Top Sydney trainer Chris Waller may be in the box seat to win this season’s Sydney’s Trainer’s Premiership title, but he is already looking towards the season ahead.
“Winning the Sydney premiership is something that has driven me for some time and I am honoured to be able to achieve it,” he said.
“We now know that the systems we have in place work. It has been a huge team effort to get to this position but we aren’t going to just sit and celebrate – the new season starts next week.”
Waller is planning to travel some of his better horses to the different state carnivals in the upcoming season.
“Travelling more horses interstate is one thing that I will aim to do different for next season,” Waller said.
“It is something that I will have to take on personally, physically spending more time away from the Sydney base and targeting the big carnivals.
“To try and really give ourselves the best chance of taking the good horses to the next level and winning the big races.
“Take a horse like My Kingdom Of Fife, for example.
“In the past I would have just concentrated on races in our backyard, stick to what we know and perform in Sydney.
“I will probably only give him one run in Sydney and then head straight to Melbourne for the major prizes.
“Other horses like Startreusse and Velrosso are ones that come to mind that could be competitive at the carnivals.
“I’ve got some nice emerging three-year-olds and a few yearlings showing promise.”
The trainer also plans to avoid racing stablemates against one another, and instead hopes to spread them out over races across Sydney.
“We will look to place horses to their advantage and try not to clash as much as we have this season,” Waller said.
“Finding a horse’s grade quickly is vital because then you can target particular races.
“Winning Sydney metropolitan races will still be my priority, we have terrific prize money here, $70,000 a race on Saturdays with $42,000 to the winner is a lot of money.
“It will be fantastic if we can win the court case (Race Fields Legislation) and race for $100,000.”
While Waller is assured of winning the Sydney Trainer’s Premiership, he has more competition in the wider New South Wales Trainer’s Premiership Title, where he is 3.5 wins behind Peter Snowden.