Massive Winning Weekend for Walker

You just about need a fire extinguisher at the moment for Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker and the team - last Sunday they celebrated a winning treble and repeated that feat again on Friday night.

Make no mistake, training three winners at one meeting is something very special - and to do it twice in five days just underlines the training prowess of Mark and the skill of his team including Gus and Karen Clutterbuck and Robbie Hewetson.

The winning hasn't stopped yet either - as we write on Sunday night, Mark has trained ANOTHER winning double and the racing programme isn't yet completed.  That makes FIVE winners in under 48 hours.

Mark now has a commanding 11 (MAKE THAT 12)  win lead on the Trainers' Premiership.

STOP PRESS - AS WE WRITE MARK HAS WON ANOTHER RACE -
THAT'S SIX FOR THE WEEKEND!!!

One of the wins tonight was especially significant for Te Akau's David Ellis as he watched talented 2YO Burgundy filly Bringer of War lead all the way in her 1000m event and record an impressive win - continuing her sire's fabulous first season. Burgundy of course was bought by David and trained by Te Akau and now stands at Cambridge Stud.

The Singapore Turf Club reports:

Derreck David's status as one of the few resident lightweight expat jockeys was an asset he again fully capitalised on after he steered two-year-old filly Bringer Of War to her first win on Sunday.

Just last Friday, the South African jockey bagged the highlight of Friday night's races with bottom weight Makanani, even if in that case, it can be argued he is also her regular partner.

The former South African champion apprentice jockey walks around at 50kgs no sweat, but can shed a few more pounds if he has to. With Bringer Of War weighted at 48kgs, not many riders can put their hand up for such a booking, but David can, and he certainly did well to ride her only half-a-kilo over - without having to waste too hard.

Taking the bull by the horns right from the start, David punched Bringer Of War right out of the pens before quickening away to the lead without much fuss.

The other 10 rivals led by Crazy Dreams (Benny Woodworth) were fairly huddled up behind at the beginning, but suddenly dropped off the pace as they appeared to push each other across the track in their eagerness to jostle for the best position behind Bringer Of War ($21).

The daughter of Burgundy, on the other hand, continued to scrape paint hard up against the rails, and the moment David said “let's go girl”, she just ran them off their feet, even if she herself was not the most tractable conveyance inside the last furlong.

Crazy Dreams did whittle down the margin but it was not through Bringer Of War losing steam. Under hard riding, her rawness still showed as she lugged out to the standside, but such was her superiority that she still had 2 ¾ lengths to spare from Crazy Dreams on the line with Nova Classic (Shafiq Rizuan) third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 59.24 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.

David unsurprisingly said Bringer Of War was still a little rough around the edges, but nothing that her connections cannot handle.

“She is a nice filly, but is still learning what racing is all about,” said David.

“She showed a lot of gate speed and was never in trouble from that point. She hung out in the straight but she was never in danger.

“A big thank you to Mark Walker who is starting to support me with rides now. I rode the filly half-a-kilo over; I'm always available to any trainer for such lightweight rides.”

With Walker still not back from the Gold Coast, assistant-trainer Gus Clutterbuck again did the honours for the low-down on the yard's 45^thwinner. They later stretched their lead by another win, when even-money favourite Justice Light (Vlad Duric) obliged two events later in the $35,000 Open Maiden race over 1200m.

“She had a light weight and I think the 1000m is more her go,” said the New Zealander.

“It's good to train a first winner for Jubilant Racing. She is the first one we train for them.  Derreck David often comes to the stable to ride work for us and it's only right to support him with rides when we can.”

Bringer Of War's first two runs came in the first two Legs of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series, producing a second and a third as the favourite on both occasions. She stayed in her box for the third instalment, and was also left out for the fourth Leg, the $90,000 Inglis Ready2Race Stakes (1200m) coming up later.

Unsure which way the Jubilant Racing No 5 Stable-owned filly is heading next, Clutterbuck would rather leave the decision about her future endeavours to his boss.

“We'll play it by ear as far as her next run is concerned. I'll leave that decision to Mark,” he said.