Mark Walker Is Flying!

Te Akau trainer Mark Walker has his stable flying at present.

Ten winners in the past week have him 13 clear and gunning for his second premiership win in Singapore.

Walker won five trainers premiership for Te Akau, from Matamata, before setting up in Singapore, and his outstanding success is a mixture of sheer talent and hard work. Te Akau principal David Ellis employed Walker as a teenager and the pair is edging towards thirty years together.

“It was an incredible weekend, winning seven races, and he's such a terrific trainer,” Ellis said.

“Mark surrounds himself with great team members: Gus & Karen (Clutterbuck), Robbie Hewetson, and all his staff.”

His four wins on Sunday night at Kranji racecourse included a healthy touch of horses either purchased or bred by Ellis and Karyn Fenton-Ellis.

Bringer of War (2 f Burgundy - Eclectic Heights, by Keeper), bred by D. C. Ellis & K. W. Fenton-Ellis MNZM, started the ball rolling with an impressive win in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden 1000 metres on the poly track.

A weight-for-age event for two and three-year-olds, Bringer of War was saddled with 48.5kgs and both horse and jockey Derreck David did things professionally in front before drawing clear in centre track to win by 2 ¾ lengths.

Favoured in the market, following a second and third respectively at his first two starts, Bringer of War paid $3.60 & $1.40 on the NZ TAB and ran the 1000 metres in 59.2 (final 600m in 35.6).

Bringer of War was educated by Te Akau trainers Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards at Matamata, and transferred to Walker following a smart solitary trial win last September at Cambridge. In the fastest (39.6) of two 635-metre heats for two-year-olds, she showed to be a sure-footed youngster. Shooting through to lead soon after the start, quickening clear in the straight and allowed to ease near the line for a one and three-quarter length win under Te Akau apprentice Jasmine Fawcett.

The victory was the first international success for leading first season sire Burgundy, after Hard Merchandize (2 g Burgundy - Pride and Passion, by Encosta De Lago) provided his first stakes winner when taking out the Castletown Stakes (Listed, 1200m) on 3 June at Wanganui.

Ellis purchased the royally bred Burgundy as a yearling for $1.3m at the 2010 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Sale, from the draft of Pencarrow Stud, for the Te Akau 2010 Breeding Syndicate, and following five stakes wins he took up resident stallion duties in 2014 at Cambridge Stud.

“I've been telling everybody that Burgundy is going to be a really good sire and that was his fourth two-year-old winner, already, with his first crop,” Ellis said.

“We couldn't quite get Burgundy to the races as a two-year-old, but he won his first three starts as an early three-year-old, and these are the sort of horses he's leaving - late two-year-olds, to perform early at three, and the types of horses that people want.

The $35,000 Open Maiden 1200 metres on turf was won in commanding fashion by Justice Light (3 g Darci Brahma - Amaryllis, by Red Ransom), ridden by Vlad Duric.

With the leader in his sights throughout, Justice Light quickened to lead at the 400m and kept up a very strong gallop to win by 1 ½ lengths.

He ran the 1200 metres in an accomplished time of 1:10.2, last 600m in 35.8, and was strongly supported as a 2 to 1 shot on the NZ TAB after running three consecutive seconds.

Under the guise of Autridge & Richards, Justice Light was another that shone at the trials before heading to Singapore. At his first and only trial, last June at Avondale, he scored off the front by 2 ½ lengths over 800 metres and in the process beat subsequent smart debut winner Night's Watch (Redwood).

A striking yearling colt, Justice Light was bought by Ellis for $120,000 at the 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale, from the draft of Pencarrow Stud.

At the time of purchase, Ellis said: “He is a good, strong, running type of horse. Mark (Walker) trained his mother to win eight races, including the Darley Plate (Gr. 3, 1200m) at Ellerslie, and of course he also trained Darci Brahma to win five group one races. We really wanted to buy this colt and feel that he was particularly good value at the price.

NB: Ellis also purchased Darci Brahma (Danehill) from the same draft in 2004 for $1.1m, and following his illustrious racing career he became a champion sire.

The two Ellis' (David & Karyn) were to the fore again as the breeders of Super Genius (3 f Alamosa - Ensorcelez, by Black Minnaloushe), who was very strong at the business end in the $35,000 Class 5 1100 metres on the poly track.

From fifth on the rail, Super Genius saw daylight at the 300m and looked good striding clear to win by 1 ¼ lengths for jockey Razali Zawari.

Recent solid form saw the filly return $2.20 & $1.70 on the NZ TAB, after covering the 1100 metres in 1:06.1.

Just like the two aforementioned, Super Genius was also a winner of her only trial before leaving New Zealand. As a two-year-old, last February at Cambridge, she quickened on straightening, after co-leading, and came clear to win easily for Jasmine Fawcett. Interestingly, Charles Road (Myboycharlie) finished third in the same trial. At three, Charles Road finished second to Gingernuts (Iffraaj) in the Avondale Guineas (Gr. 2, 2100m) and narrowly beat Te Akau trained Beaumarchais (Savabeel) in the Manawatu Classic (Gr. 3, 2000m).

“Mark asked Steve and Jamie earlier in the year whether they could recommend any really good young horses, and they picked Bringer of War and Super Genius,” Ellis said.

“It's a big advantage when we can trial them ourselves and have our own riders on to get an accurate assessment of just how good they are.  So, full credit to the trainers for the way they've prepared them because these horses have gone up there, Mark's found owners for them, and they have performed really well.

“It's such a big advantage for us to be able to educate and trial these young horses in New Zealand.

“The Darci Brahma - Amaryllis (Justice Light) was always a really nice horse, by a sire (Darci Brahma) that has been incredibly successful in Singapore; he's on his way to becoming champion sire again for the fifth time in Singapore, and of course he's a three-quarter brother to Burgundy,” he said. 

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