Guy Walter - A champion trainer remembered

Guy Walter will be remembered as one of racing's finest horsemen.

As the industry today mourns the Warwick Farm-based trainer's tragic and sudden passing, it collectively remembers not only a true gentlemen of the turf, but one of racing's finest, skilled and most thorough conditioner of racehorses.

Horses were a part of Walter's life from the outset. Growing up in Mudgee, a strong association with the local pony club quickly grew to the point where a young Walter firmly set his sights on becoming a horse trainer.

Walter's ultimate success at his chosen trade comes as no surprise when his early mentors are taken into account, strapping Think Big to win the 1974 Melbourne Cup for the legendary ‘Cups King' Bart Cummings, and also working for a period with Neville Begg.

Having set out as a trainer in his own right at Seven Mile Beach, Walter five years later relocated to the Warwick Farm stables where so many of his spectacular successes would come to pass.

The move was a slow burn to begin with, but it wasn't long before Walter's talents came to the fore. Walter himself credited a chestnut gelding named Tie The Knot (below) - who debuted with a 66-1 fifth at Warwick Farm in June of 1997 - with forever changing his standing amidst the training ranks.

Tie The Knot went on to win 13 Group 1 races - including a staggering four consecutive Chipping Norton Stakes, two BMW Handicaps and two Sydney Cups - and was voted Australian Champion Stayer in 2000. That only Black Caviar and Kingston Town won more Group 1 races than this iron stayer of old speaks volumes of Tie The Knot's standing in Australia's turf annals.

Tie The Knot ran his last race in 2002 but star sprinting mare Spinning Hill continued to fly the flag for Walter, carrying that familiar red jacket and white cap to consecutive victories in the Group One Manikato Stakes.

Walter's next flagship horse was to be tough Dehere gelding Defier, a three-time Group One winner and twice runner-up in Australia's weight-for-age championship the Cox Plate.

An ongoing force at Sydney's autumn carnivals, Walter landed a stunning coup in the 2005 Doncaster Handicap when he trained Patezza, Court's In Session and Danni Martine to a famous trifecta (below) - the first trainer in the race's then 139-year history to do so.

In recent years, the unmistakable Walter polish conferred its magic upon star open-class mares Appearance and Streama, with the former retired due to injury on the eve of this autumn just when she looked at the very top of her game.

Walter saddled-up five-year-old mare Streama prior to a magnificent Group One Doomben Cup win just last Saturday, so securing a fourth victory at the highest level for his ultra-consistent stable favourite.

Punters.com.au is deeply saddened by Guy Walter's passing and extends its sincerest condolences to the Walter family.