Waller weekly news
12 DECEMBER, 2014
Moriarty the victor in the
Group 1 Kingston Town
Classic.
Labeled as our ‘next Foreteller’ for some time, Moriarty stepped out of the shadows to secure his Group 1 on Saturday, winning the
Kingston Town Classic at Ascot in Perth for the stable’s tenth Group 1 this year and eighth this season. Also providing some positive
news for the stable was the sale of Group 1 Coolmore Stakes winner Brazen Beau to Darley. The brilliant colt will remain in
training with the stable and racing in Grant Morgan’s gold colours as we prepare him for an autumn and Royal Ascot campaign.
Festive racing is well and truly in full swing with the stable represented at plenty of race meetings in the coming days. Check out
this week’s video preview for Chris and Liam’s thoughts on our runners - www.cwallerracing.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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WINNERS
•
BRAZEN BEAU STUD DEAL DONE, CHRIS’ COOLMORE DIARY, GETTING
TO KNOW ALLON GUR, PHOTOS & MORE
CHRIS WALLER RACING – WINNERS THIS WEEK
Moriarty gets his deserved group 1
A brilliant ride by visiting Hong Kong-based hoop Douglas Whyte helped Moriarty secure his well-deserved Group 1 on Saturday in
Perth in the $500,000 Kingston Town Classic. Now with well over $1.6 million in prize-money the hardy Irish-bred galloper is
now spelling and will be aimed at a Brisbane Winter Carnival campaign next time in. Moriarty was selected by Guy Mulcaster and
Dr Tim Roberts at the Tattersall’s Horses in Training Sale in 2011 where he cost 90,000 guineas.
SAIGON TEA
5yo M. Thorn Park – Boulevardofdreams by Daggers Drawn
Rosehill, BM85 1800m, 1.8 lengths.
Geoff and Mary Grimish’s Saigon Tea continued to add to
her impressive race-record, winning her fourth race for the
stable at Rosehill on Saturday. Rated well by Kerrin
McEvoy, he left her to have one crack at them and she ran
on well, winning with almost two lengths in hand.
With a nice pedigree behind her and forging a very good
race record in her own right, Saigon Tea looks set to be a
valuable broodmare when her time comes. She will back up
on Saturday in the Listed Christmas Cup before heading out
for a well-earned spell.
Thanks to Bradley Photographers www.bradleyphotos.com.au
& Darryl Sherer for our race day photographs.
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BRAZEN BEAU
STUD DEAL DONE
Brazen Beau has been sold to Darley for a deal
believed to be more than $10 million with
incentives — but trainer Chris Waller will still
be given his chance to prepare a winner at next
year’s Royal Ascot meeting.
Easily one of the most exciting sprinters in Australia —
and the ­runaway Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes
champ — was acquired by Sheik Mohammed’s global
operation on Wednesday, and will stand at stud next
season.
Darley boss Henry Plumptre said Brazen Beau had been leased back to the colt’s original owners, and he would continue to wear
their yellow colours in the Lightning Stakes and Newmarket Handicap before flying to England for a crack at the Group 1 Diamond
Jubilee in June. Plumptre also confirmed Waller would continue to train the horse until the end of his race career. For Waller, his
Ascot aspirations earlier this year with Zoustar, another colt who won the Coolmore Stud Stakes, fell by the wayside after the horse
went amiss.
He said Brazen Beau was back in pre-training and would be given a trial in Sydney before being sent south for a jumpout ahead of his
first-up run in the Lightning down the Flemington straight.
“He looks terrific,’’ Waller said. “These colts are so important, but they’re in our lives for such a short time, and it’s good to get the
chance to try and win another few Group 1s with him.”
Plumptre said of the new recruit, who will stand at Northwood Park in Victoria: “We identified him as a top-class colt after his win
in the Roman Consul Stakes, and it was no surprise he won the Coolmore as impressively as he did. It is hoped he will underline his
ability with an autumn campaign taking in two of this country’s best sprints before running at Royal Ascot.”
STORY: Christian Nicolussi.
