Waller weekly news 1 april 2016

Transcription

1 Waller weekly news 1 april 2016 Waller one, two, three! Preferment, Who Shot Thebarman and Grand Marshal! Not to be outdone by Winx, Kermadec and Press Statement combining for a Group One stable trifecta in the George Ryder the week earlier, tough entire Preferment led home hardy stayers Who Shot Thebarman and Grand Marshal to do the same on Saturday in The BMW. It was a massive thrill for the team securing the $1,500,000 feature at our Rosehillhome base for the first time. Day one of The Championships kicks off tomorrow and we are represented by runners in all four of the Group One races on the card which is highlighted by Winx lining up in a race the stable has made its own in recent years, the $3 millionthe Star Doncaster over Randwick s tough mile. In addition to some fantastic racing the girls in the office are also very excited about a special performance by Ronan Keating after the last and the stakes are high for whoever gets a selfie with him with Office Manager Kerrie gloves off O Grady the hot favourite. We wish you all safe racing and the very best of luck over the next week! INSIDE THIS ISSUE WINNERs News, getting to know karen mcdowell & photos admin@cwallerracing.com

2 CHRIS WALLER RACING - WINNERS THIS WEEK preferment 4yo H Zabeel - Better Alternative by Flying Spur Preferment added a fourth victory at the highest level when bravely holding off stablemate Who Shot Thebarman in the Group 1 BMW at Rosehill on Saturday over 2400m with Grand Marshal completing a trifecta for the stable in third place. Hugh Bowman was at his brilliant best aboard Preferment seizing the initiative before the home turn and pinching a break on his rivals. Who Shot Thebarman came with a sustained challenge in the straight but the talented son of Zabeel was not to be denied and he fought on bravely to score. Grand Marshal made steady ground for third and showed that he is well on target to defend his Sydney Cup crown on the final day of The Championships. Liberty island 4yo G Statue of Liberty - Miduki by Snippets Liberty Island appreciated the drop in class to return to the winners enclosure at Wyong on Wednesday over 1600m. Hugh Bowman was in the saddle and with Liberty Island shouldering top weight of 61.5kg, he elected to settle him in midfield early on. Bowman hugged the rail as they turned for home and when the split came in the straight Liberty Island quickened smartly to score a soft win at the line. This victory will no doubt give plenty of confidence to the talented son of Statue of Liberty and a return to Saturday grade may now be on the agenda. Vassal 4yo G Dansili - Vituisa by Bering This imported son of Dansili broke his maiden at his third Australian start at Pakenham on Thursday over 2000m. He had been placed at both his previous Australian starts and also in France when trained by Andre Fabre prior to being purchased at the Tattersall s HIT Sale in the UK last year. Ben Melham took the mount at Pakenham and he settled Vassal at the rear of the field early, well off the strong early place. As they approached the home turn Vassal made steady ground through the field and challenged widest of all as they straightened. Although the runner up put up a determined challenge, Vassal was too strong over the concluding stages and he stayed on well to score comfortably at the line.

3 CHRIS WALLER RACING - WINNERS THIS WEEK baubo 3yo F Rip Van Winkle - Our Akela by Al Akbar This daughter of Rip Van Winkle had shown plenty of promise last preparation and she showed the benefit of her recent spell when returning to racing a winner at Newcastle on Saturday over 1200m. Chad Lever was on board and he settled his mount slightly better than midfield early in the race. Baubo appeared to be caught slightly flat footed as they turned for home and in fact she looked to be labouring in fourth place with a furlong to run, however she bravely put her head down and lengthened stride to hit the lead close to home for a gutsy victory. Really only getting going in the latter stages of the race she looks like she will stay further than Saturday s 1200m distance. THUBIAAN A STAR OVER JUMPS AT OAKBANK Former Chris Waller-trained stayer Thubiaan has added the Great Eastern Steeplechase to his record at the famous Oakbank Easter meeting in South Australia. Sent to trainer Eric Musgrove on Waller's advice, Musgrove admitted he thought about scratching the eight-year-old after he finished second to Nishiazabu in Saturday's Von Doussa Steeple. But he let him take his chance two days later and Thubiaan reversed the positions to win by 15 lengths under Martin Kelly. Musgrove said Thubiaan will now be set for the Warrnambool carnival in May and a defence of the Brierly Steeple. A winner of one race in Europe as a young horse before his purchase for CWR at the Tattersall s HIT Sale, Thubiaan won five races on the flat and has added another seven over jumps for his ownership group. VIDEO UPDATE Make the boys day and click on the image to the left to go to this week s video update with plenty of valuable insights into our runners this weekend!

