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Waller weekly news
24 APRIL, 2015
Kermadec puts a healthy gap between himself and his Doncaster rivals.
Mates against mates - Grand Marshal wears down the gallant Who Shot Thebarman for his maiden Group 1 success in
Rugged Cross (white bridle) gets his nose down at the
Saturday’s Sydney Cup.
right time for an exhilirating Saturday win.
Rugged Cross’ exhilirating win at Randwick on Saturday provided the stable’s sole victory and enough adrenaline to get us by in what has been a
tough seven days battling the weather. Credit and big thank you must go to the Sydney team for coping and getting the job done in some of the
most trying conditions people outside of the emergency services must have had to have worked in this week.
On an incredibly sad note, Rugged Cross’s win is the last we will get to enjoy with prolific stable supporter, Mr Ken Hunt who sadly passed
away yesterday morning. A wonderful, softly spoken and kind gentleman, we have enjoyed plenty of special moments with Ken, who raced Hawk
Island in his own right in his late wife’s colours and shared in the ownership of the majority of our imports including the likes of Foreteller,
Moriarty, Kelinni and Wazn to name just a few. Ken’s great passion for racing, especially those of English origin like himself, was infectious
and we and his fellow owners will most certainly miss his wit, depth of knowledge and level approach to enjoying his racing in the months and
years to come. Our love and thoughts are with Ken’s family and his partner Debbie as we look to Foreteller and Moriarty get home well in the
Hollindale on Saturday in his memory.
As one carnival ends, we launch straight into the next and this Saturday our first Queensland Winter Carnival charges step out on the Gold Coast
on Saturday. They have all settled in well to their temporary home with Foreteller, Moriarty, Hawkspur and I’m Imposing vying for the stable’s
third Gr.2 Hollindale Cup having won it twice before with the toughest of the tough in Metal Bender and My Kingdom of Fife.
We wish you all a safe Anzac weekend and the very best of luck over the next week!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
•WINNER
• stable launches queensland team, dream believer,
chris waller at the top of his game, getting to
know tom simpson, photos & more.
www.cwallerracing.com | [email protected] | +612 9760 5700
CHRIS WALLER RACING - WINNERS THIS WEEK
rugged cross
6yo G Cape Cross x Lunda by
Soviet Star
Imported gelding Rugged Cross
relished the softer underfoot
conditions to return to the winners
enclosure at Randwick on Saturday.
Given a daring ride by Brenton
Avdulla, the son of Cape Cross
pounced late to take out this 1400m
event.
Having drawn wide, Avdulla opted
to go back early on and found a spot
close to the rails. The duo were last
early and were still only in eighth
position with 400m left to run.
Avdulla weaved a passage between
horses and Rugged Cross stretched
his neck out to gain a gutsy victory. This was a fifth career victory for Rugged Cross and with four of those have being on Soft or
Heavy going, the recent weather in Sydney has certainly be to Ruggy’s liking!
Thanks to Bradley Photographers and
darryl sherer for our weekly photos.
www.bradleyphotos.com.au
Ken Hunt with his beloved Hawk Island. 48 starts, 10 wins & 10 placings for $837,147.
Chris Waller quartet begins
journey towards Doomben Cup
Having finetuned the formula for Queensland success during the past five years, Chris Waller launches another sunshine state raid
with up to four runners in Saturday’s Hollindale Stakes.Previous visitors Foreteller, Moriarty and Hawkspur return, along with revitalised nine-year-old He’s Imposing. “With WFA horses, we make a call pretty early on in the Sydney carnival. If we think they are
going to be competitive in the Queen Elizabeth we push on, if not, we back off and go to Queensland,” Waller said.
“These are four pretty good horses that are one step below Queen Elizabeth standard, but well-placed in Queensland.”
Waller won the Hollindale with Metal Bender (2010) and My Kingdom Of Fife (2011), and this quartet will then likely push on to
the Doomben Cup, which the stable won with Metal Bender and Beaten Up (2013).But
while the older horses have done well for the stable, it’s with the unheralded youngsters
where Waller has really found gold in Queensland.
“We tested the waters in the early days, had a winner here and there, brought a few more
up and ended up winning Group races, then Group 1 races,” Waller said.
“You go back the next year, take a few extra, be a bit more experimental and next thing
you get your Zoustars and Brazen Beaus to come out of it.
“We don’t like to take too many. Obviously Sydney autumn carnival is our main focus, but
I see Queensland as a nursery for the next generation and I’ve been preparing horses for
that.”
Sadler’s Lake has been earmarked for the Queensland Derby, while Counterattack and
Encosta Line will be given their chance in the juvenile features.Winx and Ballet Suite are
going to press on from their Australian Oaks runs to tackle the Queensland division.
