Why Waller is Verry keen on the Cox Plate with Aeliana
Chris Waller can see a lot of Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed) in his current staying star Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) and the ground-breaking trainer is keen for the mare to follow the former champion’s path to the 2021 Melbourne Cup via the Cox Plate this spring.
A three-time Group One winner, as was Verry Elleegant at the end of her four-year-old season, Aeliana has been the early Caulfield Cup favourite since last spring, but Waller said he was happy to bypass the $6 million handicap feature for the $6 million weight-for-age race as he believed that program better suited Aeliana.
"I just saw Verry Elleegant come out of that Cox Plate – she didn’t win it – but it was just a perfect prep for the Melbourne Cup, and I just get that bit of a feel about Aeliana," Waller said.
"She’s won a Derby, Verry Elleegant won an Oaks. She won a Tancred, Verry Elleegant won a Tancred. I’d just rather go through the Cox Plate and I just think she’s a worthy contender.
"She was a dominant Derby winner and she was great in the Tancred and showed really good fight. We stopped instead of being tempted to go for the Queen Elizabeth, and it’s all for the spring. It’s all for the big performance in the spring.
"You’ve got to still stay two miles but the Cox Plate will be her first grand final for the spring.
"She’s come back a bit stronger and she’s taken all those right steps a mature mare should take and gee, she’s run some good races fresh like in the Winx last year when she really pushed Via Sistina."
Waller said he hoped the essence of the Cox Plate remained this spring with its shift to Flemington for the first time.
"It’s (Flemington) a great track to race on but the jockeys should be made to go at the 1000-metre mark like they do in the Cox Plate," Waller quipped.
"That’s the beauty of the Cox Plate. They take off so far from home and it’s a real staying test and that’s what she will appreciate."
The records of Aeliana and Verry Elleegant at the end of their four-year-old seasons are remarkably similar. Aeliana’s record stands at 18 starts for six wins and three G1s while Verry Eleegant’s record at that stage of her career was 19 starts for eight wins and three G1s.
Verry Elleegant went to an entirely new level as a five-year-old, securing five Gr.1 wins for the season – the Winx Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Caulfield Cup, Chipping Norton Stakes (now named the Verry Elleegant), Ranvet Stakes.
As a six-year-old she had two lead-up runs in Sydney to start the spring before a fourth in the Turnbull Stakes, a third in the Cox Plate (behind State Of Rest and Anamoe) before her glorious Melbourne Cup win over the favourite Incentivise as an $18 chance.
Aeliana suffered a slight setback to her spring campaign on Tuesday morning when she got a hind leg caught momentarily in the stalls and was a late scratching. If Aeliana's leg issue is nothing serious, Waller has a fall-back option to enter her for the Rosehill barrier trials on Friday.
In Aeliana's absence, the opening heat of the Warwick Farm trials session was won impressively by Ciaron Maher's very talented Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto) who accelerated clear to win by more than three lengths from Beiwacht and Campione D'Italia with both placegetters kept under a tight hold.
Gringotts, winner of the Big Dance-The Gong double in successive years and also a Group 1 George Ryder Stakes, ran the 1000m in 58.72 which is fast for a trial and shows he is right target for the Gr.1 Winx Stakes on 22 August.
