Te Akau Singapore's Wonderful Season

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker has ended the season in fourth place on the premiership table, and the leading Kiwi trainer.

The winner of five training premierships in New Zealand, Walker has twice been crowned Champion Trainer in Singapore (2015, 2017), while also finishing second and third since setting up stables in 2010 at Kranji Racecourse.

The season highlight for Walker came in November when Elite Invincible (Archarcharch) won the $1.35m Singapore Gold Cup (Gr. 1, 2000m), providing Walker with his 500^th winner in Singapore. In June, Elite Invincible had won the $1m Charity Bowl (Gr. 1, 1600m) from stable-mate Kingsman (Darci Brahma). Elite Invincible also won the Stewards' Cup (Gr. 2, 1400m) and finished second in the $1.15m Singapore Derby (1800m) in July. His six wins from 12 starts earning almost $2m in prize money.

Walker also trained Distinctive Darci (Darci Brahma) to win the Merlion Trophy (Gr. 2, 1200m) on the poly track.

“The Singapore Gold Cup is the race in Singapore, so good to tick that off the list,” Walker said. “Elite Invincible made huge inroads in a short space of time. He started off in Class 4 last December and ended up the Gold Cup winner, and all but won the Triple Crown.”

While another good season for Walker, earning $4.76 million in prize money, there were also a few frustrations.

“It was more of a rebuilding year, after our record amount of wins the year before,” said Walker, who notched 87 wins in 2017.

“A lot of horses had reached their grade and were either sold or transferred to Malaysia, and we have plenty of new stock that is coming to hand nicely and ready for their first preparations next season.

“It's also worth remembering that a change in handicapping saw each horse given an extra five (rating) points at the start of the season, which had a big impact, and the three stables that won the most races this season had all the new horses that missed the five points. So, we suffered a bit through the new initiative.

“Things are changing. The (Singapore) Turf Club will no longer be handling the betting. It will be administered by Pools Singapore and they have some good initiatives to improve things, which could make it better than ever.”

While Singapore racing takes a break for the remainder of December (last meeting Dec. 9), and following a white Christmas holiday with the family, Walker is looking forward to the start of a new season on 1 January.

“We've certainly got some nice horses to campaign,” he said. “Augustus ran fourth in the Queensland Derby and if he franks or improves the form then he's our main hope for the Singapore Derby. Time Lord is another that came out of New Zealand, via Australia, and we have high hopes for him as a Derby horse too.

“We have some lightly raced horses in the stable with proven race form out of Australia, so we are trying a few different things in addition to trial and race performers from New Zealand. Sportscaster was a recent winner for us that was bought out of the Chris Waller stable.”

Once the new season is underway, Walker is scheduled a trip a home to join Te Akau principal David Ellis and trainer Jamie Richards leading into the yearling sales series (Jan. 27 - Feb. 3) at Karaka.

Ellis employed Walker straight out of school and he is now a Director of the company.

“From day one, Mark stood out as a leader in every respect,” Ellis said. “He was a great show jumping rider and a genius with what he can get a horse to do. When he was only twenty-six years old he had trained the favourite for a Melbourne Cup and not only is he an extremely good judge of a horse but he's the best trainer I have ever seen in preparing a horse to peak for its main target. He's a great horseman.

“He has the ability to get inside a horse's head and he understands the importance of making a horse happy, keeping it happy so that it can go to the races and give its best. Horses only do that if they are happy and Mark seems to have an unbelievable way of understanding the individual characteristics of each horse. And I think that's why he's so successful. That, plus he's such a hardworking and professional guy. He's always working and thinking about how to get the best out of the horses he trains.”