Mark Walker Winning Treble

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker continued on his winning way at Kranji on Friday night - combining with jockey Benny Woodworth, the duo claimed three races on the night - a third of the Kranji programme.

Mark has extended his dominant lead on the Trainers' Premiership - now with 44 wins for the season (which is not quite half completed) he leads the table by 14 - the Singapore Turf Club reports on the trio of wins ...

Trainer Mark Walker and jockey Benny Woodworth proved lethal once again with their first combined winning treble on Friday night.

The pair has combined to produce 16 winners this season, of which 10 were from the prominent Raffles Racing Stable owned by Dato Yap Kim San, including Sacred Rebel and Sacred Don that came up trumps in the last two races.

The first horse that they enjoyed success with tonight, was however the Te Akau Racing Stable-owned Axel ($35) whom flourished late to take out the $75,000 Novice race over 1400m. 

Of the three winners, up-and-coming Polytrack specialist Sacred Rebel (Benny Woodworth - main picture) took the centre of attention as he broke out of barrier six to quickly settle in fifth position on the outside from the early pacesetter Webster (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) in the $85,000 Class 2 race over 1100m.

Rounding the bend, Woodworth was spotted taking a quick glance off his shoulder to ensure the traffic was clear, before he made his move out wide to gun the leaders down.

The Daniel Meagher-trained Webster showed plenty of resilience on the rails, but still found it hard to contain the $8 hotpot when he came charging home from the outside at the 200m, eventually having to settle for second best by one-and-a-quarter lengths. 

Emergency Acceptor Dutrow (Raquel Clark) ran third another length away, while the fast-finishing Robin Hood (Ng Choon Kiat) came in fourth another half-a-length away.

Stablemate Fulife King (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) was up in class and bidding for his third win in a row, but he weakened late to finish about five lengths behind the winner, while another Raffles Racing Stable-owned runner Viviano (Mohd Firdaus Mansor) did not make up much ground to finish in 9^th.

The fleet-footed Sacred Rebel also shaved off 0.5 second from Eagle Eye's previous class record of 1min 4.71secs on the Polytrack over 1100m.

Previously raced in New Zealand and Australia with three wins from 10 runs under his belt, the four-year-old Chestnut gelding came in third at his first start in a Kranji Stakes C race on the Polytrack at Kranji, followed by three wins out of the next five runs, all on the alternative surface thus far.

“He's a funny sort of horse. We've tried him twice on the turf and he's failed,” said Walker, whom is the current premiership leader on 44 wins.

“His Australian form was okay, but mainly on wetter track, so I think he just appreciates that little bit more give in the Polytrack.

“Benny is riding in great form too.”

When asked if there were plans to step Sacred Rebel up to higher graded races, such as the Group 2 Polytrack feature Merlion Trophy (1200m) held on August 25, Walker said a discussion will be made with the owners.

“He will probably have to step up to that sort of class sooner or later,” said the New Zealander.

“I'll have a chat with Dato Yap and Bruce Sherwin (racing manager) to see if they want it (Merlion Trophy), but he's getting up in the ratings pretty quick now.”

Woodworth has had 25 winners this year, and two-thirds of them were supplied by Walker. He heaped praise on Sacred Rebel, and noted that the son of Sepoy enjoyed the sting out of the ground.

“He's been working and running very well,” said Woodworth, whom has partnered Sacred Rebel at all his runs.

“He felt so strong in the race that I have to turn my head and look at the outside tentatively to see if I'm clear or not. 

“I don't want to come through from the inside and have traffic problems when he's travelling that well. From that point, I just took him out and he was cruising past them.

“Actually, I was very confident tonight because there are a lot of older horses. They race a lot, whereas he is an up-and-coming, young and improving horse.

“I think he is capable of running in those good races.

“Though he will prefer a bit of cut in the ground because he is just different on the Polytrack than on the turf. In saying that, he is still running very well and not losing far, just that he couldn't find that extra. But, if it rains, it will be different.”

Sacred Rebel has earned NZ$17,125 (one win at Te Rapa) and A$64,800 (two wins in Sunshine Coast) previously, and amassed more than $130,000 in prizemoney with his three wins and one placing from six starts in Singapore.

Sacred Don ($42) claimed the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race in the lucky last to make it a hat-trick of wins for Walker and Woodworth.

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