Michael Walker celebrates first Derby win

BY AIDAN RODLEY

Top jockey Michael Walker cut loose with exuberant celebrations after winning his first New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on Saturday.

But he was brought back down to earth by a close mate soon afterwards.

"I wouldn't go using any of those moves tonight, bro," said his friend.

The former champion rider ensured his pre-race visions of a win in the $2.2 million Gr I 2400m showpiece for three-year-olds materialised courtesy of a impeccable ride on Cambridge gelding Military Move, trained at Cambridge by Shaune Ritchie.

Passing the finishing post, Walker unleashed his customary, yet sometimes controversial pukana and then jibed his detractors by pointing to his tongue and leaving it out to ensure it got plenty of television air time.

After a tearful post-race Trackside interview with horseback interviewer Tommy Hazlett in which he said: "I hope my kids are watching. Kase and Layla - I love you and I love you with all my heart", Walker rode back past a bumper crowd bopping and breakdancing to his Ellerslie post-race-winning theme song.

They were antics the equal of any post-race celebration from his good mate Glen Boss, the Australian jockey famous for his extravagant revelry after winning a big race.

Later, Walker, 25, admitted he had gone "crazy" with his post-race celebrations but said he was on emotion overload from winning his first Derby and knowing how proud his two children would be of him.

"Right now, this means the world to me, for the reason that I've had my ups and downs," he said.

"But I do everything for my kids and almost straight after the post I was crying. I knew I'd just won the Derby and I knew they would be so proud.

"It's always been my dream to win a Derby and an Oaks. I've won the Derby now so it's just the Oaks to go."

Walker's comeback to win New Zealand's richest race is of Lazarus proportions.

By rights, he should have been killed in May 2008 when he fell 20m off a ledge while pighunting in remote King Country bush, spending a night in freezing cold before he could be rescued by helicopter the following day and he was taken to hospital where scans revealed he had more than 30 bleeds on his brain.

The extreme competitor in Walker kicked in and remarkably just seven months later he was back in the saddle winning a race at Matamata.

Walker rode Dane Julia to win the Gr I New Zealand Breeders' Stakes at Te Aroha last season but he has yet to regain the form which saw him ride 173 winners in the nine months of the season leading up to his accident.

Yet, on Saturday, he proved the old adage that form is temporary and class is permanent.

From Military Move's favourable inside barrier draw, Walker took up a handy position, allowing Time Keeper to cross him to get the perfect trial on a moderate pace, with the expected attack on the front from favourite Monaco Consul never eventuating.

Walker moved Military Move up to challenge 300m out and from there he kicked clear, establishing what was to be a winning break with the late-closers Corporal Jones, Handsome Zulu and Zarzuela unable to bridge the gap.

Corporal Jones' effort was especially meritorious after he was brought wide to make his run, with Zac Purton forced to go around Monaco Consul, who had run off on the home turn, yet he still rattled home to only go down a length.

Handsome Zulu was a nose back in third with 1 1/2 lengths back to second favourite Zarzuela in fourth.

Walker's self-belief going into the Derby was unwavering and he said he had visualised his win before even stepping foot on the racecourse.

"I saw Shaune Ritchie at the hotel last night and I said to him for some reason I feel like we've already won the Derby," Walker said afterwards.

"Ever since I galloped [Military Move] on Tuesday, I've never felt more confident about a ride in my life. In my mind, I'd already pictured myself winning the Derby.

"I turned up to races this morning thinking about what it was going to feel like when I won it. I already thought I'd won it, so it goes to show the power of the mind. At the top of the straight I knew I had it won.

"I've had my ups and downs but for the last three months it's the best I've felt. At times I've struggled since I've come back. Not so much my brain, but with fatigue, but I've felt the last three months I'm bang on."

Walker's win will do much to fill his coming riding cards, having struggled at times to gain key rides.

He was quick to capitalise on their marketing side, praising his new manager Hugh Crawford and giving mention to his new website - michaelwalker.co.nz - and to his new sponsors JLT Bloodstock.

But he was also full of praise for Ritchie's handling of Military Move to get the Windsor Park Stud-bred Volksraad gelding to the Derby in peak order.

"Shaune has done an amazing job with this horse to get him here. Nobody thought this horse could stay - maybe a mile or 2000m but not a Derby. He's kept the sprint in the horse but managed to train him to stay 2400m."

- © Fairfax NZ News