Promising filly Egg Tart could turn out to be something of an appetiser for Chris Waller as he broadens his horizons to Adelaide, and beyond.
Although Sydney’s premier trainer will be in the northern hemisphere watching the Kentucky Derby, South Australia also features prominently this weekend as Egg Tart seeks her fifth win in succession in the Group One Australasian Oaks (2010m) at Morphettville.
Egg Tart tackles Group One level for the first time and will be Waller’s second Adelaide runner after Wine Tales finished seventh in the same race two years ago.
The filly’s winning Flemington debut over 1600m on Anzac Day helped convince Waller to send Egg Tart further south after she had no issues galloping anti-clockwise for the first time.
“We’d galloped her a few times (anti-clockwise) in the lead-up so it’s no surprise she handled the Flemington way of going,” Waller’s racing manager Charlie Duckworth said..
“She’s going up and up through the grades. Kerrin (McEvoy) will have her well balanced, as he did when he won her maiden (at Canterbury in November).”
He said the step up to 2010m was not a concern as Egg Tart was being set for the Group One Queensland Oaks (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 3.
The Queensland Oaks and Australasian Oaks both carry prize money of $500,000.
“As the prize money increases we’ll send more horses across Australia and globally,” Duckworth said.
“Chris is always a forward thinker and wants to take advantage of the world becoming a smaller place.
“You watch racing from Hong Kong, you watch the Kentucky Derby where he is now and it all becomes a more close-knit community in the racing industry.
“He wants to enhance that and become a global brand, a global name rather than just trying to dominate Australia.”