Waller expands to Queensland

Most of the boxes have been ticked ahead of Chris Waller’s expansion to Queensland including the appointment of Paul Shailer to run the satellite stable.

The champion trainer said he expected to get final approval from Racing Queensland in the next couple of weeks to open a stable either in Brisbane or at the Gold Coast.

“We will have about 20 horses which suits our model,” Waller said.

“We can send a few horses up there which might be struggling in Sydney.

“We will have a base for horses going to the Magic Millions in January and it’s also a good base for the winter carnival.

“There are some horses that have been up there fro the carnival that will stay and have a spell up there where it’s seven degrees warmer than Sydney which is another seven degrees warmer than Melbourne.

“The extra security of having our own stables makes sense and having Paul back from New Zealand is another bonus.”

For both Waller and Shailer it is something of a homecoming.

Shailer was Waller’s long-time foreman when he first moved to Sydney, spending eight years with the stable before returning to New Zealand in 2011 to try his hand at training.

A lack of prize money and limited rewards against the bigger stables coaxed Shailer back to Australia and he got his eye in at Rosehill last week.

“It’s been pretty seamless. It’s like I’ve never been away,” Shailer said.

“I missed Australia and I missed working with Chris.

“It’s great to be back where the systems are all in place as they were when I was here before.

“They haven’t changed. It’s just on a bigger scale.

“I’m really looking forward to Queensland.”

Shailer left Sydney the season Waller claimed his first premiership with the trainer about to notch No.7.

For the fifth year in a row, Waller is also Australia’s leading Group One trainer.

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