Chris Waller has gone back to the drawing board with Kolding and it has delivered the champion trainer an important epiphany.
A perfectionist by nature, Waller was perturbed by the gelding’s loss of form during the autumn when he failed to place in five starts and again when he resumed to finish down the track behind Verry Elleegant in the Winx Stakes.
Just six months earlier, Kolding had been one of the stars of the Sydney carnival with wins in the Group One Epsom Handicap and the inaugural Golden Eagle.
After analysing Kolding’s runs and his physical condition, Waller came to the conclusion that nothing was amiss – the horse had simply met with a sequence of unfavourable conditions.
“Nothing was wrong. That’s what I figured out,” Waller said.
“He’s had genuine excuses. Wet tracks, wide draws, running left-handed and he was back to much better (last start).”
Kolding showed a glimpse of his best to finish runner-up to all-the-way winner Dreamforce in the Tramway Handicap at Randwick on September 5.
The pair face a Group One rematch in Saturday’s George Main Stakes (1600m), a race which Waller has dominated in recent years winning six of the past eight editions, three of them with Winx.
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