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Why Waller is backing in McEvoy after “bad day” at Randwick last Saturday
Ethan Clark • February 21st, 2025 1:03 pm
Top trainer Chris Waller has weighed in on the criticism faced by Kerrin McEvoy after a disappointing day at Royal Randwick last Saturday.
Five of McEvoy’s eight rides last week came aboard Waller-trained horses with the best result being third aboard both Joliestar and Via Sistina.
It was his ride on Joliestar that attracted the most backlash after some questionable mid-race decisions led to a plain outing for the four-year-old mare.
“I would’ve liked him to go back and just banked on her being the best horse in the race,” Waller told Gareth Hall on SENTrack’s Giddy Up.
“He probably over-tried and thought, ‘I’m going to make the most of this opportunity while James (McDonald) is away and I’m going to just try get in front of a couple’, then the race was over after 200 metres.
“He tried too hard.”
Massive market support saw the starting price of the Group 1 winner tumble to $2.05 with Sportsbet after opening at $2.80.
Having not mentioned anything amiss with the horse in the aftermath of the race, Waller understood where the frustration from punters and experts alike was coming from.
“It was fair (criticism) and Kerrin would agree with that, he was the victim of circumstances. He just had a bad day, and Kerrin would put his hand up,” he said.
“If you individualise each ride he had with us you could make a case that you can live with (them) but it just happened all in one day. It was bad for everybody.”
The three-time Melbourne Cup winner will ride a treble of horses for Waller on Saturday and the star trainer is adamant McEvoy can turn around his recent form slump.
“He feels it more than anybody, he’s a real professional and he knows when he’s had a bad day. There will be no one more hungry than Kerrin tomorrow, he’d love to turn it around,” Waller added.
“His trophy cabinet is pretty amazing but it’s week in, week out when you’re working with jockeys.”
The main chance for McEvoy will be Wodeton, the Golden Slipper favourite, and Waller intends to throw his full support behind the 44-year-old.
“I’ve just got to give him confidence; it’s the same for all of us. We all go through it. My job is to give them confidence, not second guess them,” he explained.
“I could just go out there and say, ‘ride Wodeton this way tomorrow, don’t dare do that, don’t dare do this,’ but that can back-fire pretty quickly.”
Wodeton sits at $2.10 in the Silver Slipper and will be even harder to beat with the scratching of the Gai Waterhouse/Adrian Bott-trained North England.
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