Zabeel mare it's no wonder he's taken time to mature.”
At his third start since winning in May, Unsurpassed (5 g Exceed and Excel - Alamantra, by Elusive Quality) was back in business for the Te Akau Unsurpassed Syndicate on Friday night in Singapore.

The premiership leaders: trainer Mark Walker and jockey Vlad Duric combined, and after bowling along in front Unsurpassed showed plenty of grit to hold his rivals at bay in the $60,000 Class 4 1100 metres on the poly track.

All the rage in betting, Unsurpassed paid $2.00 & $1.40 on the NZ TAB after completing the sprint trip in 1.05.2.

Unsurpassed was purchased by David Ellis after being passed in at the 2014 Sydney Easter Sale. At the corresponding sale this year, Cambridge Stud general manager Marcus Corban bought his half-sister by Medaglia D'oro (El Prado) to be trained by Te Akau for Dr. Phillip Mak. Ellis recently purchased Shocking Luck (Shocking) for Dr. Mak, who won the Rough Habit Plate (Gr. 3, 2000m) in May at Doomben, during the Queensland Carnival, on his way to racing in Hong Kong.

A winner on debut at home before departing for Singapore, Unsurpassed has now recorded a further three victories and over $154,857 in prize money. He is from an unraced mare and in turn from Champagne (Zabeel), a Champion Weight-For-Age performer and mare of the highest quality that won two Group One races (Mackinnon Stakes, and Ansett Stakes) and was possibly most remembered for her narrow defeat by Jezabeel (Zabeel) in the 1998 Melbourne Cup.

“He'll be up to Class 3 now, so that's a challenge for a horse like him whether he can cope with Class 3 or whether he'd have to come back down,” Walker said.

“He carried 57 (kg), at the top of Class 4, and he couldn't win in Class 5 for awhile, so we've found the answer to him. We've found the key and he's continued to improve.

“It was good ride by Vlad (Duric). He got a soft section, but you'll notice that he got going before the (home) turn and got a bit of a break on them.

“He's won three races this season, so the same as the others that he's become stronger and it's meant he's gone up through the grades. He is well on the way to recouping his owners' investments and he's sound, still lightly raced and I feel there are plenty of seasons left in him.”