Chris Waller wins Emirates Stakes at Flemington Winners are grinners: Boban jockey Glyn Schofield with trainer Chris Waller after the Emirates Stakes. Leading trainer Chris Waller walked away from last year's four-day Flemington spring carnival mindful of having the utmost respect for Australia's most important days of racing. This year, the former Kiwi returned to Flemington and notched three group 1 successes and a total of six victories over the four days. But Waller stressed that he did not have lofty ambitions when he came down from Sydney six weeks ago to inspect his small but talented team of horses. "You can never take the four days of racing at Flemington for granted," he said. You go there with the very best team you can muster and hope they fly your flag and don't disgrace you. It's been a magical week and I thought early on Saturday we were going to struggle, but the next thing we know, we've two group 1 winners. The impact he and his hard-working team have made in Sydney is no secret. He smashed the training premiership records of Gai Waterhouse and her late father Tommy Smith. Owners from around Australia are now clamouring to have horses with the quietly spoken and measured Waller, who trains 120 horses a morning at his Sydney base. "Of course, you've got to respect coming here," he said. There are the very best horses from all over the country and now even from Europe. Your team is on display and everyone in the racing world is watching you. So you hand-pick the horses to come here and place them where they can win or be highly competitive. These four days lifts the bar that little bit more. And Waller showed just why he is the talk of Australian racing when he prepared former Victorian-trained Boban to win his second group 1 race in just six weeks by taking out the Emirates Stakes. Boban left Victoria struggling, but Waller has re-built the horse's career, a feat that part-owner John O'Neill praises. "He gelded him, he took him to Brisbane and he's made him into a completely different horse," O'Neill said. I can't speak highly enough of this horse trainer. He's in constant contact, he services you perfectly with information, and I think we're sent two videotapes a week of how he's going. And now, after all of this, we're standing at Flemington and winning a group 1 race with a horse we are so fond of. And it seems the rider of Boban, former South African Glyn Schofield, is just as taken by Waller's skills as a horseman. "Oh, he's a wonderful horse trainer, he's got that ability not to overstate his horses and at the same time not understate them," he said. He places them just perfectly for where their ability lies. Do you know, the true mark of a good trainer that Chris has is that when you jump on them, they're as fit as a fiddle and ready to win. Schofield, who notched his first group 1 success for the four days of the Flemington carnival, just two weeks ago saw his son Chad also enjoy group 1 success at just 19 when he took out the Cox Plate. One wonders just how powerful Waller will be this time next year, with his team expanding and his Melbourne operation also set to increase in the next 12 months. While Waller enjoyed the limelight of being the leading trainer for the past four days at Flemington, it was a contrasting result for Ballarat trainer Darren Weir. Weir had the early Melbourne Cup favourite in Puissance De Lune, but the stayer went amiss just three weeks ago. His hope of more group 1 success with Platelet was thwarted when that mare was scratched from the VRC Sprint Classic.