Rod Lyons has tipped Chris Waller to become the greatest trainer of racehorses Australia has ever seen.
The managing owner of Nature Strip believes the star sprinter’s trainer, who just so happens to be from New Zealand, will continue to take all before him in his adoptive country.
Already in the 2021/22 season, Waller has trained over 100 winners for more than $24 million prize money including the Melbourne Cup with Verry Elleegant.
In the mind of Lyons, that record will only continue to improve and eventually put him up there with some of horse racing’s best ever trainers.
“He’s a marvel,” Lyons said on SEN Track’s Bensley.
“Superlatives to describe him, you couldn’t find enough. He’s an absolute gentleman with it all. He treats everybody equally. He loves his horses, he’s got a great eye, great staff, great track riders, he’s just got a wonderful team.
“He’s a freak. He will go down, I’m convinced, as the greatest trainer - and we’ll claim him - this country has ever produced.
“I’ve been around long enough to see the great Bart (Cummings) and Tommy Smith and Colin Hayes and Geoff Murphy and all those great trainers. They had that little something, that eye for detail, and were great trainers.
“This guy is right up there with them and by the time he’s finished, he’s going to pale their records into insignificance.
“He’s a great man and a great organiser.”
After Nature Strip won the Group 1 VRC Darley Sprint Classic at Flemington on Saturday to wrap up the spring racing carnival in style, could a trip to Royal Ascot be on the cards in 2022?
Lyons admits Nature Strip’s New Zealand contingent of owners would love to head to the UK, but insists Waller will make the final call on the seven-year-old.
“His reasoning at this stage is, ‘Let’s see how he comes back in the autumn, what sort of form he’s in’,” Lyons said of a potential trip to Royal Ascot.
“There’s a risk travelling him that far and being in a confined space for so long.
“The majority of the ownership group are deadset keen to want to go to Royal Ascot. Win, lose or draw, the Kiwi boys just love having a good time. We’d love to go to Royal Ascot.
“It’s up to Chris, if he feels the horse is back and in that type of form we definitely want to get on a plane with him. It’s totally in Chris’ court.
“You’ve got to get invited too. We want to go, it’s up to the horse and Chris to say, ‘OK, let’s have a crack’.”
Nature Strip, ridden by star jockey James McDonald, won the Sprint Classic comfortably by more than three lengths to give the Waller stable yet another triumph at the elite level.
It was Nature Strip’s seventh Group 1 win.