Few in racing are as busy as Chris Waller.
When you have hundreds of horses on the books, the diary can get pretty full.
But the champion trainer may yet come to rue the day he erred, albeit for only a few hours, in responding to a message from an unheralded Queensland grazier.
Waller was one of two trainers sought out by Fred Noffke, who had a nice filly that he wanted trained in the big smoke.
A daughter of one-time shuttle stallion Saxon Warrior, Sheza Alibi had just run an unlucky second to Waller’s colt Autumn Boy in a Listed race at Eagle Farm, advancing her record to two wins and a Stakes placing from four starts for young trainer Kris Hansen.
The other trainer Noffke approached was Peter Moody, who had come highly recommended from several of his industry contacts.
As fate would have it, Moody picked up the phone first and Noffke liked enough of what the burly Queenslander had to say to commit to sending the filly to his Pakenham stables.
On Saturday, Sheza Alibi claimed her second Stakes win with a demolition of her rivals in the G2 Sandown Guineas, earning praise from the most astute of form analytics and prompting her trainer to openly discuss his G1 aspirations with her.
“I got told that she was a city-class horse so we decided to send her to Melbourne because that would be the best place to have her trained,” Noffke told Radio TAB on Tuesday.
“I went back to Arrowfield and asked them what they would do and they said that they had horses with both Peter Moody and Chris Waller.”
“I was told that Peter Moody was very good with fillies so that’s what I did, I took the advice on board and rang Peter.”
“He was easy to talk to and he got back to me either the same day or the next day, it happened pretty quickly.”
“I thought about Chris Waller because we ran behind Autumn Boy and I suspected that he would already know her.”
“Chris rang me the next day but I said that I’d already given her to Peter.”
“Everything is about timing.”
“When you’re dealing with credible people, it’s not about playing one against the other, you’ve just got to make a decision and move on.”
While Waller has his own arsenal of star three-year-olds including G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Autumn Boy, Golden Rose hero Beiwacht and Carbine Club Stakes winner Panova, Noffke’s filly may yet prove the best of her generation.