4 Superstar Winx sets trainer Chris Waller s kids talking Chris Waller's kids know him as dad rather than a champion trainer but for the first time they are asking about one of his horses Winx. Such chatter only adds to the pressure on Waller heading to Saturday's Doncaster Mile at Randwick, as the pin-up girl of Australian racing looks for her ninth win in a row and her biggest success to date. I have a three-year-old [Nikita] and a six-year-old [Tyler] and they have no idea what horses I train or what I do. Both of them this week have asked about Winx, which blew me away, Waller said. Winx s profile has grown with every win in this streak, which started with a remarkable last-to-first effort in the Sunshine Coast Guineas last May. It was not one of the great races of the turf, but shows how far she has come since this time last year. Winx won a Queensland Oaks before announcing herself as an emerging star in the Cox Plate in the spring. But she has gone to another level this autumn adding a Chipping Norton Stakes and George Ryder Stakes to her group 1 haul. She is starting to garner attention outside racing circles and the Doncaster will only add to that. It does create a bit of pressure, I think it will be a pressure I will look back on and very proud of, Waller said. It s certainly a new level of pressure for me but fortunately the horse does the talking for me and makes my job easier. She is up there with the best I ve had and has taken me to a new level. Others involved with Winx recognise her special quality. Jockey Hugh Bowman said: I don t need to say too much about her because she says it all on the track. She is starting to climb towards the class of great mares Sunline, Makybe Diva and Black Caviar and the Doncaster will take her closer to that exalted company. Each won a major handicap in their field. Black Caviar a Newmarket Handicap, Sunline twice in the Doncaster and Makybe Diva with three Melbourne Cups. Waller still won t call Winx a champion but a win on Saturday will bring her closer. Those mares did for several seasons, Winx is just starting her career and is only 18 months in and needs to keep going, Waller said. That is elite company when you are talking about those mares. The Doncaster with 56.5kg is a challenge but the expectation is Winx will be more than up to it, with Ladbrokes marking her a $1.90 favourite. Waller is measured about the challenge. Everything is a risk in racing but this horse has changed things a bit. She has brought a different perspective to any horse I have trained, he said. It is not so much prize money or a status of a race now, it is making sure she keeps winning. But you can t keep them in cotton wool and let them run every six months like a heavyweight boxer, she has got to [run] every two or three weeks and the Championships are her showcase. Waller isn t worried about draw gate 11, such is his faith in Winx s ability. If anything a wide barrier gives her a bit more room and gives Hugh Bowman options to make his run when he needs to make his run, rather than being dictated to by horses around him. I don t think it too bad a barrier draw, he said. - Chris Roots, Sydney Morning Herald

5 What makes Hugh Bowman top dog in the jockeys room Bowman's ability to adapt to different situations during a race has come to the fore time and time again during the past few seasons and it's that horsemanship and vision that has played a major role in his 16 Group I wins since the start of the 2014/15 season. During this 20-month period he's ridden six more elite level winners than any other courtesy of some memorable rides Winx's Cox Plate win, Press Statement in the Caulfield Guineas and Preferment's Australian Cup and last Saturday's The BMW. Bowman said it was his decision early in the race to get onto Mongolian Khan's back out three wide and not going for home 600 metres out that won Preferment the weight-for-age feature at Rosehill a week ago. "When the option was there to take up a bit of slack, although it was a gutsy move, probably more gutsy than the move I made at the 600 metre mark and I say that because if Opie did press on I was on my own, but I was prepared to count on the horse and at least I was closer, he said. "I was four lengths closer and it gave me more options. "I know he showed a turn of foot the other day but he's never given me any indication that he's got a turn of foot whatsoever so I didn't want to be spotting the best mile and a half horses around about eight lengths because the reality is he wouldn't have been able to do it. It's choices like the ones Bowman seized last Saturday that have turned him into the hottest property when trainers chase riders for the biggest races in the land and surprisingly he says the lead-up to a feature race day is not spent reviewing races or studying form tools. "I'm not a big form man, especially for these bigger races. You tend to know the horses, he said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't go into a race completely in the dark but I don't look into things too much because I find it only confuses me. "For me it's more of a feel thing. I find good decisions are ones where I back my instinct and bad decisions are the ones you weigh up. When you weigh a decision up the moment has passed. "If it's an instinctive move it's a good decision. It mightn't turn out to be the right one but it's still a good decision. Bowman's book of rides at Randwick is headlined by his partnership with the star act Winx in the $3 million Doncaster Mile.

