IMPERIALIST MARCHING TOWARDS THE QUEENSLAND DERBY. LIKELY TO BE SHOWN MORE RESPECT THIS TIME

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 26, 2025

A Chris Waller horse saluting at a starting price of $61!

That was the hard-to-believe scenario when the Waller trained Imperialist saluted in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate at Doomben two Saturday’s ago … and, long price or not, there was no luck attached to the win, rather it was a victory achieved with a touch of authority that will make the son of Churchill hard to ignore again.

The Rough Habit, which was Imperialist’s second start of his Queensland Winter Carnival campaign, came with a step up in distance to 2000m from his previous start which was over 1600m in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas … and Waller has again asked Imperialist to push the envelope … both distance and class-wise … this time to the challenging 2400m trip and Group 1 company of this Saturday’s the Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm.

Imperialist had raced once before over 2400m but was basically a no show at $101 in the Group 1 AJC Derby back on April 5, finishing well down the field.

While a one run sample does not give an absolute reading, Waller admits to having some concern about Imperialist tackling 2400m … but that concern comes tempered with a touch of optimism.

“We’ll try to make him stay now,” said Waller in the post-race interview after the Rough Habit). “I’ll have a chat to Tommy (Berry) to see what he says, but I do have some concerns over the 2400 metres.”

“We didn’t know what to do with him after his last start (in the Queensland Guineas). We tried blinkers and it didn’t work. So, we took them off and suggested to Tommy that we ride him a bit closer to the speed today. He had a nice soft time up front and it sparked some interest.”

Tommy Berry added his views at the time confirming that, “Chris took the blinkers back off and we just changed things up a little bit in the hope that we’d get a result.”

And as far as lining up the 2400m in the Group 1 Queensland derby is concerned?

“He (Chris Waller) is the best trainer of stayers around, so if he thinks he can get the horse to stay, then he can get the horse to stay,” was Berry’s emphatic response.

Prior to the two unplaced runs in the ATC Derby and the Queensland Guineas, Imperialist finished second in the Group 2 Alister Clark at Moonee Valley over 2040m and third in the Group 2 Autumn Classic … so there has always been a hint of above average form simmering just below the surface.

That promise was finally realised in the Rough Habit Plate.

The next challenge in the Queensland Derby will be a more daunting one.

The question now is whether Imperialist can go on with it or whether the stable will have to go back to the drawing board and ‘change things up a bit’ again.

As Tommy Berry indicated though, you wouldn’t want to second guess Chris Waller's choice of action.

There is probably no future in that.

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