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CHRIS WALLER RACING
Chris’ Coolmore Diary
One of my highlights of my training
career occurred last week when
given the opportunity to visit
Coolmore Stud and Ballydoyle.
Fitting in these types of trips into a busy
schedule is never easy and it’s one that
I’ve been putting off for some time but
through the opportunity to train Cox
Plate winner Adelaide, it was certainly
time to make it happen so last Tuesday
night at 10pm I boarded the plane with
some degree of nerves around having the
opportunity to meet Aidan O’Brien who I
regard as the best modern day trainer in
the prime of his career.
I arrived in Ireland some 24 hours later
and was straight off the plane for the 1.5
hour trip to Coolmore. In true Coolmore
fashion, I was given a very warm welcome
by Tom Magnier and the staff and we had
a quick look around the property.
We then spent some time looking at the stallions and it was fantastic to see
the likes of Galileo who is close to the best stallion in the world at the
moment as well as the up and coming young sires like Derby winner
Australia who will hopefully get the opportunity to stand in Australia - he’d
be a great addition to the stallion ranks down-under. Another to look out for
is War Command - if we are looking to produce two year olds, he will be the
one target if looks and race-track performance is what you go by.
War Command
We then spent time in the Coolmore Museum and an hour in there was far
too short. Any person with an interest in racing could easily spend two days
going through the history of past and more recent successes achieved by the
Coolmore brand. It was simply mind-blowing in terms of their achievements
and also the attention to detail they have put into displaying this.
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What really struck me throughout my visit was attention to detail and the precision put into every aspect of the horse’s life from
conception in their immaculate breeding barn to the beautiful foaling down boxes, lush pasture and big, open, rolling fields in which
many of our horses would run out of puff in before they got to the other end of the paddock.
The accommodation on offer was fit for the Queen and the many high profile people who have stayed there before me. We then had
dinner with Aidan and Anne-Marie O’Brien and meeting him for the first time, I could see he was a humble and dedicated person.
He was easy to speak to and very interested in the Australian racing and certainly open in discussing his training philosophies. It was
very easy to see why he is so successful while we enjoyed great Irish food and hospitality that had us ready for bed ahead of an
exciting morning. It was good to see Aidan able to sit down for breakfast with his family and have dinner with them at night. His
four children ride out in the morning and ride in races and thoroughly enjoy their involvement alongside their successful mother and
father.
Their day starts much later than ours and we just had to be at the stables at 7.30am. Our half-hour journey to the track at 7am was
in darkness with the sun not coming up until well after 7.30am! On arrival at the stables again, the attention to detail was obvious.
Most notably the tracks the horses were warming up on were by far superior to anything I have seen. This is something I will be
speaking to the ATC about in time as what this showed me is that perfection is possible and I think it’s something we often ovoid
because of cost yet as Coolmore have shown costs are irrelevant when endeavouring to make multi-million dollar stallions which is
what they are trying to achieve. Seeing their stallion roster shows that spending money on important things like training tracks and
quality surfaces pays off.
An example of the extent they go to for example is that each horse in the main yard has its own gear room with a full set of
equipment that stays with them. The training tracks are reconditioned after every set of horses work and the vast grass areas are just
immaculate. You name it, they have it and it gives them a distinct advantage compared to what we are used to preparing horses on
in Australia. That’s not to say we can’t train or don’t train as well but the Ballydoyle operation removes as many risks as possible
from the equation to help get that extra horse onto their stallion roster.
Another interesting point was the fact that the staff are treated very well including being provided with a cooked breakfast and lunch
with good accommodation. As with our staff, their job takes up their life but they are happy with where they are at in comparison to
Australia where the job is just part of their life and they are happy to go home. I noted that the staff at Coolmore, it seems the life
with horses is bred into them and it’s a big part of their life and they are all very proud of what is achieved and also the stallions
when they go to stud. Aidan even said that their staff get one day off a fortnight (like ours) yet quite often they will choose to work
on that day off so that they can care for their horses.
