One of the hardluck Group 1 stories of the spring, Aeliana will be trying to become only the 10th filly to win the ATC Australian Derby.
In the aftermath of a defeat that might have easily been another Group 1 celebration with better fortune, Chris Waller didn’t dwell on what could have been. He never does.
Aeliana, an inexperienced three-year-old, had just become another victim of the vagueries of Caulfield that has led to the downfall of many Sydney-trained horses.
Losing her momentum and becoming unbalanced at the wrong time of the race, Aeliana produced a spirited finish in the Thousand Guineas but couldn’t catch the winner Another Prophet.
But instead of ruing a missed opportunity, Waller was already thinking of his next move - beyond the obvious of a short break after a promising introduction to stakes-level racing.
At the end of a post-mortem that also involved Denise Martin, the Star Thoroughbreds syndicator who manages Aeliana, Waller asked jockey James McDonald a simple question.
The answer could well have provided a lightbulb moment for her autumn campaign, even allowing for a significant detour to take on the males in the ATC Australian Derby at Randwick.
“When we were at Caulfield after the Thousand Guineas, Chris said to James, ‘will she run a mile-and-a-half? Will she run an Oaks trip? And James said ‘absolutely’,” Martin recalled.
It’s an insight that Martin says is a hallmark of Waller’s greatness as a trainer.
In good times, Waller is prone to letting his guard down on the public stage. As we saw on many occasions during Winx’s career, Waller isn’t afraid to show his emotional side.
But during adversity, Martin insists there is a calmness about Waller’s approach that eventually brings out the best in his horses. Unflappable and always rational.
“He's very level-headed. He's very practical with everything,” she says.
“He takes the good with the bad and moves on and just continues to look at the ‘now’ situation as opposed to what might have been last week.”
That’s why Martin and her team of owners are not for one moment second-guessing Waller’s move to send Aeliana on an autumn path that only a small sample of fillies in the modern era have tried to negotiate.
After Shamrocker became the first filly in more than two decades to win the Derby in 2011, only three females have taken up the challenge out of 13 since the turn of the century.
Overall, there have been nine fillies who have won the race but only four in the past 70 years - Shamrocker, Research (1989), Tristarc (1985) and Rose Of Kingston in 1982.
In an age when there are so many choices for races, running a filly against colts and geldings in a bona fide test of three-year-old stamina, is possibly one of the more unlikely alternatives.
Waller admits he has been asked many times why. He says why not, explaining that Aeliana’s presence in the Derby is hardly an autumn departure after she has raced against her male counterparts in three lead-up runs.
And while Aeliana’s placement may seem unconventional these days, there’s been nothing unorthodox about the way she has raced her way into Derby favouritism.
It’s been a traditional Derby preparation, starting out in the Hobartville Stakes, building more foundation into her legs through the Randwick Guineas and having its finishing touches applied when luckless in a narrow Rosehill Guineas loss to Broadsiding.
“I always say to Chris, ‘I will leave the programming to you and the management of the horse to you’,” Martin says.
“He looks after the horses and I look after the people. And I know over the years that plan has worked really well for us.
“Chris and his team are experts at working out and determining where the horses are best placed.
“So I think when you leave the best trainer to determine what is best for your horse you show that person the respect that is warranted. They're not the best trainer for no reason.”
The results speak for themselves with the Waller-Star Thoroughbreds alliance producing four Group 1 winners - Espiona, Foxplay, Invincibella and D’Argento.
Aeliana is a $180,000 Karaka yearling as a daughter of Castelvecchio - the Arrowfield Stud sire who ran as a short-priced favourite but finished unplaced in the 2020 Derby - and she is giving every indication of being the partnership’s next success story.
After Aeliana’s eye-catching Derby trial in the Rosehill Guineas, Martin is convinced Waller has made a decision that has every chance of being vindicated on Saturday.
Much of the stable’s autumn planning was made to separate horses such as Coolmore Classic winner Lady Shenandoah and Aeliana while making allowances for the intent shown by Yulong for their benchmark filly, the VRC Oaks and Vinery Stud Stakes winner Treasurethe Moment who has always been pointed towards the ATC Australian Oaks.
“I wouldn't begin to knock on the door at six o'clock in the morning and say, ‘can I just come into the office and go over my thoughts about a programme’? Martin said.
“Chris is fantastic and from time to time he will seek my thoughts on an avenue or a programme or the right race or something.
“But at the end of the day, you don't get to be champion trainer because you got lucky last week.”
