BRISBANE - Classy New Zealand mare Integrate exceeded the expectations of her trainer Mark Walker when she scored a dramatic last-stride victory in the group three $A100,000 Moet & Chandon Labor Day Cup at Doomben yesterday.
Walker, 27, making his first trip to Australia with a team of horses, was uncertain before the race whether the 6-year-old mare would be at home in the quagmire conditions.
"I was pretty worried about the track and had it been a firm track I felt she could win," Walker said.
"But when the rain arrived I wasn't really sure whether she would get through it."
In only his second season of training, Walker is joint frontrunner on the New Zealand premiership with the powerful Paul O'Sullivan stable.
"I've got 45 horses in work and I have to go home on Saturday to keep an eye on my runners over there because it's a goal of mine to win the premiership," Walker said.
After learning his craft with stints at Lindsay Park and also with Gai Waterhouse when she operated a stable in New Zealand, Walker has impressed many Kiwi observers with his results in only a short period of time.
Integrate (15-4 fav) settled midfield for Opie Bosson and Walker was full of praise for his ride.
"He held her up until the last possible minute on that track and I think that's what got her home," Walker said.
Integrate now is firmly on target for the remainder of her weight-for-age campaign in Queensland.
The daughter of Integra will have her next outing in the group two $A200,000 Hollindale Cup (1800m) at the Gold Coast on May 17 before the $A500,000 group one Treasury Casino Doomben Cup (2020m) on May 27.
Bosson believes the mare will be even better on a firm track.
"She didn't handle it all that well but she tries her heart out and got the final bob in," Bosson said.
Integrate's last-stride lunge carried her to a nose victory over Figurehead (4-1) with My Duke (13-2) three-quarters of a length away third.
Jockey David Walsh rated Figurehead unlucky after being forced to work hard to cross to the lead passing the 1200m.
"Shane Dye on Reputed Groom kicked up on my inside for a few strides and that was just enough to make him work that little bit extra," Walsh said.
"But he went down fighting and it was only the last stride that the other mare got him."
My Duke pleased trainer Gerald Ryan with his performance to finish third at his first attempt at a middle distance.
Reputed Groom was heavily backed from 11-2 into 4-1 and was given every chance by Dye before plodding home to finish fourth just ahead of Brew (9-2) who did his Brisbane Cup prospects no harm.
And a decision by trainer Robert Heathcote to part with a $A10,000 ($12,172) late entry fee was handsomely rewarded when promising filly Chenar won the group three $A200,000 Moet & Chandon Champagne Classic (1200m) at Doomben.
After she won at Eagle Farm on April 22, Heathcote convinced his fellow part-owners including Robert Ciobo to pay the late entry fee so Chenar could take her place yesterday.
Despite racing three wide, Chenar (5-1) vindicated the decision to win by 11/4 lengths from Centona (15-1) with Rapid Man (3-1) a long neck away third.
For an initial outlay of $A10,000 at a Queensland yearling sale last year, Chenar has now returned her connections $A247,650.
Racing: Walker’s first win in Aust a big one
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