Ed Walker Flat season stable tour
Ed Walker hopes the move from Newmarket to Lambourn will provide him with plenty of success in 2017 - we got the latest from the young trainer ahead of the start of the new Flat season.
Having lived a nomadic existence in Newmarket since 2010, trainer Ed Walker looks to have finally found a place he can call home after making a winter switch to Lambourn.
Despite the upheaval of relocating from Suffolk to Berkshire, the early signs of his move appear to be positive with Walker already having notched over half of last year's total of 27 winners.
With his stable stars and brightest prospects still to be unleashed, Walker has selected five horses he hopes will continue the good fortune he has enjoyed on the all-weather when the action returns to the turf this weekend.
He said: "We've had a really good start down here. It has been hard work with moving all the horses, but I am very happy to be down here.
"I loved my time in Newmarket, but I was brought up around here and this is an exciting new chapter.
"The gallops here are much stiffer, but having the all-weather team has got our eye in and so far it is working well. I have a really good team of owners that have been supportive and we have had to recruit new staff and it is now just about getting everyone on the same page."
Walker on five horses to follow:
"He had three runs last year and ran well in a £20,000 maiden at Chelmsford and finished third. He has done very well. He is a big, strong horse and a nice horse going forward this year when there is cut in the ground.
"He should be a fun horse to go to war with in staying handicaps. He is only rated 75 but I think he will be a progressive horse in that division."
"He won a maiden at Windsor on his second start and he will probably start off in handicaps and see how far up the ratings we can go. He is a big horse by Archipenko that is very raw and unfurnished. He did well to win at two and George Baker was impressed with him.
"We will probably start him at a mile, but I expect his trip to be a mile and a quarter. He is straightforward but we've not pushed the buttons on him at home yet this year."
"She won her maiden at Newcastle last year. She is by Sepoy, but there is a lot of stamina in the mare. I think she will stay a mile and a quarter and she is entered in some big races in France.
"She is in the French Guineas and the Prix de Diane. She could head over to France in April for a Group Three, but I think she is more likely to go for a conditions race at Kempton for fillies over Easter. She is exciting."
"He is obviously massively exciting. After (winning) the Craven Stakes, nothing went right for him. The only really good preparation he had was for the Prix Jean Prat. Every other time he ran, something held us back. It was nothing major, just frustrating things.
"So far this year we've had a good preparation. We will probably end up going to Doncaster on Saturday as the Group Three at Saint-Cloud on Sunday looks a strong one. After his first run he will head to Sha Tin for the Champions Mile. It will be great for the owners for him to run at their home track. It will be competitive as the mile division is strong there, but hopefully he will be good enough to run well. Hopefully his first run will put him in good shape for Hong Kong.
"There is then plenty of time after that to get him ready for the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot. He deserves a Group One as he has been second in two of them."
"He is our exciting three-year-old colt this year. He is a big horse by Excelebration. He did well to achieve what he did at two. He has done well and has strengthened up from two to three and is in good order.
" I'm not sure where we will start him. We will start him off around Craven week, but he won't go to Newmarket as he didn't handle the dip in the Somerville Stakes but still ran creditably.
"We are looking at going for either the Greenham or, if we fancy stepping him up to a mile, a conditions race at Kempton over Easter. That is where we will probably go. If he was to win there, we would look towards the French Guineas."