Blake Shinn will walk into Rosehill racecourse on Saturday with his riding gear and a heavy heart.
He will take pause and find a quiet moment to remember his friend, the late trainer Guy Walter who died suddenly from a heart attack in May.
Shinn regarded the horseman as a father figure and Saturday’s mid-winter meeting will be the final time a horse is saddled up under the Walter name.
“It’s going to be a very sad day on Saturday and I just hope we can say goodbye to the stable on a great note,” Shinn said.
“It’s the end of an era.”
Shinn was closer to Walter than most.
He was his stable jockey, they celebrated big wins together and just five days before Walter’s death they combined to win the Group One Doomben Cup with Streama.
Shinn and injured jockey Peter Robl have rallied around Walter’s wife Wendy, helping in the stable and at the track, their presence allowing her the space to make some important decisions about her future, including the tough one to close the racing business as of Saturday.
The Walter stable will be farewelled with four runners – Sense Of Occasion, I’ve Got The Looks, Dream Folk and Party Dress.
Shinn will ride two of them. Robl will help saddle them up. The two men will go about their business, for Wendy and for Guy.
“What I’ve done over the last six weeks I’ve done not just to help Wendy, but to honour Guy’s name,” Robl said.
“Hopefully the runners can honour Guy’s name and he can be shown the respect he deserves.
“Rather than being a sad day, we should think of it as a day when we’re doing what Guy loved to do and that’s go to the races.”
There will be emotion if any of the quartet win.
There will be emotion if they don’t.
There will be memories shared, sadness and laughter, all underpinned by a man as widely liked for his kind spirit as he was respected for his horsemanship.
And all of it for Wendy too, Walter’s rock and his other half.
For Shinn, the day will bring a sense of finality.
“I feel we’re saying goodbye to him on the racetrack on Saturday for the final time,” Shinn said.
“Hopefully we’re going to celebrate it with a winner.”