“Counterattack is a brother to Red Tracer and Shellscrape, who both used Queensland as
My Kingdom of Fife.
platforms for their successful careers,” Waller said.
“He’s a horse we could have pushed on towards the Golden Slipper, but I didn’t think he could win it. I think he is a three-year-old
and I think Queensland will make him, as it did with Zoustar, Brazen Beau and Pressday.
“Encosta Line is similar to Counterattack. He ran second at Randwick, then we put him out.
“We’re sacrificing some pretty big races, but you know you’re going to have a horse at the end of it and you’re not going to fall into
the trap of just being a part of the autumn carnival, which some horses fall into.” Source: Courier Mail.
Dream believer: Chris Waller at the
top of his game
Chris Waller is the dominant trainer of Australian racing.
In each of the past three seasons he has beaten Gai Waterhouse to be Australia’s leading Group 1 trainer and
in the same time, his horses have won a stunning $60
million in prizemoney.
From humble beginnings, he now has 300 horses on the
books and controls 70 staff between his Sydney and Melbourne stables. He is about to mount another raid on
the Queensland carnival, where he launched the careers
of multi-million dollar colts Zoustar and Brazen Beau in
the past two years.
You have a long history with Queensland, having come here as a strapper in the 1990s. More recently, you have
built a very successful relationship with a number of Queensland owners, winning big races with the likes
of Shoot Out, Rangirangdoo, Brazen Beau, Kermadec, Preferment, Amicus and Winx. You will be an adopted
Queenslander the way you are going.
They are great people the Queenslanders, be it owners or racegoers.You always get treated well, be it at the track in the morning or
on raceday by the everyday punter. It’s easy to warm to. When I was a strapper it was the same, probably even bigger than it is now.
To get a call-up to strap a horse in Queensland for the winter carnival, it was like making the bloody rep team.
You would get on that plane and feel so proud, then touch down in Brisbane and you would think you’re pretty important.
What keeps driving you?
In the early days it was the fear of failing. Even to this day, there’s that expectation to stay at a certain level. Whether it be winning
Group 1 races consistently, winning a premiership or just keeping owners happy. I don’t like to fail. I just want to maintain and do
the best I can.
Doing the best I can seems to work ... I have a great family life, good support people around me. So there’s no real chinks that are
going to hold me back. Why do I do it? It’s easy when you’ve got a good family life and a good support team, good owners and good
horses. It’s just a perfect life in my opinion.
Is there a rivalry between you and Gai Waterhouse? What sort of relationship do you have?
Gai would have to be close to my most respected person in racing. Gai has been a terrific help to me — she’s proud of my success,
believe it or not, and I’m the first one to congratulate her when she wins a Golden Slipper. Ten years ago, she was like me. All I do
is live for racing and push myself close to the limit. She is the first one to give me advice if I need it. Quite often it’s on a personal
scale, making sure I’m taking a break, talking about how tough we do it when the sales are on, or during a carnival ... She’s the goto lady for me. It’s a pretty good relationship. She’s most professional and puts on her game-day face, and her marketing skills are
second to none, but outside of that she is a lovely lady who is more of a mother to everybody than a competitor. It’s a shame people
don’t see that in her ... she has a wonderful kindness in her heart. She’s a beautiful lady.
You came to Sydney with barely a horse and it was tough going in the early years. Did you ever think of going
home to New Zealand?
It never entered my mind. I was young and you didn’t know much better. It was just a matter of surviving.
You and your wife Stephanie now have a young family, with Tyler (5) and Nikita (2). Has that changed anything for you?
They are great for a horse trainer. We don’t have late nights. It’s good to come home to some reality. Whether you have that amazing
Group 1 day, or that day of beaten favourites, my kids don’t care. They still have a big smile on their face when I walk through the
door ... It’s a great way to level the emotion and bring you back to reality.
Do you ever get a holiday or even take a day off?
I have a family day on Sundays. I work four or five hours on the computer at home, just preparing for the week, call into the stables
and get the reports. Every night I turn my phone off at 6pm. Everybody understands and respects that — and the phone is off most
of the day on a Sunday. I take five or six days off twice a year, straight after the Sydney and Melbourne carnivals, (but) I still work
seven or eight hours a day while I’m away via my computer.
Will the emotion you show after a big race win ever change for you? Will it ever become blasé?
It’s starting to change already. There are certain days when I really struggle and there’s other days when it’s no problem at all. I still
remember the tough days. They are getting longer ago and not as significant, but remembering the tough days after you win a good
race makes your throat go a bit. Then you come down to other things. When Brazen Beau won the Newmarket, he had to beat the
best in Australia. We flew under the radar a bit that week and didn’t create any huge expectations. When they come out and win, it
just slaps you in the face because you dare not think about it because of the fear of disappointment.
