Trainer Chris Waller’s stranglehold on favouritism for Saturday’s $5 million Caulfield Cup has tightened after his group 1-winning import Buckaroo drew gate eight in Tuesday’s barrier draw.
Waller’s other fancied runner, Metropolitan-winner Land Legend, landed the inside gate, while the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott import Eliyass drew the extreme outside in barrier 21, but will start from 18 after the emergencies come out.
Steven Arnold gives Caulfield Cup favourite Buckaroo a hit out at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images
Waterhouse and Bott decided not to start Just Fine in the Caulfield Cup, opting instead for the Moonee Valley Cup, which allowed Ciaron Maher’s Sayedaty Sadaty (barrier 2) to sneak into the final field.
CAULFIELD CUP 2400m, Group 1, Handicap, Saturday
1. KALAPOUR (K Less) B Melham 55kg – barrier 4
2. BUCKAROO (C Waller) J Moreira 54.5kg – barrier 8
3. CIRCLE OF FIRE (C Maher) J Allen 54.5kg – barrier 13
4. WARP SPEED (N Takagai) A Sugawara 54.5kg – barrier 19
5. HUETOR (P Snowden) L Currie 54kg – barrier 7
6. WARMONGER (M Price & M Kent Jnr) M Dee 53.5kg – barrier 16
7. ELIYASS (G Waterhouse & A Bott) T Clark 53kg – barrier 21
8. LAND LEGEND (C Waller) Z Purton 53kg – barrier 1
9. YOUNG WERTHER (D O’Brien) J McNeil 52.5kg – barrier 10
10. DUKE DE SESSA (C Maher) H Coffey 52kg – barrier 6
11. KNIGHT’S CHOICE (S Laxon & J Symons) R Dolan 51.5kg – barrier 14
12. MURAMASA (T Busuttin & N Young) D Moor 51kg – barrier 5
13. ZARDOZI (J Cummings) A Atzeni 51kg – barrier 12
14. COCO SUN (T & C McEvoy) K Teetan 50.5kg – barrier 20
15. DENY KNOWLEDGE (A & S Freedman) C Newitt 50.5kg – barrier 17
16. VALIANT KING (C Waller) T M Nugent 50.5kg – barrier 18
17. POSITIVITY (A Forsman) W Costin 50kg – barrier 9
18. SAYEDATY SADATY (C Maher) B Thompson 50kg – barrier 2
19e. FANCY MAN (A Neasham & R Archibald) TBC 50kg – barrier 3
20e. BERKSHIRE BREEZE (C Maher) TBC 50kg – barrier 15
21e. FRANCESCO GUARDI (C Waller) TBC 52kg – barrier 11
What the connections said …
Several of the Caulfield Cup big guns hit the track on Tuesday morning for a hit out before Saturday’s $5 million group 1 event. This is how the stables see their chances.
Trainer Chris Waller on Buckaroo: “Steven Arnold was aboard (this morning), and he’s a great judge, and he was happy with his action, the way he quickened and his recovery afterwards. He’s got great lead up form, which makes the job a bit easier. We knew he had the form from Ireland and England, it was just a matter of recapturing that form, and he has. The way he got around here, winning the Underwood, was pretty good. I thought that day at the 500m that he would look like the winner, but I didn’t expect him to power on and keep running like he did. That was really good to see.”
Steven Arnold gallops Land Legend at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images
Waller on Land Legend: “He worked very well. I think he’s come on well since his Metropolitan win. That was only third up, and he’s quite a gross horse. I thought he looked fitter today in the parade ring here, and he worked accordingly. He worked well, recovered well, and I think he’s on an upward plane. So I’m hoping he’ll continue to improve.”
Chris Waller at Caulfield track work on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images
Track rider Kosi Kawakami speaks to RSN about Warp Speed: “He’s a top-class weight-for-age stayer. He was only a few lengths behind T O Royal. He was carrying the same weight as him, and he was only a few lengths behind. Probably 2400m, is a little bit shorter than what his best is, but he still will run a very good race. Obviously, the Melbourne Cup is a more suited race, but at the same time, I think he can run a really good race in the Caulfield Cup.”
Trainer Gai Waterhouse on Eliyass: “His work this morning was very short and sharp. I wanted to put the speed into his legs. Tim Clark came down from Sydney to ride him, he’s riding him on Saturday in the cup, and he was very happy with him. He races on the speed, he can be anywhere in the first five or six, and, hopefully, there’ll be a bit of speed in the race. A bit of wet, a bit of dry, I think he can take over.”
Trainer Michael Kent Jr on Warmonger: “I think we’ve got him right where we want him fitness wise, but this morning was more of a mental day out to adrenalise him and fuel him up. He was very fresh and on toe, which is really good to see the horses thriving, much like he was heading into the Queensland derby. In the Turnbull Stakes (last-start 11th of 16), we never thought he’d have the turn of foot at set weights against those good weight-for-age 2000m horses. He’s a real stayer. And we saw that sustained stamina in the Queensland derby. The whole campaign has been about the Caulfield Cup, where we go up to 2400m, we drop back down in weight in a handicap, and the pace will be on. So if it is a stamina test, and there’s a bit of rain coming, that’s what will suit Warmonger.”
Race within a race
World-class hoops Zac Purton and Joao Moreira will renew their long-standing rivalry on horses from the same stable in the $5 million Caulfield Cup on Saturday.
Purton will fly in from Hong Kong to ride Chris Waller’s Land Legend in the group 1 handicap, while his former Hong Kong adversary, Moreira, will partner Waller’s other runner, and race favourite, Buckaroo.
Track rider Kosi Kawakami takes Japanese runner Warp Speed out for a gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.Credit: Getty Images
From Waller’s perspective, he could not split the jockeys nor his horses on Tuesday.
“When you hand the horse over to a jockey, they’ve got to make the decisions, and those big race jockeys get the decisions right more often than not,” Waller said.
“Joao Moreira, he really is magic, and Zac Purton, he’s as good as. I’m sure he thinks he’s better than Joe. So it’s good to have two confident jockeys aboard, two world-class jockeys.”
Moreira, who has flown in from Brazil to base himself in Australia for the spring, has an ongoing association with Waller in the big races.
He has ridden Buckaroo at the gelding’s past two starts – second to Via Sistina in the group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington and first in the group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield.
“I’ve just got the most respect for him as a horse person and riding winners in big races. He’s one of the best jockeys I’ve used,” Waller said.