Obviously Aidan O’Brien took over from Vincent O’Brien who was a game changer in terms of training and his success,
transporting horses by plane and the like. Funnily enough, Vincent and Aidan aren’t related but they both have the uncanny ability
to see into the future and ensure that success is continued.
It’s been noticed in the past year that our stable has had good results with colts including Sacred Falls now being a $10 million plus
colt as is Brazen Beau and of course the likes of Group 1 winners Reliable Man and Zoustar leaving the stable in the past 18 months
to stand at stud. It’s something we are very proud of and we can see we can produce more in times ahead. It was a very quick trip
but it was very rewarding and I feel I will be able to use some of the techniques in our own operation to further my career and help
produce more stallions from our stable. I’m incredibly grateful to the Coolmore team for giving me this opportunity and can’t thank
them enough. For more information on Coolmore visit www.coolmore.com
CHRIS WALLER RACING
GETTING TO KNOW ALLON GUR
CWR track-work rider Allon Gur was born in Harare,
Zimbabwe and spent his childhood between Zimbabwe,
South Africa and Israel and then at 14 entered the
Zimbabwe jockeys academy and learnt everything
possible about horses in his time there. Following that,
he worked for some of Zimbabwe's finest trainers
including even having a couple of race rides for the great,
Peter Muscutt before becoming champion apprentice in
1997. Allon has ridden in races in Zimbabwe, South
Africa, Israel and Ireland and rode work in Ireland for the
likes of Melbourne cup winning trainer Dermot Weld
and David Watchman and in Singapore he worked for the
then champion trainer Malcolm Thwaites
For the past ten years Allon has worked in the UK for the
likes of Ed Dunlop and most recently in the last 5 years
he has really enjoyed working for Sir Michael Stoute and
where he learnt a lot.
Nickname? Al Best quote? "No one can make you
feel inferior without your consent" Eleanor Roosevelt
Favourite part of the job? Building an affiliation with
certain horses.
Favourite horse? Because of my affiliation with him here He's Your Man is a favourite and because of my affiliation with him here
and in the UK, Opinion is also a favourite.
Best horse ever seen? I have about a top 8 very good horses but undeniable at the top Frankel.
Role model? My family. Favourite food? I love all food.
Favourite jockey? Ryan Moore by a long shot.
If you weren’t in racing, what would you have done? Well surprisingly I’ve always been interested in archaeology
If you could invite two people for dinner, who would you invite? Steven Hawkins and Leanordo da Vinci.
Event in the world that you would most like to attend? The US masters at Augusta or The World Series of Poker.
What would you do with your last $5? Gamble it on He's Your Man (what else productive could you do with $5 today)
Tip for the weekend? Dupe ‘Em.
The team at Star Thoroughbred’s invite you to join them and the Chris Waller Racing sales team at Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to take in the sales experience. Contact Denise and Emma for more information -­‐ [email protected] 7
BRAZEN BEAU AND PREFERMENT PRE-TRAINING AT THE HERMITAGE
Oliver Koolman sent in these photos of our two Group 1 winning colts in Aussie sprinter Brazen Beau (on right) and Kiwi stayer
Preferment working together up The Hermitage Hill this week. With both horses coming along nicely, Olly reported that
Preferment’s rider ‘got goose-bumps’ after sitting on him for the first time - he feels that great to ride!
Happily working together, if the two boys were doing a bit of sledging while they worked we think it’d go along the lines of:
Brazen Beau “Race you to the top pretty boy?” Preferment “No way bro that’s not fair - how about we make it best of 10?”
CHRIS WALLER RACING
Ali and Stimac.
Lauren and Johanne celebrate Moriarty’s Group 1.
Encostaline
For more photos from around the
stables visit our Facebook page.
Charlie and Buchanan off to work.
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Saigon Tea and connections.
Chris kindly puts on a BBQ for staff the day after busy trial days and Group 1
wins. This week the team enjoyed a festive get together!
Diametric
Candice, Toni and Ashley.
Harriette and JS.
Gordon and Derek.