Key change for out-of-form Derby winner

[Wandering Eyes]

On a week when Sydney’s weather revived some childhood memories for Chris Waller, the champion horseman was hopeful a couple of his Randwick runners could revive some old form.

Waller will saddle up three horses in Saturday’s ASI Solutions Handicap (1600m) – Bold Mac (NZ) (The Bold One), Manzoice (Almanzor) and Lord Ardmore (NZ) (Reliable Man) – the first two needing to turn back the clock after some below par performances.

Manzoice hasn’t managed a placing in six starts since his Group One triumph in the 2022 Victoria Derby, but there is renewed hope he can rediscover some of his former brilliance when he resumes a little lighter on Saturday.

“We’re hoping that gelding him has done the trick,” Waller said during his weekend preview on X.

“He’s a Derby winner and he looks great. He is ready to run well.”

Bold Mac is likewise on notice to lift his game after an inglorious first-up performance in the Carrington Stakes (1400m) where he failed to beat a rival home, finishing 23 lengths astern of winner Zou Tiger.

The six-year-old has had a subsequent trial and Waller is banking on a middle draw and the three-kilo claim of apprentice Jake Barrett helping him turn around his form.

“He has been a consistent horse and he’s paying the price for it now with the big weights,” Waller said.

“Fresh up there he was still a bit soft, so hopefully with the trial since his first-up run, a soft draw, claiming three, we’re in the hunt.”

Lord Ardmore rounds out the stable’s trio, dropping back to 1600 metres after finishing third in last month’s January Cup (2000m).

Waller is keen to see him working to the line late as the gelding heads towards the Listed Parramatta Cup (1900m) at Rosehill in two weeks.

He is also happy to see an improvement in Sydney’s weather after Rosehill was lashed by heavy rain during Tuesday morning’s trackwork session.

Waller said he had rarely seen so much groundwater since his days growing up in the New Zealand countryside.

“I was that wet, I took my shoes off and poured water out of them. That hasn’t happened since I I’ve been on the farm in New Zealand,” Waller quipped.

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