Walker walks the talk

Newly crowned King of Kranji hopes S'pore racing can ride the Covid-19 storm out

When a three-time champion trainer is flushed with new blood and numbers, it could mean only one thing: a fourth title is in store.

New Zealander Mark Walker capitalised on it to achieve just that at the recently concluded 2021 Singapore racing season.

The aptly named King Arthur, one of his many promising new horses, gave him his season's 66th winner for him to be officially crowned King of Kranji for the fourth time in 11 years.

He was champion in 2015 (86 winners), 2017 (87 winners) and 2019 (73 winners).

But, while he enjoyed a great season, the major races eluded him again. He has not won a Group race since Elite Invincible's victory in the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup over 2,000m in 2018.

It was reigning champion Michael Clements who led for most of the season. But, after Walker levelled up on 49 winners with Maximilian on Aug 29, he never looked back.

Clements finished second with 58 winners. Singapore Gold Cup-winning Daniel Meagher was third, with 35 winners.

Besides having the blue blood running through his veins - he was also champion in his native land five times - Walker was also supported by numerical advantage.

He sent out 678 runners for a 9.73 per cent winning average.

Clements filed 389 runners for 14.91 per cent - the highest of the two-dozen trainers based at Kranji. Meagher was the next highest - 12.82 per cent with 35 wins from 273 runners.

Walker said he was not losing sleep over over the championship chase, but it was great to win it again after all the hard work throughout the year.

"I have to thank my owners and a great team of staff. We must not forget I'm just the captain of the ship and I need a whole crew behind," he said.

"The key to it is to have new horses coming through, and I've been lucky in that regard."

While he was happy with his fourth title, Walker turned a bit sombre on what lies ahead on the Singapore racing landscape, although he admitted he was one of the "lucky ones".

"Unfortunately, most owners, including Te Akau, would rather sit back and see what's going to happen at the moment," he said.

"I've been here for 11 years and won four champion trainer titles, something which I never thought I would achieve when I first arrived.

"But what I remember more from my first year is what the club looked like then. How I wished we could go back to those days.

"I still believe Singapore is one of the greatest countries in the world to live in. I wish the Government could get behind racing to get it going again, like the way it's done in Australia, where every state gets behind its racing and has been a real catalyst.

"We can't hide behind Covid-19 all the time, as I believe we can get it under control. Racing has got to turn around as it's not sustainable for us any more.

"I'm the lucky one with a full barn. But some of the other trainers don't have that. Still, we've got to hope we can ride out the storm as I really don't think this is rock bottom."

Well said, Champ.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 04, 2021, with the headline Walker walks the talk. Subscribe