6 He also has Group I rides for Chris Waller aboard Delectation in the $2.5 million TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) and Vanbrugh in the $2 million Australian Derby (2400m). Here's what he had to say about each of the horses. Vanbrugh Race 7 - Australian Derby He's a classy colt, he's already a Group I winner. I've got a slight query about the trip and if Tarzino improves a couple of lengths off the Rosehill Guineas I can't see how I can bridge the gap but if he doesn't improve and I get the right run, he can definitely win. I just want him to relax because he raced a bit too keen with me at Rosehill and if I can really get him to switch off then I think he will be strong late. The first half of the race will be very important. Delectation Race 8 - TJ Smith Stakes I think it will be a high pressure race with the big field and that will suit him. He's better suited to this scenario rather than if there was only five or six really good horses like we've seen in this race previously. I think the race sets up for him. The more pressure, the better he goes because he's really a 1400 metre horse that you can't get to settle over that trip. Ignore his last run because he didn't help himself. He raced with his head in the air for the first 1000 metres. He trialled well on Tuesday and I think he'll deliver a really good showing on Saturday. Winx Race 9 - Doncaster Mile It's there for all to see with Winx. - I don't like pumping her up. She does it herself so I let her do the talking. Vanbrugh. Delectation. Obviously I'm delighted to be a part of her racing story but with that comes a lot of responsibility and I'm sure Chris would tell you the same thing. We don't discuss her too much. He trains her and I ride her, that's it.

7 sire s produce Victory for Omei Sword worth a fortune Omei Sword has the chance to become the most valuable filly of her generation by winning Saturday s Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick. Not only would she become the first two-year-old Group 1 winner by High Chaparral in Australia the sire that gave us So You Think, Shoot Out and It s A Dundeel but she is also a daughter of Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights. Omei Sword has two sisters that died straight after birth and a half-brother by Pierro that is yet to race. With the colts dominating the juvenile ranks this season, a win for Omei Sword this weekend would make her highly sought after in the breeding world. She was a $675,000 Easter Yearling purchase by stable bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster for owner Mr CC Lai and gave connections a winning start by charging home for victory on debut at Rosehill before finishing second in the Magic Night Stakes behind Calliope. You wouldn t expect her to be winning a Group 1 as a two-year-old and I think she will be a serious horse when she turns three, trainer Chris Waller said. She s done everything right from the trials to her first-up win and then performing well in Group company. I ve waited for an excuse to turn her out but haven t found one and she runs over a more suitable distance here. If she can win this then she would be worth serious money. Omei Sword was $101 for the Sires Produce when the markets first went up but the filly is in to $6 in final field betting. - Nic Ashman, The Daily Telegraph.

8 THIS WEEKEND S STABLE RUNNERS Click here to go to the website for more information on our stable runners. Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale is set to be conducted from 5-7 April with the stable planning to be active. To flag your interest in our purchases or for assistance at the sales from our Bloodstock Agent Guy Mulcaster contact: g.mulcaster@hotmail.com Legendary CWR strapper George Tucker proudly showing off Preferment s cheque.

9 getting to know karen mcdowell This week for our staff profile we caught up with a new addition to the administration team in the office Karen McDowell who told us a bit about herself before she answered our questions. I come from a little town in New Zealand called Pukekohe. I was born into racing, loved every minute of it and have ridden ponies from an early age. I have previously been working as a part of the admin team at Haunui Farm in New Zealand before joining the CWR office. Best quote? I am not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful Marilyn Munro Favourite part of the job? Being a part of a great team. Favourite horse? Fay Fay. He was the winner of the 2012 Hong Kong Derby and is now my pony back in NZ. Best horse ever seen? Shez Sensational she was ultra-consistent, versatile and a multiple Group One winner. Role model? My mum. She s incredible. Favourite food? Cherry Tomatoes. Favourite jockey? J Moreira he can just about get anything to win. If you weren t in racing, what would you have done? A physio for a sports team. If you could invite two people for dinner, who would you invite? My mum and my Nana Jo. Karen and Fay Fay. Event in the world that you would most like to attend? All of the major race days/ carnivals around the world. What would you do with your last $5? Probably spend it on something I don t need. Tip for the weekend? Omei Sword.

10 Preferment celebrations. Preferment.

11 Liberty Island celebrations. Make A Ripple getting splashed! Thanks to Bradley Photographers and darryl sherer for our weekly photos.

12 Bill and Pewter. Benjamin and Press Statement. Sanaya. Nat and El Novio with Bailey and Feast for Eyes.

13 Ali and Lady Le Fay. Narpal and Destination Tucson. Tash on Miss Ballantine. Hayley and Encosta Line. Moriarty as bright as a button at Warwick Farm.