Waller’s hard watch
Why Winx’s trainer will follow his champ’s last race on TV in a small room under the Randwick grandstand
MORE than 40,000 fans will converge on Randwick to watch Winx’s farewell on Saturday but her trainer Chris Waller will be nowhere to be seen.
In fact, he’s the one who asks others what it’s like to watch Winx.
Waller never watches his horses race in the flesh, preferring to sit alone in a small room and watch them go around on TV.
He famously said after one of Winx’s Cox Plate victories that he watched it “out near the toilet somewhere”.
Waller will emerge from his spot under the Randwick
grandstand about five minutes after Winx runs in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday.
He got quite emotional when explaining why he prefers to watch the races away from the spotlight.
“Not many people would
understand the pressure that a trainer is under when you’re in that situation,” Waller said.
“There’s that much emotional and things riding on a race result for a trainer, whether it’s your first winner, first Group winner, an expensive colt or if it’s a shortpriced
favourite. I like to be on my own. I don’t need the emotions of the highs and lows of a race.
“I’ve got a different spot to watch Winx at each racetrack. There’s just less fuss and you can keep your emotions pretty neutral because when a horse jumps through to it finishes, everything goes through your mind.
“A horse like Winx isn’t much different to any horse in a Group 1 race but when you watch it on your own you get to absorb it all properly and you get that 20 seconds post-race to prepare for the Winx receptions.”
Waller’s routine means he misses the immediate crowd euphoria after a Winx win.
“I get a kick out of watching the snippets of the crowd on TV in a post-Winx race,” he said.
“I ask people what it was it like to watch her. I ask them what it was like out there and they tell me it was a great sporting moment.”