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Waller weekly news
20 march, 2015
Magic was the order of the day last Saturday with Joao ‘Magic Man’ Moreira steering Brazen Beau to his second Group 1 victory up
the straight at Flemington while in Sydney Winx ensured Peter and Patty Tighe’s Magic Bloodstock colours were first past the post
in the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes. Our four other winners this week came in the form of Spud O’Reilly who finally broke through to
reward his loyal owners, Index Linked who took out the Yarra Valley Cup and two imports in Dance of Heroes and Salford Art at
Warwick Farm yesterday.
This Saturday among the races we are out to capture is the Group 1 George Ryder, a race reserved for the toughest of gallopers
with the likes of some of the stable’s mightiest charges to date having won the race including Danleigh in 2009, Rangirangdoo in
2010 and Metal Bender in 2011.Six stable runners are entered to contest the 1500m million-dollar event. The team is bullish about
He’s Your Man’s chances in the Group 1 Ranvet (won by Foreteller in 2012) while Preferment is really starting to hit his straps and
steps out over 2000m in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas and Heart Testa gets his first crack at the top level as well, contesting the
Galaxy. For a full list of our runners over the coming days, head to the website: www.cwallerracing.com
Stay tuned next week as we launch another competition, this time a photo caption one with some good prizes up for grabs.
We wish you all the very best of luck over the next week!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
•WINNERS
• brazen beau, getting to know lucie pontoir,
stable’s group 1 record up for grabs, star parade
& photos.
www.cwallerracing.com | [email protected] | +612 9760 5700
CHRIS WALLER RACING - WINNERS THIS WEEK
BRAZEN BEAU
3yo C by I Am Invincible - Sansadee by Snaadee
Upstaging the best sprinters in the world, our life-changing
colt Brazen Beau recorded his second Group 1 win up
the straight at Flemington on Saturday in the Newmarket
Handicap. Joao Moreira, who partnered him in his Group 1
Coolmore Stakes win in the spring, was on board again on
Saturday. After settling behind the leaders over the 1200m
sprint, Joao switched him to the inside at the 400m mark
and together they unleashed a devastating final finish to pull
away for a two and three-quarter length win. So confident
in his charge’s ability to win, Joao said “With a furlong to
go, I knew I was going to win the race quite easily.”
winx
3yo F by Streety Cry - Vegas Showgirl by Al Akbar
Highly promising filly Winx made a return to the winners
circle with an explosive victory in the Group 2 Phar Lap
stakes over 1500m at Rosehill on Saturday under Tommy
Berry. She has now scored twice at the Group 2 level and
also gained a placing at the highest level when second to the
brilliant filly First Seal in last years Group 1 Flight Stakes.
The plan last Saturday was to ride her close to the pace,
however this went out the window when she was slightly
tardy from the gates. Tommy Berry didn’t panic and showed
once again why he is a world class jockey by allowing her to
settle at the rear of the field. He sat and waited until well
into the straight and nursed the filly into the race before he
asked her for an effort and she showed her customary turn
of foot to race away for a comphrehensive victory.
index linked
6yo G by Dansili - Fully Invested by Irish
River
With the Mornington Cup as his
immediate target Index Linked showed
that he is in great form and well on track
for that assignment with a tough victory
on Sunday in the $100,000 Yarra Valley
Cup. He was ridden in this 1950m event
by his regular rider Glen Boss who has
struck up a great relationship with the
son of Dansili. Boss had him in the box
seat throughout the race and he travelled
strongly, showing his usual enthusiasm
around the tight turning Yarra Valley Circuit. Once they balanced up in the straight it was a dogged battle to hold off the runner
up Wish Come True. Index Linked dug deep to repel the challenge and record another victory to take out the $60,000 first place
cheque while striking a rich vein of form.
Thanks to Bradley Photographers and
Darryl Sherer for our weekly photos.
www.bradleyphotos.com.au
DANCE OF HEROES
4yo H by Danehill Dancer - Helena Moloney by Sadlers Wells
Racing in the famous colours of Richard Pegum who has
enjoyed much success with his UK imports, this well bred
entire made the best possible start to his career in this
hemisphere when proving successful on his Australian debut
at Warwick Farm on Thursday. Ridden by Tommy Berry in
the 1600m event, the well bred son of Danehill Dancer out
of a full sister to the recently deceased High Chapparal left it
late to grab victory from stablemate Now’s the Time who was
ridden by visiting UK jockey William Buick who incidently
had ridden Dance of Heroes on a couple of occasions when he
raced in the UK. As Nows the Time proved slighly wayward in
the home straight, Berry’s mount took the shortest way home
on the rails and this proved decisive as he charged home late
to get the bob in on the line. Having raced at up to 2400m in
the UK and with his dam being a full sister to Epsom Derby
winner High Chaparral, he will no doubt appreciate stepping
up in distance as his preperation continues.
