Walker’s Almaqam wins Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh
Kieran Shoemark hopes Almaqam’s best is still to come and believes the stunning Tattersalls Gold Cup winner is bang in the mix to be the leading light in the red-hot middle-distance division this year.
The Ed Walker-trained five-year-old comprehensively dispatched the likes of dual Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk and Group 1 winner Bay City Roller when scoring by two lengths at the Curragh on Sunday.
It was his breakthrough triumph at the highest level on his first run since finishing third in the Champion Stakes last October.
Almaqam holds entries in next month’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Coral-Eclipse in July and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and his big-race rider holds no fears that his Curragh victory could be a springboard to even greater things.
“Sunday was a very special day,” Shoemark said. “We always knew of his ability, but we didn’t quite expect that performance on his seasonal return. It was a massive effort to beat a high-class field and he’s really exciting for the rest of the season.
“He’s been lightly campaigned and I think he’s been improving off the back of that. He’s five now and he deserves to have those shots in those premier Group 1s for the rest of the season. I’m aware it’s an extremely tough category, this year in particular, but he’s very exciting.”
Almaqam could face off against Arc winner Daryz, who Shoemark finished fourth to on the Walker-trained Qilin Queen in the Prix Aga Khan IV last week, Ombudsman and the reopposing Minnie Hauk at the royal meeting.
He beat Ombudsman in the 2025 Brigadier Gerard Stakes, but was a place behind him in the Champion Stakes.
Shoemark knows rising to the top of a high-class middle-distance division will be tricky, but he believes Almaqam has earned the right to try to topple his fellow stars.
He said: “There’s no getting away from it, it’s an extremely competitive division, but he’s thrown his hat right in the mix and the championship races are the obvious next steps.
“I was very impressed with Daryz at Longchamp – I thought he was exceptional. Obviously, Almaqam has beaten Ombudsman in the past and then was third in the Champion Stakes at the back end of last year, so it’d be nice to have that rematch, too.”
The Tattersalls Gold Cup was just the 12th race of Almaqam’s career, but Shoemark hopes the waiting game has paid off and will enable him to flourish for the remainder of the season.
“He’s been expertly trained by Ed,” he said. “He’s been very patient in building him up to this level. When the ground’s too quick, he’s been very mindful. It was nice ground at the Curragh but it was drying all the time, yet he seemed to handle it very well.
“He had a couple of away days before Sunday, but we like to think there’d be a little bit more improvement to come still.”
Almaqam was the third Group 1 winner Shoemark has partnered for Walker, but they have become more of a force since last summer following the rider’s split from John and Thady Gosden.
Shoemark is determined to reward Walker’s support with more major winners through the year and said: “I’ve been riding a lot more for Ed since around the middle of last season and we didn’t get a Group 1 last year, but we’ve now got one in the bag relatively early this season. Hopefully that sets our standard and we can move on and bag some more.”
