ATC lets down record-breaking trainer Chris Waller

THE record-breaking Sydney trainer Chris Waller deserved much better from the ATC yesterday.  

Oompa Loompa

THE Australian Turf Club should hang its head in shame.

Chris Waller did the unthinkable yesterday: He set a Sydney trainers premiership record that is unlikely to be bettered any time soon - if ever.

So what did the ATC do to celebrate?

Umm ... next to nothing.

Who can forget the wonderful send-off for sharpshooter Hazem El Masri a few years ago when he left the Bulldogs? Or the brilliant scenes at the SCG last summer when Mike Hussey hung up the baggy green?

Or even the ATC's efforts to embrace Black Caviar in the autumn.

Yesterday, however, wasn't the ATC's finest hour. There should have been Waller masks handed out at the gates.

There should have been a video tribute on-track.

Instead, the ATC spruiked free entry for anybody with a ticket to the Wallabies and British and Irish Lions rugby match up the road from Rosehill Gardens at Homebush.

It was left to Waller's trusty offsider, Liam Prior, to let off a party-popper and inject some colour into the mounting yard.

TVN presenter Richard Callander bought the party-popper himself. He must be tempted to send the $8 invoice to the ATC.

The ATC later in the day said a plaque with a photo of Oompa Loompa and the number of Waller's winners would be presented at the end of the season. A gold magnum of Moet and big-screen presentation was also scheduled for yesterday.

Sadly, an oversight like this was bound to happen when the ATC's entire media and communications department was axed.