Why Chris Waller’s season might be his greatest yet
By the end of 2026 Chris Waller will have more than 5000 winners, but the 2025-2026 season stands alone as his best.
It is better than any season with Winx, Nature Strip or Verry Elleegant in terms of wins and prizemoney.
The remarkable trainer continues to refine and get better.
This term started with Via Sistina, discovered Autumn Glow and has delivered 22 Group 1 wins, including Aeliana, Autumn Boy, Beiwacht and Joliestar winning multiple times at the top level.
That is more multiple Group 1 winners in a season than any other trainer in any season.
But it’s not just a golden generation, Waller’s success is across the board.
It is a question how many personal records he will break.
He sits on 333 wins at almost a 14 per cent strikerate with seven weeks left in the season and will pass his personal best of 353 victories in 2021-22.
The final cherry on top might be breaking his record for Sydney wins as he wins a 16th trainers’ title.
The mark stands at 189 from 2017-18, but with 13 meetings left he has 165 wins, leaving him 25 wins from breaking that record. The question might become can he get to 200 winners?
Add that he delivered James McDonald another jockeys’ title and might, for the first time, have the champion apprentice as Siena Grima chases down Braith Nock.
Numbers are the only way to do Waller justice in a data-driven sport.
Waller is third on the Brisbane premiership and sixth on the Melbourne premiership, where he has won more prizemoney than any other yard.
Waller will point to the fact that he has more runners than anyone these modestly.
But you earn that right, and even with multiple runners in many races he holds a good strike rate.
He will spend the next week at Royal Ascot and search for another international winner to go with Nature Strip success.
That’s next frontier for Waller to take his training genius to the world. It would be great to see him on the world stage in Hong Kong, Dubai and even Japan and is challenge he should embrace.
It sounds strange to say Waller, for all his dominance, might be underestimated and unappreciated as he reaches his zenith as a trainer.
Bigger fields to follow as 200 boxes come online in Sydney
The competition for Chris Waller is about to grow in Sydney as almost 200 boxes come online for next season.
With Ciaron Maher set to take over Crown Lodge that has been empty this season, centralising his operation in Sydney, there is another block of stables available at Randwick.
“It should make a big difference to our field sizes by the end of the year because there will more horses at our tracks,” Australian Turf Club general manager of racing, Nevesh Ramdhani said. “We have started an expression of interest process for the Randwick stables, which will finish on June 29.
“We will aim to have someone into those stables as quickly as possible.”
Maher has long-held ambitions to challenge in Sydney and while his results have been good out of Bong Bong Farm, including Bella Nipotina’s Everest, it wasn’t ideal for training.
He heads to Crown Lodge with high hopes.
“Crown Lodge is one of the great training facilities in this country, with a history that speaks for itself,” Maher said.
“Warwick Farm is where our Sydney story started, so coming home and taking on a stable like this means a great deal to us.
“It gives us a world-class base to keep delivering the very best for our owners and their horses, and we can’t wait to write the next chapter.”
Hazzard report must be made public
Brad Hazzard is ready to hand his review into the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Act 1996 to the Racing Minister, David Harris, and it must be made public.
The at-times controversial process has seen evidence from the review leaked back to Racing NSW, whose governance, transparency of its commercial work, consulting mechanisms, and sustainability were part of the review’s scope.
Its focus was the Thoroughbred Racing Act and if it is fit for purpose after changes in the racing landscape, including the growth of corporate bookmakers and the Racefields legislation.
“The purpose of the review is to determine whether the terms of the Thoroughbred Racing Act remain appropriate to ensure the integrity and proper regulation of thoroughbred racing in NSW and support the industry’s development and sustainability,” the term of reference read.
An industry as big as racing needs the confidence this review could give, and it could stop the infighting and perception that people are unheard.
The key word is transparency and we need that from the racing minister.
Spicy Martini looks for Everest slot
Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds would love to take the Spicy Martini fairytale to The Everest.
The $8000 online purchase became Justify’s first Australian Group 1 winner in the Stradbroke on Saturday.
Edmonds has already spoken with a couple of slot holders, who are considering the best-performed sprinter of the Brisbane winter, which has delivered the past two Australian Everest winners, Think About It and Bella Nipotina.
“I would really like to get her into the Everest. She is a runner-up at weight-for-age Group 1 level and won a Stradbroke,” Edmonds said. “She deserves her chance against the best sprinters and it would be great to take on Ka Ying Rising.
“Hopefully, someone will want her to run for them.”
PVL leads Nipperess’s cheer squad
The Kate Nipperess story has touched many hearts as she has returned to the saddle following a trackwork fall that left her a paraplegic.
A decade on from the fall at Warwick Farm, Nipperess is a regular competitor in events and last weekend had some extra support.
“It was an honour & a privilege to have @petervlandys attend my Equestrian competition today, along with the most amazing young cheer squad (with magnificent signs!!) as well as @teamthoroughbrednsw & @racing_nsw,” Nipperess posted on her Instagram.
“I could never quite articulate how grateful I am for all that Peter & Racing NSW have done & continue to do, for me.
“To have Peter attend my Para Equestrian competition on a Saturday, was just incredible & meant the absolute world to me.”
These things often go unseen but should be recognised.
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