Waller eyes another winter staying prize with ‘bread and butter’ Caboche

Having captured three of the past six renewals of the Winter Cup, Chris Waller is confident Caboche has the right profile to add his name to the honour roll at Rosehill on Saturday.

While the seven-year-old isn’t the classiest horse in the master trainer’s stable, he has been a wonderful money-spinner for connections, placing in the 2022 Queensland Derby and amassing more than $750,000 in prizemoney.

He arrives at this weekend’s 2400m race – being staged this year as The Queen Elizabeth II Cup – off the back of a closing fifth to Saturday’s rival Portland in the Lord Mayors Cup (2000m) at Rosehill and Waller expects him to make his presence felt.

“He’s up to 2400 metres, which just sees him out, but he’s won at the distance, so he has got the right profile,” Waller said.

“The track should be drying pretty well too.

“He’s a bread and butter horse, which is great to have at this time of year. He has always been one step below that top grade, so this is his time of year to shine, between here and the Grafton Cup.

“He’ll be hard to beat.”

Reece Jones has the ride on Caboche, who will be looking to join Al Aabir (2023), Irish Sequel (2022), Wu Gok (2020) and Secessio (2014) as Waller’s winners of the winter staying feature.

A field of nine has been paid up for the race, although Matt Smith wants a rain-affected track to run Portland, while favourite Thebudgiesmugla is a dual acceptor for the Brisbane Cup (3200m).

The latter’s trainer, Bjorn Baker, will need to decide on Thursday whether Thebudgiesmugla takes his place in Queensland or Sydney.

RAS NewsWire