Walker savours golden moment in Counties Cup

21st Nov 2011

Aidan Rodley, Waikato Times

Following the advice of Olympic great John Walker has led to Pukekohe trainer Don Walker landing the biggest prize of his racing career - Saturday's Group Two Counties Cup.

Don Walker produced exciting staying prospect Postmans Daughter (NZ) (Postponed) to land the Pukekohe 2100 metre feature and afterwards revealed he had modelled his training methods around advice he received from the middle-distance running great.

"I just went and saw him as soon as I started training,'' said Don Walker, no relation to the 1976 Montreal 1500m gold medallist.

"I thought I'd think outside the square and shy away from taking other trainers' advice. John gave me a insight into training. He said once fit, the horse's ability would look itself.

He said do a lot of long, slow work and once you've got you fitness base to back off your mileage and do some short sprints but not to over-do it. And those methods have worked pretty well for me.''

A retired dairy farmer, Don Walker began training in 1998, with one of his first horses, Darth Vader (NZ) (Prince of Praise), winning a 2500 metre race at Flemington in July 2002 with jockey Nash Rawiller aboard.

That highlight paled as Pukekohe jockey Danielle Johnson rode a tactically impeccable race to guide Postponed (Summer Squall) four-year-old mare Postmans Daughter (NZ) to her Counties Cup victory.

Walker pointed to John Walker's training advice as a key factor in Postmans Daughter's win.

"I've always said she had ability but she never showed it early on, until we made her do short wind sprints and she's just turned the corner,'' he said.

"I won at Flemington - that was a thrill - but this is the biggest win I've had, at Group Two''

Walker said he began in racing, taking a half-share in a horse with a mate, which led to him deciding to have a go at training himself.

"I went to the sales and bought half a dozen horses for NZ$300 or NZ$400 each and they all turned out all right and it's just gone from there.''

Walker bred Postmans Daughter (NZ) out of Kinjite (NZ) (Centaine) mare Kinjabelle (NZ), who he had prepared to win two races.

"The other ones out of the mare have been no good at all. This is the only one that's been any good,'' he said.

Johnson hunted Postmans Daughter (NZ) forward early and led into the first turn, one off the fence, before handing up and getting the coveted one-out and one-back position in fourth.

She peeled three wide on the turn into the clear and urged her mount to sprint 300 metres out, with Postmans Daughter (NZ) putting a break on the field then holding off a late challenge from Cambridge stayer Mr Tipsy (NZ) (Montjeu) to score by a long head.

Favourite November Rain (NZ) (Stravinsky) was one-and-a-quarter-lengths back in third, a short head in front of second favourite Prairie Star (NZ) (High Chaparral).

It was Postmans Daughter's fourth win from 13 starts and took her earnings to just shy of NZ$100,000.

It was her second black-type performance, with her previous start second in the weight-for-age Group Three Te Hana Sparkling Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie having convinced Johnson to defer a suspension handed down at Tauranga last weekend so she could ride her.

"It's good when you make a right decision in racing because more often than not, you get it wrong,'' she said.

"The way she went in the weight-for-age last start I always thought she'd be a good shot to win this race on a low weight.

"I got a perfect run just in behind the pace, got off when I wanted to and she's been too good.

"This is probably my biggest win. I've done most of the work with this horse so that makes it even better.''

By deferring her suspension, Johnson ruled herself out of the ride on Randall (NZ) (Howbaddouwaitit) in Friday's Group One Levin Classic (1600m) at Otaki, with Jason Collett her replacement.

Johnson's win was her sixth at stakes level this season. Only she and Sam Spratt, also on six stakes, have more than three Group or Listed wins to their credit so far this season.

It was her second Group win in seven days after riding the Chris Wood-trained Lady Chaparral (NZ) (High Chaparral) to win at Tauranga last weekend.

For good measure she went on to win the Listed Counties Bowl aboard Undisclosed (NZ) (Pins) in the next race.