Honour and glory: Rise of Waller
Kiwi trainer recalls win that triggered his move to top of Sydney racing
Chris Waller has identified the race that provided the stimulus for his record-breaking training career.
“When we won the [2008] Doncaster Handicap with Triple Honour, that was the turning point,” Waller said. “It was my first group one win and it gave me confidence in myself, the self-belief I needed.
“I realised it was just a matter of doing things properly and when the right horses came along they would be good enough to win these big races,” said the expat Kiwi and New Zealand Racing Hall of Famer from Foxton.
“Triple Honour’s win gave me that feeling I was good enough to compete at this level.
“I knew then I didn’t need to change anything, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else, just worry about what is in front of me. Then things went to another level again.”
Over the last decade, Waller has rewritten racing’s record books at a Winx-like pace. Waller has trained 81 group one winners and has climbed to seventh on the all-time list — with a bullet.
The champion trainer led in five winners at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, giving him 150 Sydney wins for 2017-18. He is the only trainer to pass this milestone in a season five times.
The legendary Tommy Smith did prepare 150 or more Sydney wins in a season on four occasions and, although there wasn’t as much racing when he was dominating the sport, it should not decry from Waller’s feat.
In fact, Waller this season should shatter the all-time Sydney record of 169 wins he set in 2015-16 and could even break the 200-win barrier, an unthinkable achievement until now.
He has trained the winners of nearly A$28.5 million prizemoney this season and should shatter his own national record of A$30.2m set in 2015-16.
Waller’s phenomenal achievements, particularly over the last decade, virtually commanded his inclusion in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Waller was among those racing greats inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Sydney on Friday night, joining the elite trainers such as Smith, Bart Cummings, Colin Hayes, John Hawkes, Gai Waterhouse, Lee Freedman and David Hayes who have already been given Australian racing’s highest award.
I’m a racing tragic and live for my racing every week of the year. I’m in awe of the great champions of the past and now. Chris Waller
“I’m not losing sight of reality, they have done a lot more than me but who knows we might be able to catch them up,” Waller said.
“I’m just very honoured to be included in the Hall of Fame, to be noticed in Australia is very special and emotional.”
Waller isn’t resting on his laurels. At Rosehill Gardens today, a race meeting celebrating the 2018 Hall of Fame inductees, the trainer continues his pursuit of some of racing’s revered record with 19 entries across seven races, including the early favourite in six races.
Waller has made an extraordinary impact on Australian racing since he moved from New Zealand in 2000 and revealed why he chose Sydney as his stable base.
“I was at a stage of my career in New Zealand where I didn’t have any ties as such, I had a very supportive wife, Stephanie, who has been there every step of the way, we didn’t have children at the time, so we set off on a journey to Sydney,” Waller said.
“When I was growing up in New Zealand, Sydney racing was always portrayed as the place to be because it is so very professional. Yes, Melbourne has the Melbourne Cup, everyone is aware of that, but Sydney racing week in, week out sold itself to me as it does to a lot of punters, jockeys and general racing people.”
But times were tough for Waller in those formative years in Sydney racing. He had only a handful of horses and had just nine winners on all tracks in 2000/01.
The next two seasons weren’t much better but Waller never doubted his decision to try his luck in the cut-throat world of Sydney racing.
“When you are young, I was 23 or 24 at the time, you don’t really look at the bank account unless you are really, really struggling,” Waller said. “My main goal back then was to make sure I was paying the bills, doing the right thing and slowly making progress.
“The beauty of Australia is that young people do get noticed, this country is willing to give young people the opportunity, for which I was very grateful, and through that momentum grows.”
Waller’s training career has reached new heights in the last three seasons with the emergence of champion mare Winx, the world’s highestrated racehorse.
Winx is on a 25-race, three-year unbeaten streak where she has won 18 group one races, including three Cox Plates, three George Ryder Stakes, two Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Doncaster Mile.
“She has taken my career and racing to a whole new level.
“I’m a racing tragic and live for my racing every week of the year. I’m in awe of the great champions of the past and now,” Waller said.
“So, to get a horse like Winx, to see what she is doing for racing and the importance to her fans — I take that more as a responsibility rather than the enjoyment side of things.
“I get up every morning and say, ‘Okay, what am I going to do with Winx to make sure she is safe, to make sure she is continuing on with her legendary status and not to disappoint or confuse anybody’.”
Waller admitted the last 20 years has been “an amazing journey” but what does the next decade or two have in store for the trainer?
“I would say pretty much the same,” he said. “But my family is first and foremost, I will make sure they are not forgotten as I continue my career.”