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The horses lining up to replace Via as Waller’s stable star
Andrew Slevison • January 19th, 2026 5:01 pm
The powerful Chris Waller stable will farewell Via Sistina after the decision was made to retire the wonder mare.
‘Via’ held the mantle as Waller’s stable superstar for the last 18 months but her retirement opens the door for another premier thoroughbred to become the new pin-up boy or girl.
Yulong and Waller now have their hands on Trinity College who arrives in Australia with three wins and three placings from 10 starts in the UK and Europe, including a last-start second in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamps in July.
The Dubawi colt, formerly trained by Irish genius Aidan O’Brien, will be set for some key races in Sydney this autumn and Waller is excited by his raw ability.
“He’s an unassuming horse, he’s very well performed over there,” Waller said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“He’s by Dubawi, he’s a colt, he’s settled in really well, he’s not too ‘colty’, he’s nice and relaxed, a good horse to work with.
“He had a quiet trial last week and James (McDonald) was very pleased with him.
“He’ll certainly be heading towards races like the Chipping Norton, the Ranvet and the Queen Elizabeth in the autumn.”
The heir apparent to Via Sistina’s mantle is the undefeated Autumn Glow.
The Autumn Sun’s progeny is eight from eight in her short career to date and will look to add to her impressive CV this autumn on a pathway similar to that of Trinity College.
“Pretty good chance (to head to the Queen Elizabeth),” Waller said of the four-year-old mare.
“She’ll resume in the Apollo and most likely run in the Chipping Norton, possibly freshen up for the George Ryder.
“Then we’ll make a decision after that whether we go to the mares’ mile race (the Coolmore Legacy) on the same day as the Queen Elizabeth.
“With Via not there there would be pretty tempting signs to go there but we don’t necessarily have to make her get 2000m. She’s still very sharp and we want to keep sprinter/miler options open for as long as we can.”
And talented mare Aeliana still has a key role to play for Waller.
There would be many who have jumped off after unplaced runs in the Turnbull and Cox Plate but Waller suggests she might have filled out a bit in recent weeks.
“I’ll try to get some photos of what she looked like in spring compared to how she looks now for everybody to see,” he said of the ATC Derby winner.
“I think that would explain how well she looks now and how poorly she looked in the spring.”
Aeliana is in the market for races such as the Doncaster Mile, Queen Elizabeth this autumn and is the early $6.50 Sportsbet favourite for the 2026 Caulfield Cup.
