3 minute read

Waller eyes All-Star mile with Kolding; Kumara meeting transferred to Greymouth

Waller eyes All-Star mile with Kolding

Leading Sydney trainer Chris Waller is eyeing a tilt at the A$5 million All-Star Mile (1600m) at Caulfield on March 14 with New Zealand-bred Group One winner Kolding.

The son of Ocean Park has a strong record in rich feature races after taking out the inaugural A$7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) last year.

Waller said he would like to contest the All-Star Mile with the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) winner, but needs some guarantee of a start. The majority of the field is decided by public vote with the winners of the Gr.1 Futurity (1400m) and Blamey Stakes (Gr.2, 1600m) getting automatic entry and two or three wild cards available.

"I've got a slight leaning to the All Star Mile but how do you set a horse for the race if you don't know he will get a start?" Waller said.

"I think they probably need to give people an indication what wild cards they are going to use.

"So, unless I have a good indication he is going to get a start in the race we can stay home and target the Apollo Stakes (Gr.2, 1400m), Chipping Norton Stakes (Gr.1, 1600m) and George Ryder Stakes (Gr.1, 1500m), which I don't mind.

"If he was to go to the All Star Mile, I would run him in the Orr Stakes (Gr.1, 1400m) as the All Star Mile is at Caulfield this year."

Kumara meeting transferred to Greymouth

Kumara's January 11 meeting has been transferred to Omoto, which will be conducted by the Greymouth Jockey Club.

After heavy rainfall over the weekend, further track inspections were undertaken at Kumara by the Racing Integrity Unit on Monday and the decision was made to transfer the meeting due to the inconsistency of the track's surface.

As a result of the transfer, the 1810m races will increase to 2000m while the 1150m races will now be run at 1100m. A Maiden 1500m race has been added to the programme.

Those horses already nominated for the Kumara meeting will automatically be transferred into the corresponding race at the Greymouth JC meeting.