Waller splits stayers heading towards Cup

With a large team in his stable Chris Waller isn’t afraid to pit his horses against each other in feature races.

Waller could have had up to four runners in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup but decided to separate the string in the lead up to the Melbourne Cup.

He was represented by Preferment (11th) and Sacred Master (15th) at Caulfield while two of his other stayers will run in Melbourne Cup lead-up races this week.

He has Grand Marshal heading to the Geelong Cup on Wednesday and Who Shot Thebarman in the Moonee Valley Cup on Saturday.

“I just thought they weren’t sharp enough for the Caulfield Cup,” Waller said.

“They both could have run but I want to get them into a bit of form.”

Waller said taking Who Shot Thebarman to Moonee Valley was a change in tactics from previous seasons.

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“I like the Moonee Valley track as it’s quite forgiving,” Waller said.

Waller said the set-weights and penalties conditions of the Moonee Valley Cup suited Who Shot Thebarman.

“Who Shot Thebarman has a high rating but gets in under the set-weights and penalties well,” Waller said.

“Grand Marshal is a Group One winner but he’s got a lower rating so he suits Geelong well.

“It gives us two options in really good prize money races.”

Grand Marshal will be joined in the Geelong Cup by new stablemate, English horse Kinema, who has finished his quarantine at Werribee and headed to Waller’s Flemington stables on Saturday.

Another import, Endless Drama, has also finished quarantine and is set to trial at Cranbourne on Monday in preparation for a start in the Emirates Stakes (2000m) on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival.