Waller lands first 2YO winner for season

Wednesday 4 February 2015, 4:06pm

The first two-year-old winner of the season for Chris Waller has come with a heavy dose of self analysis from one of Australia's best trainers.

Waller opened his account with his juvenile team when Always Allison made her own luck on the way to winning the TAB Rewards Maiden Plate at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.

But thanks to Godolphin's domination, Waller is giving away a long start in the race for national two-year-old honours.

Yet his situation is no different to last season because it wasn't until the corresponding Sydney midweek meeting last year that Brazen Beau gave him his first two-year-old success in 2013-2014.

Waller went on to become Australia's leading trainer of two-year-olds for the term but he admitted his lack of early-season success with racing's babies weighed on his mind.

"If I'm not worrying about that then I'd be worrying about something else," he said.

"We've got numbers there ready to attack during the middle of the (autumn) carnival, post carnival with some really serious horses but I can't get it out of my mind just to look after them."

After scratching Always Allison from last Saturday's Widden Stakes, Waller will give the filly her chance to make it to next month's Golden Slipper.

But she will have to earn her way into the Golden Slipper field as the filly was not among the 170 youngsters paid up for the $3.5 million race after Tuesday's second acceptance stage.

"She's prepared well enough to do that," Waller said.

"She's still got condition on her and you never say never in this game.

"If we are serious about the Slipper we'll give her another two (runs). If we are not serious we will place her properly because there are plenty of fillies' races around when you can win a race instead of making up numbers."

Ridden by Glyn Schofield, Always Allison, the $1.70 favourite, sat outside the leader before drawing clear to beat Badraan ($8.50) by 2-1/2 lengths.

"In the Widden she drew (gate) 11 and I just thought she would have been in no-man's land," Waller said. "If you give a two-year-old a bad experience you can be six months' behind the game.

"That was a big learning curve today because she's never been let off the bridle in her work or anything like that."

– AAP

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