SALFORD ART
6yo M by Sir Percy - Millay by Polish Precedent
This tough and genuine mare made it back to back staying
wins when taking out the 2200M event at Warwick Farm on
Thursday when ridden by James McDonald. McDonald has
certainly clicked with the imported daughter of Sir Percy
having also been in the saddle for her last start victory over
this course and distance two weeks ago. In similar fashion to
that win, McDonald made his move prior to straightening
making use of her staying power. She was in front with 400m
to run and although challenged strongly by the runner up and
stablemate Flying Sebring, this ex UK mare fought on strongly
under McDonalds urgings and was comfortably holding the
placegetters at the line.
SPUD O’REILLY
4yo G by O’Reilly - Alisara by Zafonic
Having previously shown notable promise on more than one
occasion Spud O’Reilly broke through for his maiden success
over 1200M at Newcastle on Saturday. Having been the subject
of some hard luck stories when placed in midweek company
as a 3 year old, it was good to see him break through for what
will hopefully be a confidence boosting win and was just
reward for his patient group of owners. Mitchell Bell was in
the saddle on Saturday and he gave Spud a very confident ride
tracking the leaders bottled away on the fence. He had to bide
his time until well into the straight before a gap opened up but
he was clearly travelling best and once the opening presented
for him the race was all but over. He skipped away to record
an easy victory and he should gain both confidence and fitness
from this win and go on to make up for his previously luckless
runs in midweek grade.
BRAZEN BEAU A LIFE-CHANGER
FOR LARGE GROUP OF OWNERS
The man who bought and syndicated Australia’s newest star sprinter fancied that he had a decent horse when he
bought Brazen Beau for $70,000 at the Inglis Classic Sale two years ago.
“I had a long-standing friendship with his breeder Bernie Howlett, so knew a bit about him before the sale,” Grant Morgan said.
“Knowing where he’d come from as a yearling gave us confidence ... knowing where he’d been born and how he’d been raised.”
Morgan syndicated Brazen Beau through his company Ontrack Thoroughbreds, signing up 38 owners, many of them first-timers.
But the responsibility of selling a horse to such a broad group really didn’t weigh on him.
“He really looked the part, a well put together horse, and I knew he’d been looked after,” he said.
“There’s always a risk, but I really believed he’d win races.”
But from that point until last Saturday when Brazen Beau won the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap, Morgan and the colt’s owners
have been regularly surprised.
At his first start Brazen Beau won a 2YO Maiden at Canterbury in February last year. At his third start he won the Group 2
Champagne Classic at Doomben, at his fourth start he placed second in the Group 1 Sires Produce and second again in his fifth start
in the Group 1 JJ Atkins Stakes.
After a spell last winter he won the Group 2 Roman Consul Stakes at Randwick with the top colt Hallowed Crown behind him.
The pleasant surprises then turned to dreams for Morgan and his owners when the world’s largest racing organisation, Sheikh
Mohammed al Maktoum’s Darley offered $10 million for Brazen Beau after he won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at
Flemington.
“To be honest, I didn’t envisage Sheikh Mohammed buying him,” Morgan said.
“But Darley has been fantastic and the process has been very smooth.’
The dream got better when Darley allowed the 38 owners to continue to race Brazen Beau on lease and he had his first race under
those terms when second to Lankan Rupee in the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield last month.
And it got even better last Saturday when Brazen Beau produced a run that is likely to have him pressing for the title of world’s best
sprinter.
“I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams thought he’d be as dominant as he was,” Morgan said.
The Brazen Beau story is also something peculiar to Australian racing. Rarely in other horseracing countries are horses syndicated
as broadly as in Australia, one reason being the prizemoney. Many other countries make it much less attractive to own only a tiny
percentage of a racehorse.
“The smallest shareholders have turned a couple of thousand dollars into a couple of
hundred thousand dollars.”
In other jurisdictions, like Japan and Hong Kong where the prizemoney is high,
ownership is restricted to elite groups.
But for the owners of Brazen Beau – who range from bankers, to accountants, to a
bloke who has a lawn mowing round, to a “telco guy” from Fiji - the experience has
been life-changing.
Most paid only around $2,000 for a piece of the horse who has won almost $1.5
million, plus the $10 million from Darley.
“The smallest shareholders have turned a couple of thousand dollars into a couple of
hundred thousand dollars,’’ Morgan said.
