Waller's Super Saturday hints Tuesday joy could be on the cards

The Chris Waller blitzkrieg towards the Melbourne Cup continues, albeit more with Nazareth sandals than jackboots in keeping with his St Francis of Assisi image.

But after the last at Royal Randwick on Saturday the hymns, belted out by a booming band, were more Rock Around The Clock in keeping with the on-course beat.

Waller contributed to transforming what could have been an average Epsom day, which didn’t draw 13,000 through the gate - piddling by old standards - to one of the most memorable.

Sure James McDonald with five winners was exceptional and Glen Boss, closer to Bill Haley in vintage than Taylor Swift, maintained his balls-of-steel rating for another real pearl on Kolding in the great metric mile.

However the trainer’s three group 1s, even allowing for the disappointment of a small Flight Stakes field, including the Epsom-Metropolitan double plus the Turnbull quinella at Flemington had the record books opened to compare it with the top of the pops for trainers.

On Victoria Derby day in 1990 David Hayes notched six group winners at Flemington plus three in Adelaide. Waller, too, had six winners at Randwick and eight in all, including a double at Flemington where he achieved the Turnbull Stakes quinella, the best event of the day, with King’s Will Dream and Finche indicating the 2019 Melbourne Cup is within reach.

A few years back I asked Waller, always calm and placid even in blowtorch situations, how long it would take him to notch the Big One. He conceded it would not be in the immediate future. Systems that serve him so well had to be adjusted for a 3200 metre staying test along specialist lines developed over decades by the master, Bart Cummings, and owner Lloyd Williams.

With Finche, a joy to watch loping along on a long rein, he has a prime candidate. Currently Finche is second favourite in the Melbourne Cup behind the promising Surprise Baby, successful in Saturday’s Bart Cummings at Flemington. I submit the Turnbull is a better guide than the Bart Cummings.

Of course the Waller expertise, verging on genius, is based on systems. I found it very difficult to accept a trainer could prepare more than a hundred horses effectively or as well as Tommy Smith who had a conveyor belt of around 40.

Waller must have more than 150 in Brisbane and Melbourne stables as well as Sydney and all run effectively.

In comparing Waller with the world greats prominent owner Terry Henderson in Winning Post declared the New Zealander has points in common with Andre Fabre, the French world beater.

“All run well managed time-efficient barns where staff members have a clear understand of their roles,” he wrote. “Fabre and Waller run their stables according to strict time schedules.

“All have excellent systems for both operational and financial needs and each continually strive to find new ways of improving racing performance.”

Two of Waller’s big four winners followed the trend of downing better-fancied stablemates. Kings Will Dream ($11) accounted for Finche ($5.50) and Come Play With Me ($8.70) scored while Brimham Rocks ($5.50 equal favourite) was back in the beaten ruck.

The results emphasised Waller's skill of improving horses from elsewhere as Come Play With Me previously raced in Western Australia while King’s Will Dream and Verry Elleegant came to him from Darren Weir, outed on jigger-related charges.

Still the suggestions that Weir horses would be frazzled from his methods were astray as those transferred have proved healthy types with plenty of horsepower.

But Kings Will Dream, recovering from the pelvis injury that crippled him in the last Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, and Verry Elleegant require a certain expertise.

Always light, and touchy around the mouth, Verry Elleegant has the ability to win anything but the Waller system, with the assistance of McDonald, has to control nervous energy, very much to the fore with the music element as the Theatre of the Horse boomed on Saturday after the racing action had subsided. Alas Waller was doing his victory dance elsewhere, better shod for the Haka.