Premiership winning trainer Chris Waller will seek advice from champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien as to the best way to prepare Cox Plate winner Adelaide for a first-up attempt at the weight for age Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
Trainer Chris Waller will attempt to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes first up with Cox Plate winner Adelaide, above. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.
The world’s richest 2000m turf race will be run at Randwick on April 11 next year, the second day for the two day ‘The Championships’ during the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
O’Brien conditioned Adelaide to score a stunning win in the Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 25 but the connections have confirmed that Waller will prepared the Galileo stallion for the Autumn Carnival.
Waller is set to meet O’Brien at his Ballydoyle complex in Ireland next month to discuss what is needed for Adelaide to tackle a tough 2000m first-up.
“I will meet Aidan, which will be amazing for me, and I’ll get a different perspective on the way he trains, and how he prepares horses to run at these distances first-up,’’ Waller told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’ll ask, ‘is this possible?’, and if he needs a lead-up run, we’ll give him one.
“This horse doesn’t need to do much in Australia. He’s proven himself already, and I want to help Coolmore protect this horse and make sure he goes back there in the best possible condition.
“We’ll try to incorporate a mix of having him ready to go fresh, without having to go through shorter races, but at the same time we want to keep the Australian speed in him.’’
Waller is having an outstanding season so far with seven Group 1 races already won and his record shows in the past that he prepared his multiple Group 1 winning flag bearer Shoot Out to win first-up over 1600m in the 2013 Group 1 $350,000 Chipping Norton Stakes at Warwick Farm.
Adelaide was only having his eighth race start when he circled the Cox Plate field from the 1000m to grab victory in the last couple of strides from the Robert Hickmott trained Fawkner and Kiwi mare Silent Achiever.
At his two previous starts the striking bay stallion won the Group 1 US$500,000 Secretariat Stakes (1 mile 2 furlongs) at Arlington Park, USA on August 16 then finished third in the Group 2 €130,000 QATAR Prix Niel (2400m) at Longchamp, in France, on September 14.
