Chris Waller removes pressure from equation as he closes on trainers' premiership

Chris Waller has stressed that if he does overhaul TJ and Gai Waterhouse's record, it won't make him any better than the famous father and daughter pair. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph

Waller is about to celebrate a remarkable season tomorrow at Rosehill where he needs one win to break the all-time Sydney trainers' premiership record.

Bookies are convinced it will be a case of not if but what race he will pass the 156 winners held by the late Tommy Smith and his daughter, Gai Waterhouse.

But Waller said he had learned a valuable lesson on Monday when not one of his 12 horses could win a race.

And it was only after he left Rosehill that he realised he had been too tense. As a result, he said he made those around him, including jockeys, feel the same.

"That's why I thought, 'bugger it, let's enjoy ourselves at Warwick Farm on Wednesday', and as a result we had two winners,'' Waller said.

"I went to the races on Monday and I felt like every horse had to win. I put myself under pressure, and that probably made the people around me feel under pressure.

"I remember Red Tracer before the Tatt's Tiara. We'd drawn barrier 16 and I said to (jockey) Nash Rawiller, 'go out and do what you have to do'. He went out and rode the horse like a legend. Then I found myself tying him down for a (Monday) meeting.

"Sometimes you need those hard days to wake you up.''

Waller has repeatedly said throughout his brilliant season he needs to enjoy his success more.

He has also stressed that if he does overhaul TJ and Gai's record, it won't make him any better than the famous father and daughter pair.

Waller said Said Com was his best chance to bring up the record, despite stablemates Oompa Loompa, Fulgur, Illo and Secessio all racing earlier in the day.

While Waller will try to finish the season with a bang, he has already started preparations for the spring.

"A good way of looking at the spring is to see what horses will take the next step,'' Waller said.

'I had eight individual Group 1 winners, and I'm of the belief that if a horse wins a Group 1, they're usually good enough to win more.''

Shoot Out will return to defend his George Main Stakes title, while Doncaster winner Sacred Falls is likely to set out on the Cox Plate path.

As for the Melbourne Cup, Waller said: "Kelinni was my big Cup hope after last year's (fourth), but I was a little bit flattened by the way he performed in the autumn. Hopefully (Doomben Cup winner) Beaten Up can get to the Caulfield Cup and take that next step, while I've also got my imports, horses like Fulgur, Rugged Cross, Index Linked and Multilateral.''

Waller has eight more meetings to set a mark that will unlikely be bettered, especially with the number of metropolitan meetings to be chopped by 10 next season.

The Kiwi brought his entire family to the track on Monday, and they'll certainly be out in force again tomorrow to witness history.