Ed Walker

It has been a strangely discombobulating week in some respects. It started in Westminster last Monday with the All-Party Parliamentary Group issuing its stark warning of the triple threat to the industry posed by potential betting duty harmonisation, affordability checks and an overdue Levy reform. This came on the back of an industry update in Newmarket the previous week at which the TBA chairman Philip Newton warned of a potential catastrophic collapse in the supply chain of young Thoroughbreds in Britain. Then, stepping through the golden gates of Royal Ascot,...

Simon Sadler's TBT Racing was in the number one spot at Royal Ascot for the first time on Saturday as Noble Champion (Lope De Vega) dominated the G3 Jersey Stakes. Highly-regarded by Ed Walker, the half-brother to seven-furlong specialist Pogo had proved frustrating in three starts this term but not here as he came home alone under Kieran Shoemark. Always travelling easily tracking Godolphin's Spy Chief (Kingman) up the centre, the 25-1 shot swooped approaching the furlong pole and despite veering left from there recorded an emphatic 3 1/4-length success...

Few trainers have been in better form of late than Ed Walker, who already has nine stakes winners to his name this season. Prior to a busy week at Royal Ascot, the Lambourn trainer has another shot at Classic glory in Sunday's G1 Prix de Diane with American Gal. The Kameko filly, who races for the Drew Family's Mildmay Racing, won the Listed Prix de Lilas over a mile at Chantilly back in early May. "This has been the plan since then, so I just hope the ground doesn't dry...

Nine years after Almanzor dropped a massive hint that Wootton Bassett might just be a decent sire by winning the Prix du Jockey Club comes the next wave for the stallion whose fee has gone from as low as €4,000 to this year's high of €300,000.  As has been well documented, Wootton Bassett's current crop of three-year-olds are the result of his first season standing at Coolmore in Ireland after one of the biggest transfer deals of recent years saw him leave Haras d'Etreham, where he had made his name...

Having promised to make his presence felt in the better middle-distance contests for a while, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's Almaqam delivered on Thursday evening in Sandown's G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes. Taken to the front early by Oisin Murphy, the 7-4 second favourite predictably faced his sternest challenge from the 5-4 market-leader Ombudsman inside the last two furlongs but stayed on strongly to end that rival's unbeaten sequence by 1 3/4 lengths. This win came at the track at which the apple of Ed Walker's eye had wowed 12 months ago...

Paying a big compliment to her Listed Pretty Polly Stakes conqueror Falakeyah on Saturday, TBT Racing's Qilin Queen booked her ticket to the Oaks in Newbury's Listed Childwickbury Stud Fillies' Trial Stakes. Quickly placed on the lead by Hollie Doyle, the Ed Walker-trained daughter of Pinatubo had to battle late to get to the line in front of the Lawn Stud homebred Revoir but proved up to the task to score by a short head as the 18-5 second favourite. The runner-up, a daughter of Study Of Man who also...

It's too soon, isn't it, to be thinking about this year's first-season sires? Well, not according to bookmaker Paddy Power, which has already released a market on this year's championship for Britain and Ireland, installing Starman (GB) as odds-on favourite to take the crown. There are a number of good reasons to imagine that this might be the case. For a start, the Group 1-winning sprinter stands at Tally-Ho Stud, which enjoys loyal support from many commercial breeders as well as backing their own stallions to the hilt. In recent...

It was perhaps fitting last week that the inaugural edition of Winter Watch going to print should coincide with the arrival of snow across many parts of Britain, albeit we now find ourselves with one less meeting to report on after the cold snap brought terminal consequences for a certain all-weather track in Nottinghamshire. Consider yourself lucky if you spent that particular Monday evening in the warmth of home, cup of tea in hand ready to find out what this Winter Watch was all about. Meanwhile, all of those involved...

Capping her career in style, Brightwalton Bloodstock's Makarova (GB) (Acclamation {GB}--Vesnina {GB}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}) signed off with a gallant success in Sunday's G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp Longines. Having shown how much she relishes a slow surface when taking the G3 Sandown Sprint Stakes in July, the Ed Walker-trained 5-year-old from an esteemed Cheveley Park family had put up an ideal prep when third behind Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) in last month's G1 Flying Five at The Curragh but still traded at an inflated and overly-generous...

Rockcliffe Stud's Listed Empress Stakes victrix Celandine (GB) (Kingman {GB}--Pepita {Ire}, by Sir Prancealot {Ire}), who collected minor prizes in last month's G2 Prix Robert Papin and G3 Molecomb Stakes, regained the winning thread with a pillar-to-post victory in Thursday's G2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes at York. The 13-2 chance broke sharply and seized an immediate lead in this six-furlong 2-year-old contest. Holding a slender advantage throughout, she came under pressure soon after passing the quarter-mile marker and was ridden out inside the final furlong to hold the late charge...

Rockcliffe Stud's homebred Celandine (GB) (Kingman {GB}--Pepita {Ire}, by Sir Prancealot {Ire}) followed up a May 24 debut seventh at Goodwood with a breakthrough score at Windsor earlier this month and continued on a roll with a career high in Saturday's Listed Maureen Brittain Memorial Empress Fillies' Stakes at Newmarket. The Ed Walker trainee broke sharply from the stands' side stall and seized an immediate advantage in this black-type bow. In command throughout, the 9-1 chance came under pressure when threatened passing the quarter-mile marker and kept on strongly up...

Waipiro (Ire) (Australia {GB}), winner of the G3 Hampton Court S. at Royal Ascot last week for PK Siu and Ed Walker, has run his last race in Britain and is set to continue his career in Hong Kong. The winner of a Newmarket novice in April, Waipiro was then second in the Lingfield Derby Trial and sixth in the Derby itself. His half-brother Waikuku (Ire) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) was a multiple Group 1 winner in Hong Kong in the same colours, landing the Stewards' Cup twice, including when beating...