Paul Shailer returns to work with Waller camp in Queensland
A SUCCESSFUL New Zealand partnership between Chris Waller and Paul Shailer is set to be rekindle – this time in Queensland.
Shailer spent a decade in Sydney alongside Waller, graduating to assistant trainer, before returning back to New Zealand to establish his own business at Matamata and more recently at Levin.
The 38-year-old sent out 57 winners, the bulk of them when training in partnership with brother Kris, but now Shailer is now back across the Tasman to link up again with the powerful Waller operation, this time to oversee a satellite stable in Queensland.
Final approval is expected from Racing Queensland in the coming weeks on a new operation in Brisbane or at the Gold Coast. The latter is the preferred venue and the stable is expected to house up to 20 horses.
Waller said a base in Queensland would help him grow his empire even further.
“We want to take advantage of the warmer weather and have a large impact on the Magic Millions carnival as well as the winter carnival,” Waller said.
Ahead of the new venture, Shailer has been in Sydney re-aquatinting himself with Waller’s systems, and the man himself stated the offer was too good to refuse.
“It was just too good an opportunity to turn down,” he said.
“I missed Australia and I missed working with Chris.
“I had 10 years in Sydney with him and right from the beginning when he only had six or seven horses.”
Shailer said he is hoping to replicate a sensational run of form the pair put together when they were last in partnership.
“When I left he had more than 100 horses and he finished second in the premiership the last two years I was there.”