Racing: Walker touts Balmuse for Melbourne Cup run

David Walker does not rule out Balmuse being a Melbourne Cup horse.

The Palmerston North jockey thinks Balmuse can almost walk on water after overcoming shocking luck to pull the $80,000 Coca Cola Canterbury Gold Cup out of the ambers.

In doing so he ensured the $750,000 Pick6 at Riccarton on Saturday was struck.

Had Balmuse been even half a length off, the $60 chance Western Line would have taken the Cup and the Pick6 would have jackpotted beyond $1 million.

With Balmuse winning at $2.05 there were only 3.72 Pick6 winning units for a payout of $201,612 per unit.

Walker gave Balmuse a beautiful trip for most of the race, but as the field approached the home turn, rival jockeys had the favourite locked in a tight pocket.

Balmuse bounced off several horses as Walker tried to extricate him. Finally the only option was to pull back and lose ground going around the outside.

"I couldn't believe how quickly he got to them," said a relieved Walker. "He got to the front between the 150m and the 100m and he started to loaf, which is the only reason I produced the whip ... "

Walker won't declare Balmuse the best horse he's ridden because he doesn't want to upset two of his great mates, Cent Home and Irish Rover.

"Cent Home was something else - if he'd been sound he could have been anything. And I rode a horse called Pacific Prince in Singapore that was very, very good."

Walker endorses Balmuse on one level.

"He's got the best turn of foot of any horse I've ridden. He goes from zero to 100 very quickly.

"There's no reason why he won't go 2400m because he doesn't do anything until you ask him and I believe he could even be a two-mile horse."

There was a general feeling that Balmuse could have been vulnerable on Saturday.

The previous Sunday he had resumed racing after more than six months to win at Marlborough. To re-produce him six days later to a 2000m stakes race defies every principle of thoroughbred training.

But then trainer Kevin Myers thrives on being different.

"He felt terrific, it's a great tribute to Kevin," said Walker. "I thought there was the potential for the horse to struggle."

The handful who got a share of the Pick6 have reason to applaud the class of Balmuse, but for the vast majority there is disappointment there is not a million dollar-plus pot to have a crack at this week.

Saturday provided a magnificent example of how difficult and expensive it is to win a Pick6.

Based on favouritism, to go just wide enough to snare the four winners outside Balmuse and Ombre Rose would have required 840 units, a cost of $420 for the 50 cent units.

But of course that is a hypothetical exercise - in reality to have included the likes of Tiddley Todd ($24) and Quantum Dude ($16) you would have had to go wider in a couple of legs, a spend of around $600 to $700.

And that was anchoring Balmuse and Ombre Rose, around which hung a slight question mark.