You have 300 horses on the books. How do you identify them all?
Once they’re in work, it’s easy, because I see them three or four times a day minimum. It’s like people. If you run into someone
three or four times a day, you soon get to know them. The new ones take a week to get familiar with, the old ones you can pick
them off the truck. They are like your best mates, that’s why I get so attached to them. It’s the same with 70 staff. The first thing I do
in the morning, I start at box one, look at every horse and say hello to every staff member. I made a point right from the start. Once
you get into these little routines and have a bit of success, you dare not change it.
Is it unfair to say you fancy one horse more than another?
It’s not unfair, but I couldn’t single one out. The longer they have been with you, the closer you get to them. At the moment, the
likes of Foreteller, Catkins, Hawkspur are names that jump out.
Foreteller has been to Brisbane, broke his leg in a Doomben Cup, we nursed it back to full health and I think he’s won three Group
1 races since. Catkins has a great temperament. She’s not a superstar, but she tries so hard and that’s why she’s won a lot of good
races. Horses like Zoustar and Brazen Beau are only with you 12 to 18 months and then they’re gone to the breeding barn. The ones
that have been in the stable a long time are like pets to my staff and I.
How do you keep that many owners satisfied?
Training winners. That’s the main one, and modern day communications. Simple as that.
You often have multiple runners in a race. How do you balance the expectations of different owners?
You start by putting them in the right race, put good jockeys on, because they make less mistakes and can do amazing things in races.
You give them a good honest assessment of how the horse is working and you do the form properly, so you can tell them whether
or not we think it can win. Of course, horses can disappoint, or run above expectations. We keep a level head and try not to create
highs and lows that can occur if you build a horse up too much or simply say a horse can’t win.
What’s your strike rate like in assessing your horses against each other?
There’s not many surprises, but it does happen. The Sydney Cup is a good example. Who Shot Thebarman ran third in a Melbourne
Cup. I said to his owners ‘he’s a very good chance, but we have to beat the Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist and the favourite
Hartnell.’ I said to the Grand Marshal owners, ‘do you want to run in the race? It looks a strong year for the Sydney Cup, but the
horse has been set for the race and he might improve and go to a new level over two miles.’ So he had no expectations, the owner,
but we gave him that chance. Source: Nathan Exelby, Courier Mail.
GETTING TO KNOW tom simpson
A country boy from Barraba (near Tamworth) Tom Simpson had an early association with horses and found he got along better with
them than people. After high school Tom came to Sydney to do Physiotherapy and did four years of this course to find he couldn’t
stand it so following that gained a Masters in Animal Physiotherapy specializing in horses.
Tom’s role as an Equine Physiotherapist for the stable involves pre-race assessment and treatment, maintenance treatment for
chronic cases and implementing programs involving stretching routines, heat/ice, ultrasound and other modalities commonly used
in Physiotherapy. Tom counts himself to have been extremely lucky to have had the support from leading trainers such as Chris
Waller.
Nickname? Magic Hands, only joking I just wanted to see Liam be sick, no nickname.
Best quote? The grass is greenest where you water it most.
Favourite part of the job? I treat horses not people.
Favourite horse? Shoot Out.
Best horse ever seen? Frankel.
Role model? Hugh Hefner.
Favourite food? Seafood.
Favourite jockey? James Doyle.
If you weren’t in racing, what would you have done? Medicine.
If you could invite two people for dinner, who would you invite? Warren Buffet and Will Farrell.
Event in the world that you would most like to attend? Pacquio vs Mayweather.
What would you do with your last $5? Casino. Tip for the weekend? Religify.
Astro Sun ‘Hey Deyke, this Flemington grass tastes kinda good’
Rye.
Mathison.
Raquel and Hursley.
Astro Sun.
Scandal Sheet.
Hursley.
Last week’s Flemington jump out
photos from Darryl Sherer.
Arapahoe Moon.
Multifacets.
Abbasso and Jessie.
Trade Commissioner and Katie.
So hot right now...
Silverball strikes a pose.
Vicky showing what is usually
a concrete walk way from the
stables to the horse walkers!!
Weary and co looking smug watching
the rain with their cosy winter woolies
at the ready.
JF and Ballet Suite.
Arecibo.
Inside the Stryker - Casula Girl filly and outside the Smart
Missile - Thirst filly. Both yearlings have been broken in,
spelled and are currently pre-training at CWR work rider Dan
Robinson’s DPR Breaking.
Dan Robinson on Queen Elizabeth
Stakes winner Criterion’s half-brother
Comin’ Through for the stable and
owner Sir Owen Glenn.