When Brazen Beau was sold it was a democratic process with all the owners needing
to agree before it could go ahead. Surprisingly, they did. “I needed a formal sign-off
from every owner and 38 individual signatures on contracts,” Morgan said.
The win also provided a rare piece of trivia, making breeder Bernie Howlett the rider, trainer and breeder of a Group winner.
Howlett’s noteable Group 1 win as a jockey came on the filly Sharply who defeated Tulloch in the 1961 Sydney Cup. He also won
the 1959 Sydney Cup aboard Online.
His best recent stakes winner as a trainer was Belmonte who won a three, including the Group 2 Rough Habit Plate in Brisbane
in 2006. If Brazen Beau wins at Royal Ascot where he is being aimed at the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes, there might be a few
wondering if they should have held out for more. But, as it was pointed out on Saturday, if they’d tried to get a few extra million
they probably wouldn’t have been standing in the mounting yard being presented with the Newmarket trophy. Source: Aushorse.
GETTING TO KNOW LUCIE PONTOIR
Born in Paris, Lucie began riding from a very early age and was enrolled in
a famous racing school, Afasec, in Chantilly at the age of 13 where she spent
three years. During this time she was apprenticed to Rupert Pritchard –
Gordon and rode race day. She then worked for various other trainers including
Elie Lellouche who trained for the very famous Wildenstein family and Mikel
Delzangles who trained 2011 Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden. Lucie has
spent the last few years in Australia working for Bart Cummings before joining
the team at Waller Racing as one of our track-work riders.
Nickname? Luluce or Lucie 2 (at work)
Best quote? The music starts when the power of the words stop.
Favourite part of the job? Improving horses.
Favourite horse? Hoywedge.
Best horse ever seen? Zarkava – a French horse for the Prince Aga Khan
who won the Prix De L’Arc Triomphe, Prix Amrcel Boussac, Prix De La
Grotte, Pouledessai Des Pouliches and the Vermeille. She is the French ‘Black
Caviar’.
Role model? My Dad.
Favourite food? Snails and Frogs of course and crème brulee.
Favourite jockey? Hugh Bowman for sure!!
If you weren’t in racing, what would you have done? I would have been a dance teacher.
If you could invite two people for dinner, who would you invite? My Grandfather and my Mum.
Event in the world that you would most like to attend? I would love to go to the Dubai World Cup.
What would you do with your last $5? I would ring my Dad and ask him for some more money
Tip for the weekend? I have three because three are all going to win – Intimate Moment, Weary and He’s Your Man.
Big-occasion player Chris Waller
must beat the world if he break his
Group 1 record at Rosehill
Chris Waller has dominated Australian Group 1 racing for the last three seasons — but now he has to contend
with international competition if he is to achieve a career best at Rosehill Gardens.
Waller prepared his ninth Group 1 winner for the season when Brazen Beau raced away with the Newmarket Handicap at
Flemington last week, equalling his previous best major race haul set in 2012-13.
Sydney’s premier trainer is poised to clinch the leading Group 1 trainer for the third successive year and has the opportunity to
prepare at least 10 major race winners for the season as early as Saturday.
Waller has leading contenders in four Group 1 races with six starters in the $1 million George Ryder Stakes (1500m) including
highly rated trio Sacred Falls, Royal Descent and Kermadec. The Waller-trained He’s Your Man is one of the favourites for the
$500,000 Ranvet Stakes (2000m).
But if Waller is to win either race, then his horses will
have to beat a powerful international entry.
Japan’s highly rated duo World Ace and Real Impact line
up in the Ryder Stakes while another Japanese runner
Tosen Stardom and Hong Kong’s Dominant are contesting
the Ranvet Stakes.
“I think it is great for our racing to have the Japanese and
Hong Kong horses here for our autumn carnival,’’ Waller
said.
“It is good competition and that is what it is all about —
but it will be even better if we can beat them.
“If we can get 10 Group 1 wins, it would be amazing. I
just hope we can keep it (momentum) rolling.
“You need a bit of luck to fall your way because there no
way of knowing how you are going to compete at this
level of racing.’’
World Ace, Real Impact, Tosen Stardom and Dominant
all completed some strong pacework at Canterbury on
Thursday and are ready for their Australian race debuts.
Melbourne jockey Nick Hall rides World Ace on Saturday
and agreed with Waller that the Japanese presence will
only help elevate Sydney’s autumn carnival and The
Championships to a new level.
“Having these Japanese horses out here are great for
racing, they really are top liners,” Hall said.
“The Japanese train a bit differently and after being in
the industry for 10 years, it’s refreshing to see how they
operate.”
George Moore, who is supervising Dominant’s
preparation for his father, leading Hong Kong trainer John
Moore, is Hong Kong visitor Dominant for his father John, is impressive with the Canterbury Park training facility.
