Home Affairs holds off Nature Strip after favourite misses the jump

Home Affairs ($7) has taken out a thrilling Black Caviar Lightning down the Flemington straight on Saturday, holding off Nature Strip in a photo finish. The three-year-old Chris Waller colt put in a brave performance against some more experienced rivals, making the most of a tardy start from superstar Nature Strip to collect a second […]

Savabeel Stayer Leads Waller First 4 in Parramatta Cup

Chris Waller-trained stayers were to the fore in the Listed Parramatta Cup (1900m) at Rosehill on Saturday with the master-trainer sending out six of the first eight, including the New Zealand-bred trifecta, but it was all about the winner Mightybeel. The four-year-old Savabeel gelding had a little freshen-up after winning the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) […]

Fangirl stuns boom filly Espiona in thrilling Light Fingers

Source: Racenet, by Ray Thomas Fangirl 1, Espiona 0. This is the scorecard after trainer Chris Waller’s star three-year-old fillies produced an epic finish albeit with an unexpected result in the Group 2 $200,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday. But the long head margin that separated Fangirl and Espiona has whetted […]

Waller stars Nature Strip & Verry Elleegant among world’s finest

Chris Waller can lay claim to training the world’s best turf sprinter and top racing mare after star stablemates Nature Strip and Verry Elleegant were recognised among racing’s top echelon on Wednesday. That’s according to the latest Longines World‘s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2021, which were released overnight. An all-conquering year saw Waller’s champion sprinter Nature Strip ranked […]

‘Lightning does strike twice’: Waller emotional a day after Cup win

Written by Peter Ryan Courtesy of The Age Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Chris Waller became emotional when describing his attachment to the animals that have made him a household name after six-year-old mare Verry Elleegant stamped herself as a champion of the turf with victory in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.  The New Zealand-born Waller, who found fame as […]

Why the Melbourne Cup won’t change Chris Waller

Written by Bruce Clark Courtesy of Racenet.com If you were doing the grocery shopping at Woolworths in Sydney’s Hills District on Sunday and thought that bloke doing the same in the next aisle looked slightly familiar, (perhaps even more so after Tuesday), you’d be right. It was Chris Waller. It’s what he does on a […]

Second Sprint Classic for Nature Strip

Courtesy of Racing.com Australia’s leading sprinter Nature Strip chalked up his seventh Group 1 win as James McDonald equalled Brett Prebble’s record of nine victories during Melbourne Cup Week in the $2 million Darley Sprint Classic (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday. The Flemington straight has been the scene of many famous Nature Strip victories and […]

Star Kiwi trio orchestrate a Melbourne Cup fairytale

Written by Bren O’Brien Article courtesy of TDN AusNZ It is doubtful in the long history of the G1 Melbourne Cup, stretching back to 1861, that the stories of the winning horse, trainer and jockey have intertwined in the way that those of Verry Elleegant (NZ), Chris Waller and James McDonald did on an amazing […]

How Chris Waller helped a fellow Kiwi fulfil a lifelong Melbourne Cup dream

Source: The Age, by Peter Ryan By the time Ocean Billy kicked clear in the straight at Ellerslie to win the 2021 Auckland Cup in March over the Melbourne Cup journey, the gelding’s trainer Bill Pomare had already lived a full enough life for his son, the critically acclaimed crime novelist, J.P. (Joshua) Pomare, to […]