How Chris Waller started out with little before building a racing empire headlined by great mare Winx
Chris Waller is the toast of Australian racing but there was a time not so long ago when he only had a couple of horses in work, winners were rare and he struggled to make ends meet.
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Stephanie Waller remembers the tough times. When her husband wasn’t training winners, they had no money in the bank, couldn’t even afford a car.
It wasn’t that long ago, either. The year was 2000 and Chris Waller was an unknown trainer trying to make it in Sydney racing.
“We didn’t feel like it was tough back then, we didn’t know any better,’’ Stephanie said.
“We were so grateful to be training in Sydney.’’
Their only mode of transport in those days was to catch a bus or train. The couple rented a house close to Rosehill so the trainer could walk to the stables for trackwork every morning.
Just two decades later and the same man has just prepared his 3000th winner including 112 at Group 1 level, and horses he’s trained have won nearly $300 million prizemoney.
Waller is famous in the racing world as the trainer of all-time great Winx, he was feted by Queen Elizabeth II at a special racing function in London, he’s won 10 successive Sydney trainer premierships, been elevated into racing’s elite Hall of Fame, and seems to be breaking nearly every record in the book.
But Stephanie remembers the times when her husband only had a couple of horses in work, winners were rare and they struggled to make ends meet.
Her husband had just two minor race winners in his first year of training in Sydney. It wasn’t enough to pay the bills.
“I was having to go away for two months at a time on contract with my modelling and I would come back with a lump sum and that would get us through,’’ she recalled.
“We had no money from the training. I think Chris might have come over to Sydney with $10,000 that someone leant him and I had about the same in my bank account but that didn’t last long.
“We were just going from week to week back then but it never bothered us. I missed home a lot but I always had this feeling with Chris that he would do well.
“So, even though we didn’t have a lot at that time, we were happy. When we won a race we would go to Lone Star (Steakhouse) to celebrate – we thought we were on top of the world!”
The trainer admitted he had very modest ambitions when he gambled by making his career move from Foxton in New Zealand to set up stables at Rosehill back in 2000. He felt embarrassed when allocated a stable with 20 boxes – and he only had two horses!
“When I arrived in Sydney I just wanted to make a living and I guess, in time, get some respect for what I do,’’ Waller admitted.
“I never really expected to be a trainer with big numbers.’’
Waller, 47, could have stayed in New Zealand and probably had more immediate success as a trainer, so why Sydney, and what was the turning point when he went from struggling trainer to dominating his sport?
The trainer revealed the dream began for him when he came over to Sydney for the 1996 autumn carnival as a strapper for leading trainer Paddy Busuttin and watched champion Octagonal defeat Saintly, Filante and Nothin’ Leica Dane in an epic Australian Derby at Randwick.
“I saw a really professional racing scene that portrayed itself to me that I wanted to be part of it,’’ Waller recalled. “In my opinion it was the best racing I had ever seen.
“When we did make the move, it wasn’t easy those first few years in Sydney but we kept working hard and we started to grow in numbers.
“I think just developing my own training style rather than worrying about anyone else was a big help and that took a while.’’
Waller was starting to make his mark in Sydney racing when equine influenza struck in 2007, shutting down the spring carnival.
But a few months later, Waller prepared his first Group 1 winner when Triple Honour won the 2008 Doncaster Mile. The trainer’s star was about to shoot into the stratosphere.
“When we won the Doncaster with Triple Honour it gave me the confidence to know what to do to train those big race winners and time their preparations,’’ Waller said.
“I learned to take things as they come, do the best you can and those big races can be won.
“We’ve grown as a stable and now we do get a lot of winners every year simply on numbers alone.
“I’m lucky to work with a very good team that help me deal with those numbers and with those numbers come good horses and good races.’’
Waller is chasing another Group 1 win next Saturday at Royal Randwick when his top mare Verry Elleegant will be among the stable’s starters in the $500,000 George Main Stakes (1600m). The trainer has prepared six winners of the feature race in eight years including Winx’s hat-trick in 2016-17-18.
Verry Elleegant is no Winx – who is – but she might be Waller’s next outstanding racehorse and started her spring campaign with a Group 1 win in the Winx Stakes last month.
“She is spot on,’’ Waller said of Verry Ellegant.
“To help her tick over four weeks between runs, she had a gallop between races (at Rosehill on Saturday). Imaging had a gallop as well and they will both go to the George Main along with Star Of The Seas.’’
Stephanie revealed Winx’s retirement after her 33rd successive win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes last year left a void in her husband’s life.
“Chris loved that mare so much,’’ she said.
“It has taken the pressure off him a little but when Winx left the stables it was a bit like your kids growing up and leaving home.’’
The Wallers are proud parents of two young children, Tyler and Nikita, and these days the trainer is finding that important balance between his professional career and personal life.
“Our 10-year-old, Tyler, scored his first goal ever at football last weekend and Chris was there to watch it,’’ Stephanie said. “I literally jumped in the air like we won a Group 1, only better, and Chris had to tell me to settle down.
“But he was there to witness Tyler’s first goal which was a bigger deal than winning races.’’
After all those years of struggle and hardship, Waller could afford to rest on his laurels these days but it’s not in his nature.
Fame hasn’t changed him and he’s still working as hard as ever. Stephanie often finds herself questioning what motivates her husband.
“I always think to myself what is he doing this for?” she said. “He hasn’t done it for the money or success, we don’t live an extravagant lifestyle, nothing has changed.
“I still don’t think we realise where we are at now. Someone will say to me is Chris Waller your husband, or someone might ask the kids if Chris is their father and we just go, ‘yeah, so?’ He’s just Dad and he’s just Chris to us.
“We have a barbecue at home most Sundays and Chris gets enough meat out for 100 people but sometimes it’s only us and the kids.
“We still have the same friends we had years ago and we still get KFC after a Group 1 win!”
Stephanie said if success has changed Chris Waller, it’s only been in a positive way.
“Chris has got better, he motivates people, he’s generous, he’s amazing,’’ she said. “He works so hard and I would like him to slow down a bit – but it’s all he knows.’’