A resurgent Guy Walter had one of his greatest days at the track on Saturday with three-year-olds Streama and Doctor Doom claiming Group Ones on Sydney’s biggest spring race day.
Walter has had a bit of a lean period in the past five years after a golden run in the late 1990s and first half of the 2000s.
But the deeds of Streama and Doctor Doom announced that Walter is back in a big way.
Doctor Doom’s all-the-way victory in the Spring Champion Stakes on Saturday marked Walter’s first Group One success since Excites took out the Sires’ Produce Stakes in the autumn of 2006.
Little more than an hour after Doctor Doom’s triumph, outstanding filly Streama asserted her dominance with a breathtaking performance to space her rivals by 6-1/4 lengths in the Flight Stakes.
“It’s been a great day,” Walter said.
“I think I have won 29 Group One races now and today ranks as a really great day for me.”
Walter has had many great days at the track, none more so than when he prepared an historic Doncaster trifecta in 2005 with Patezza defeating stablemates Court’s In Session and Danni Martine in the famous race.
He won three stakes races in a day at Randwick in September 1998 and also prepared champion Tie The Knot to win two Sydney Cups at Randwick as part of the gelding’s 13 Group One successes.
In recent times the Warwick Farm-based Walter has been rebuilding his team and has opened a satellite stable at Goulburn south of Sydney.
It was at that track, just under a month ago, that Doctor Doom won a class two in a confidence-boosting victory ahead of the spring three-year-old classics.
It says much about Walter’s view to the future that he will resist the temptation to send Streama and Doctor Doom south for the Melbourne carnival.
Doctor Doom will be aimed at next year’s Randwick and Rosehill Guineas, while Walter said Streama had the potential to return and become an even bigger star.
“I’ve fallen into that trap before,” Walter said.
“She’s had four tough runs in quick succession here in Sydney. If we look after her, I’m hoping she can become a multiple Group One winner later on.”
Walter has been quick to praise Hugh Bowman’s handling of Streama throughout this spring and the jockey was happy to send the compliments back.
“Today was great for him, I’m sure, and he’s got great ability to peak horses at the business end,” Bowman said.
AAP TURF
