Waller Breaks $50 Million Barrier in Another 1st

Hall of Fame trainer Chris Waller has made history by becoming the first trainer to surpass $50 million in prize money in a single season, reports punters.com.au. This milestone was achieved with victories by Speycaster and Cigar Flick on Saturday. Waller began the day with stable earnings of $49,790,750 and came closer to the $50 million mark with a one-two finish in the Stayer's Cup (2400m) at Rosehill Gardens. Speycaster (Highland Reel) surged ahead of stablemate Kureder (Ocean Park) to win the feature race by two-lengths, while Waller's other entries, Gan Teorainn and Bonny Ezra, finished fourth and seventh, respectively. Shortly after, Cigar Flick's victory at Eagle Farm pushed Waller’s stable earnings past the $50 million milestone for the 2023-24 season. This achievement also surpassed his previous national prize money record of $49,813,478 set in the 2021-22 season. It’s been a ding-dong battle between Waller and Ciaron Maher as to which of the training duo would reach the $50 million mark first, with, fittingly, a metaphorical nose in it. The article alluded to a similar contest in 1974 between Bart Cummings and TJ Smith to be first to $1 million in prize money. Based on an average inflation rate of 5.2% since then, today’s value would be $11.4 million which underlines just how much Australian racing’s prize money has risen in the preceding 50 years.