Chris Waller has been a ground breaker on many fronts but there would be few more satisfying moments than getting Nature Strip back to his brilliant best for a record fourth TJ Smith Stakes triumph.
The champion trainer has experienced racing’s highest moments through Winx, won at Royal Ascot with Nature Strip, trained a stakes winner for King Charles and even had an audience with the late Queen Of England.
However, working with Nature Strip for the past six weeks has been a challenge of a different kind.
Waller has had the tough task of getting to the bottom of the eight-year-old’s indifferent first-up performance in Melbourne and turning it around.
If he can pull it off, seeing Nature Strip return to the form that made him the world’s best sprinter will rank among Waller’s dearest achievements.
“It will be right up there, especially coming off a slightly flat run,” Waller told a media conference at Rosehill on Thursday.
“We’ve worked hard behind the scenes making sure we’ve got him back to where he needs to be.
“That would be a self-satisfying moment in itself for my team.
“There’s been plenty of work on the track and making sure he’s feeling right, plenty of physio sessions.
“All the little things that will hopefully bring him together to perform at that elite level for a fourth time.”
Waller has seen increasingly positive signs from Nature Strip since his unplaced Lightning Stakes run and has been especially buoyed by the horse’s body language.
He described the gelding as “marching back to the parade ring” following a routine track gallop at Rosehill on Thursday, a signal he was feeling good about himself, and said he believed the world-champion had rediscovered his mojo.
“I do, from his trackwork at home and from what I’ve seen in the last week,” Waller said.
“He’s moving very freely, he looks great, there’s no problems with him.
“He’s as good as he’s been in the previous years.”
Chautauqua (2015-17) and Nature Strip (2020-22) share the record for most number of T J Smith Stakes win and the latter will hold the title on his own if he can fend off the next generation of challengers led by Everest winner Giga Kick and star Godolphin filly In Secret.
