Winx trainer scared of coronavirus impact

Saturday 14 March 2020, 4:45pm

Premier trainer Chris Waller is taking unprecedented measures as the coronavirus threatens to disrupt the Australian racing industry.

Best known for putting the polish on champion Winx, Waller admits he is concerned about the impact the virus could have on his staff and the knock-on effect on his horses.

"I'm very hesitant and cautious because I just can't afford for my staff to get ill," Waller said.

"My staff and my management team are so crucial for our operation and for the wellbeing of the horses.

"We're very nervous, we're aware of how bad it is going to get."

Waller has sourced temperature guns and tested all his staff at his Rosehill stable on Saturday morning before the feature Coolmore Classic race day at the track.

"I'm not going to do that every day but we did it today to get a fix on where we're at," Waller said.

Racing officials in NSW and Queensland opted to follow government guidelines by allowing the public into Saturday's meetings at Rosehill and the Gold Coast.

However, from Monday public gatherings of 500 or more will not be permitted meaning next weekend's Golden Slipper meeting will be a fan lockout.

The All-Star Mile meeting at Caulfield went ahead without spectators on Saturday, with only industry participants allowed on track.

The same measures were undertaken for the night meeting at Moonee Valley on Friday.

– AAP

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »