Chris Waller will break new ground during Melbourne Cup week when he has his first runner in the VRC Oaks at Flemington.
The leading trainer will saddle The Pearls in the Group 1 staying feature over 2500m for three-year-old fillies on Thursday.
A winner of a Hawkesbury maiden over 1500m on September 25, The Peals then stepped straight to Stakes company, finishing second in the Gloaming Stakes (1800m) before running third in the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick.
Waller said he had been looking for any reason not to run The Pearls on Thursday, but the filly keeps stepping up and will take her place.
“I can’t remember having a runner in Oaks, unless we had one in the early days as the race comes up quick and it’s a long way, and it doesn’t really suit our style of training,” Waller said.
“But this filly, she has had the right grounding and most importantly she has come through each run really well.
“She came through the Gloaming well, so we ran her in the Spring Champion. She came through the Spring Champion well, so we brought her down here.
“She came through the trip down here well, so we’re running.
“If at any one of those steps I wasn’t happy with her, she was going for a spell, including coming down here.
“But she’s thriving.”
Since saddling his first runner in 1999, Waller has 185 Group 1 victories to his credit.
While Oaks winners have not been a high priority in the early part of a three-year-old filly’s season, Waller has relented in the latter part and has nabbed the Australian Oaks, the Australasian Oaks, the Queensland Oaks, including with Winx in 2015.
Waller said it had not bothered him not having had a VRC Oaks runner previously.
“Our general style is late two-year-olds and speed early three-year-olds, and later, staying three-year-olds,” Waller said.
“But she is a good filly, big and strong, and tough.”
Waller said he was disappointed with The Pearls’ draw on Thursday, 12 of 13, but added that was rider James Mcdonald’s problem now.
