The King Reigns Supreme

The win of Iking on Sunday evening at Kranji continued the cracking start to the new season for Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker.

Mark declared his intentions for this new season (which commenced on 1 January) notching up four wins in the first two days of racing.  This stellar performance saw him take an early lead in the Trainers' Premiership and after racing on Sunday, a lead he retained.

With our Singapore team firing on all cylinders, the winning continued when the 6YO son of Holy Roman Emperor built on recent solid place form to snare his second raceday win.

Raced by the Fairdeal Middle Kingdom, Iking was expertly ridden by Craig Newitt who took up a six month licence to ride in Singapore on 1 January this year.

Newitt is no stranger to Te Akau having donned the famous tangerine colours at Riccarton Park in 2008.   He travelled from Australia at the request of David Ellis and Mark Walker to ride the Te Akau team on 15 November, New Zealand Cup Day.  Amongst those rides was that of Minstrel Court in the $1 million Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas.  That colt, who now stands at stud at Willow Glen, finished third to stablemate Tell A Tale.

Newitt, noted for his patience, certainly showed that skill on Sunday.  Biding his time rear of midfield, Newitt didn't move on the gelding until the final 300m and then the contest was on.  With gritty determination, the pair slogged out the finish to win by a comfortable one length in the final analysis - in a time of 1.41.21 for the 1600m.

Iking is a good example of the racing system in Singapore - the previous winner needed to come back in the rating points to again be competitive and his recent placings certainly indicated that another win was close.  And so it came to pass!

Iking's victory took Mark Walker's tally to five wins, four second, six third and five fourth placings.

It was a great day of racing for the Te Akau team with wins in both countries - exciting 2YO prospect Unsurpassed doing the business at Hawera and so setting the winning theme earlier in the day.