“She was going to go that 1400m first up into what was going to be the Matamata Cup over 1600m last Saturday, but that was transferred and the meeting was run on a heavy track so we opted to start her over the 1300m last Wednesday.
“That is why we trialled her on Tuesday, to get that extra fitness into her and also take some of the freshness out of her.
“She looks well but this is obviously not how we would prefer to prepare her for a 2040m race.”
Even if Walker and training partner Sam Bergerson can pull off the miracle of having Campionessa at her peak today, they have another concern over the weather.
Te Rapa was rated a Soft 7 with the rail back in the true yesterday, but showers were forecast for last night along with a few today, and Walker says the drier the better for Campionessa.
“Like a lot of mares she really likes the wet tracks less and less as she gets older,” he says.
“She has wet-track form but that was when she was coming through the grades and I am sure now she races better off tracks firmer than a Soft 6. So she has a few challenges this week.”
Campionessa is one of the few true Group 1 horses in the Livamol and has Opie Bosson riding from a good draw, so she can obviously still win. But she has enough against her to suggest One Bold Cat is a better bet, especially if more rain falls today than expected.
He was excellent in winning the Arrowfield at Matamata last Wednesday, should be better suited by the 2040m today and is now a proven Group 1 weight-for-age horse in a race lacking them.
No Compromise appeals as the blowout chance at $16 in a race that could have tempo.
Walker and Bergerson have a busy day, with other winning chances at Te Rapa, Ashburton and Caulfield.
“I think our best chance at Te Rapa is My Lips Are Sealed [R10, No.4] but that is a strong R75,” says Walker.
The stable has four in the Group 3 Barneswood Farm Stakes at Ashburton and rate Dream Of The Moon as their best hope, but not by much.
She will be ridden by Victorian jockey Liam Riordan, who has flown over to partner five horses from their stable today and could even return for New Zealand Cup week in November if his first raceday in New Zealand goes well.
Bellatrix Star will try to make it three wins on end when she contests a Group 2 over 1100m at Caulfield and while she is stepping sharply up in grade, she only has to carry 51kg.
“She is flying and even though she is taking on the older horses, with that light weight she can go very close.”
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
