Had three winners on Wednesday ... Chris Waller. Photo: Pat Scala
PREMIER trainer Chris Waller could and couldn't understand why there was not a big crowd at Rosehill on Wednesday.
The Waller stable had another treble, including the promising Lonace, but the Boxing Day crowd was moderate, prompting Waller to suggest the Australian Turf Club should have promoted the day a bit better.
''I can remember listening to the radio in New Zealand during the week. They were promoting all the little towns with their big Boxing Day meetings,'' he said. ''There's [4] million people who live here. We've got to get people to the races.''
Newcastle has made the Boxing Day races its biggest meeting of the year over the past decade thanks to good promotion, yet Sydney seems to have given up on public-holiday racing.
The crowd grew during the afternoon but they missed Waller's promising three-year-old stayer Hawkspur making it three on end in the opening race on the program.
''He just keeps stepping up and the Queensland Derby is the sort of race that he could find his way to if he keeps going in the right direction,'' Waller said.
Waller followed up by winning with Gregory Aeroplane, then Lonace gave him a treble with a powerful display.
It ended a good day for Waller, although his Praise Be ran last, as did Photon Willie, which failed as favourite behind Imperil and was sent back to barrier trial.
However, the premier trainer made his point about selling racing better and pointed out the weak fields could have been cause by midweek prizemoney.
''Create a bit of atmosphere and have a short, sharp program and get people to the track,'' he said, '' … spare a thought that Melbourne are racing for $80,000 today and we're racing for $42,000.''
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