Walker Warns of UK Horses Losses Overseas

English trainer Ed Walker has warned that due to a lack of local prizemoney, English racing is at risk of losing many of its best horses. According to racingpost.com, Walker has echoed fears expressed earlier in the spring by fellow trainer David O'Meara who believes UK racehorses are increasingly likely to be the subject of hard to resist offers from overseas. Racehorse Alabama Boy (Awtaad), owned by Lawrence Bellman, is a prime example. After completing a hat trick last week at Newmarket, expressions of interest from Hong Kong have emerged. Walker rationalises, "It's hard for an owner to justify turning down the sort of money that is on the table when they compare it with what they can win here. People abroad can make those sort of offers because, with their prizemoney, they can win it back. We can't." He believes that Britain is ultimately going to become just a nursery for overseas buyers. "More and more Americans and Australians are coming to the yearling sales and buying our best-bred horses," he said. "And our best proven horses are going there and to Hong Kong."