By MIKE DILLON
Nothing comes without a price.
Michael Walker's boss, Allan Sharrock, has found that out in the past 48 hours.
Sharrock has been besieged with phone calls from trainers wanting to engage the red-hot Walker in the next week as he marches on with his premiership bid.
And not all of them have been positive. Sharrock has had to placate disappointed callers, a couple of them prominent trainers.
"The fact is, Michael can't ride three horses in every race.
"I have to make the call for Michael and once the call is made, it's made."
Sharrock sounds like he needs the holiday his apprentice will probably take when he finishes the season at the end of July.
"I admit, it's not easy at the moment," he says.
And through it all, Sharrock's remarkable 16-year-old apprentice keeps producing the goods which are staggering the racing world while giving the impression he is doing no more than walking to the dairy for an ice cream.
He rode trackwork yesterday morning, drove an hour and a half from Taranaki to Otaki to ride 15 horses in pouring rain at the trials and will be the most relaxed face in the jockeys room at Waipa today.
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There will be no such thing as getting value off one of Walker's rides in the next eight weeks, but one of his better rides today could be debut juvenile Ynot Pita.
The Senor Pete filly looked smart winning at last week's Cambridge trials, leading four wide and kicking right away in the closing stages.
She had no problem with a rain-affected track and on her home ground today makes some appeal.
But expect half odds.
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Ken Browne knows Saturday's $50,000 TV Guide Hurdles is a dammed if you do and dammed if you don't race.
Browne would love to have a runner that could put the pressure on likely pacemaker Crojack in New Zealand's toughest hurdles race, but admits he does not have one.
Crojack won the Dunstan Waikato Hurdles at Te Rapa last start because he got a soft lead and the scenario could well be the same on Saturday, Browne fears.
Browne will line up Smart Hunter, Kings Court and Gold Story.
"If nothing goes with Crojack, and I don't think anything will, he'll prove hard to pull back.
"Smart Hunter is the one who could go up to Crojack in the back straight, but then you risk putting too much pressure on yourself."
The job of walking the tactical knife edge with Smart Hunter falls to No 1 stable rider Michelle Hopkins. Gold Story will be ridden by Irish jockey Finbar Leahy and Tasmanian Adam Trinder jumps aboard Kings Court.
Trinder has a successful association with the Browne stable, but risked serious riding engagements through Ellerslie's major carnival with weight problems.
His lightest riding weight at home had been 66kg, but when he arrives here on Friday he'll be trimmed down to making 61kg.
"I'm delighted with that, Adam's a very good rider," says Browne.
Browne is equally delighted over the rain which saturated Ellerslie yesterday."Everything's falling into place for the weekend."
Racing: Phones running hot for cool kid
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