“This is fantastic,” Moore said. “It’s lovely and quiet and the training surface is very good.
“Now this quarantine centre has opened we will be looking to bring more horses over in the future.”
Perhaps Waller’s best chances of Group 1 success on Saturday lie with He’s Your Man, Sacred Falls and Kermadec.
“This is the race He’s Your Man has been aimed at, this race and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes,’’ Waller said.
“He has been improved by his first couple of runs and should be fully fit now.
“Sacred Falls’s first-up run was fine, he got home nicely. He has taken good fitness from that and will improve again.
“I think he is still a run away but with good horses like him he can never be underestimated.’’
LEADING GROUP 1 TRAINERS — 2014-15
Wins Trainer
9
Chris Waller
4
Peter Moody
3
Gai Waterhouse
2
Darren Weir, Mick Price, Bart and James Cummings, Peter and Paul Snowden
SOURCE: Ray Thomas, The Daily Telegraph.
See these two in action on this week’s video preview, discussing the past week,
our upcoming runners and the odd racing issue... CLICK HERE.
STAR & CWR
YEARLING PARADE
A SUCCESS
If you are in the market for a share in a racehorse then Sydney was
the place to be last Sunday with the annual Star Thoroughbreds
Yearling Parade at the Inglis complex in Randwick attracting a
good crowd and showcasing 10 likely prospects.
At the start of last year, Star Thoroughbreds owner Denise Martin
parted company with her long time trainer Gai Waterhouse to
form a new association with champion trainer Chris Waller and 12
months on the new partnership is beginning to show the fruits of
their labours.
They posted their first juvenile winner at Hawkesbury last week
when Sebring filly Pioneering scored stylishly on debut and one
gets the feeling she is likely to be the first of many winners Waller
will train in the purple and white stars. (Click here to read about
her).
Chris Waller was in attendance as was his Bloodstock Manager Guy
Mulcaster, who selects the yearlings and they made some salient
points about the secrets of their success.
“Everyone knows we’re quite kind to our horses and getting them
to the races at any cost is not how we work. It’s about longevity,”
Waller told the crowd.
“This time last year we’d had one two year-old winner – Brazen
Beau- and yet at the end of the season we’d had more two year-old
winners than any other stable.”
Written Tycoon Spring Collection colt.
Yes, the Magic Millions 2YO Classic is worth a lot of money, but so is the entire Magic Millions race day which offers lucrative races
for horses three and upwards over a variety of distances.
“We are about looking after the horse, so you have something that comes back season after season,” Waller added.
Star Thoroughbreds have experienced success right across the spectrum with Golden Slipper winner Sebring, Magic Millions
heroine Driefontein, still racing well at age five, and of course grand campaigner Theseo, who was a top class stakes performer from
age two until age six.
Chris Waller may have a different way of doing things to Star’s previous trainer Gai Waterhouse, but in a few years time there seems
little doubt we’ll be reflecting on a new era of success for Star Thoroughbreds.SOURCE: Breednet. PHOTOS: Lisa Grimm
Royal Descent is one of the very best race horses in Australia and thanks to Aushorse and her owner, Gerry Harvey, you can own 10
per cent in the mare when she runs in the $3 million Group One Star Doncaster Mile, one of Australia's greatest races, on Day 1 of
the Championships, 4th April 2015.
Be there in the mounting yard with trainer Chris Waller as he gives final instructions to her jockey, enjoy the ultimate in hospitality
at Sydney's Royal Randwick, and pick up your share of an incredible $3 million in prize money in the Group One contest- that
could be a massive $150,000 if she wins.
All you have to do is tell Aushorse what you would name her first foal.
Head to the Aushorse Facebook page for
videos of Chris, Gerry Harvey and
strapper Glenn Barnes talking about
Royal Descent.
I Am Invincible Abscond filly.
Stratum - Wings of Pegasus filly.
Snitzel - Starts with a Kiss filly.
Toorak Toff Volksini colt.
Jimmy Choux Downloaded filly.
GO TO
WWW.STARTHOROUGHBREDS.
COM.AU
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
ANY OF THESE HORSES OR
CALL DENISE: +642 9760 5710
Our Little Miracle & Deyke.
Soviet Courage & Ed.
Head to the chris waller racing
facebook page for more photos from
around the stables
Two big colts - Liam & Stimac.
Richard Pegum discussing
Dance of Heroes win on TV.
Index Linked.
David Ackery, Clare and Liam with Salford Art.
Celebrating Winx’s win with
Cellarbrations.
Mariette and Low Places.
Fitzroy
Loiret
Duke De Vega