Trainers embrace technology to train Melbourne Cup contenders remotely

If Chris Waller is successful in training his first Melbourne Cup winner, it will be a triumph of technology.

Champion trainer Chris Waller speaking remotely to host Michael Felgate at a Melbourne Cup eve press conference Picture: Getty Images

In a Melbourne Cup made for the digital age, the world’s leading trainers and jockeys have embraced the use of technology to prepare for Australia’s greatest race.

Racing has been forced to embrace new methods of communicating through the coronavirus pandemic, with several leading runners being trained remotely.

Champion trainer Chris Waller is stuck in Sydney and will be trackside at Randwick on Tuesday rather than at Flemington for the $8m Melbourne Cup.

Despite his absence, he has no doubt Caulfield Cup winner Verry Elleegant and his other hopeful Finche are as well prepared as possible for the 3200m test.

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The confidence stems from the statistics as much as it does the information he is receiving from the stable’s Melbourne foreman Jo Taylor.

“It hasn’t been a problem at all,” Waller said.

“We have got some great systems in place through different software that we use, monitoring horses’ feeds, temperatures, wellbeing, how their heart rates are, you name it.

“There is a tool for everything now and we have been lucky to get on board early days and it has shown over the last six months that we really needed it.

“It is a different scenario, for sure, this year (being) in Sydney, but I am keeping a very close eye on everything that is happening in Melbourne, and what a great job everyone has done through this COVID pandemic.”

Kerrin McEvoy, who has won the Melbourne Cup three times and will ride race favourite Tiger Moth on Tuesday, jumps online to monitor the work and racing of leading international hopefuls coming to Australia.

“(I do) plenty of YouTube searching for the replays,” he said.

“It is amazing what you can find online these days. Other than that, you can get on the Racing Post website. They have plenty of races on there. There are a lot of races on YouTube which I access frequently.”

They are not the only examples of new methods being adopted.

The traditional Melbourne Cup eve press conference on Monday was held via an online platform instead of at Federation Square in the centre of the city, which starved horse welfare activists of an opportunity to protest.

Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien passed on his thoughts of race favourites Tiger Moth and Anthony Van Dyck to racing journalist Andrew Bensley via a 40-second video shared on social media.

Craig Williams won his first Melbourne Cup last year on the Danny O’Brien-trained Vow And Declare, which will be ridden by Jamie Mott on Tuesday.

This year Williams has been posting Facebook updates of his flights to and from Horsham to ride trackwork on leading Australian hope Surprise Baby, which is trained by Paul Preusker.

The more traditional methods have not been completely abandoned.

Building a network of trusted confidantes and experts has helped McEvoy find his way on to the right horses as well.

McEvoy was able to secure the ride on Ashrun, the German stayer who clinched a Melbourne Cup run when a last-stride winner of the Hotham Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

“My old jockey manager from when I was over in the UK, I still contact him for his thoughts on certain horses,” he said.

“He gave me some thoughts on Ashrun a few months ago and also Tiger Moth as well. I still rely on plenty of contacts from overseas when I was working over there on assessing possible Cup rides.”

Waller’s best finish in a Melbourne Cup came when Who Shot Thebarman, a true stayer with a cult status, placed third in 2014 behind Protectionist.

His chances of landing a Melbourne Cup win rest with Verry Elleegant and Finche, which is lining up for its third start in the race.

Verry Elleegant was a dominant winner of the Caulfield Cup. The five-year-old mare is listed as an $11 hope and will be ridden by Mark Zahra from barrier 15.

Waller is far from perturbed by the draw, saying it gives Zahra “room to move, which is the key for her (Very Elleegant)” and ensure that she is “not claustrophobic” by being cluttered up on the fence.

“She has got a great turn of foot. She has won a 1400m Group I race and I doubt there would be another horse in the field that has done that, certainly not this preparation,” he said.

“She is a great chance. She has come through the Caulfield Cup very well and I think everyone saw how tough she is. That extra 800 metres is obviously the unknown but, wow, what a tough horse we have got.”