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By Ray Hickson

Champion trainer Chris Waller is loathe to place his boom colt Switzerland anywhere in the two-year-old pecking order on the evidence of one start but a reliable measure is ready and waiting for him at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Chris Waller (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Switzerland will be part of the first big two-year-old clash in the lead up to the Golden Slipper when he sizes up against unbeaten colt Shangri La Express in the Coolmore Pierro Plate (1100m).

The colts sit on the second ($8) and third line ($9) respectively in all-in betting on next month's $5m TAB Golden Slipper.

Waller said he’s not concerned himself with where Switzerland is perceived to stand at this point even after his debut win had a form upgrade with the win of Castanya last weekend.

“I’ve got one job and that’s to get him to the Golden Slipper,’’ Waller said.

“I can’t change the opposition, I can’t make him run faster but I can try and get him there in the best possible shape.

“I get that his first-up win was very good, I can tell you accurately that he’s trained on well since so that’s a good step.”

Switzerland opened $2.15 favourite with TAB in the Pierro Plate and will have the services of James McDonald after he was partnered on debut by Kerrin McEvoy.

In that race he showed a slick turn of speed when McEvoy worked him into the clear and he reeled off a race best 34.32 final 600m and a last 200m of 11.71 (Punter's Intelligence) which was over a length faster than anything else.

Waller said it was a good platform to kick off the colt’s career but he’s yet to face any adversity.

“He’s got to cope with bad draws, bad tracks, firm tracks, he’s got to cope with it all yet,’’ he said.

“He seems a pretty serious horse, very professional and I think he’s come on with the run and he’s still putting on weight and developing as well which is a good sign for a two-year-old.”

Star mare Fangirl heads a Waller quartet in the Group 2 $300,000 Petaluma Apollo Stakes (1400m) alongside exciting colt Militarize, import Buckaroo and the newly gelded Lindermann.

Waller has set out a path for Fangirl to complete the royal double, having won the inaugural King Charles III Stakes in the spring, in a preparation culminating in the Group 1 $5m Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

The five-year-old, $2.50 with TAB on Wednesday, ran third behind Anamoe in the Apollo last year and started her spring with a Group 1 win in the Winx Stakes over the same course.

“She seems to have come back well and if I could say she’s a little bit stronger it would be pretty accurate,’’ Waller said.

“She’s just one of those later maturing horses and I think it came against her a few times as a three and four-year-old but as a five-year-old she’s much stronger.”

The newly named Group 1 TAB Verry Elleegant Stakes is next on Fangirl’s agenda and Waller said she’ll either run in the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) or Ranvet Stakes (2000m) as her lead up to the Queen Elizabeth.

Buckaroo landed in Australia last spring with Joseph O’Brien and has joined the Waller camp, and it seems the Apollo is something of a reconnaissance mission for the stable.

“He’s a really professional horse, he’s sound and just has a great demeanour about him,’’ Waller said.

“The Apollo is probably a little bit ambitious but being a colt if we could win a (Verry Elleegant/Chipping Norton) it would be good."

Waller was tossing up whether to run Militarize, already a three-time Group 1 winner, in the Apollo as his lead up to the Group 1 Randwick Guineas.

The colt, who won the Golden Rose in the spring, was beaten in two starts in Melbourne but Waller said they were far from failures and is pleased with how he’s returned.

“The Caulfield (Guineas) run was just a bad draw and on pace dominated race and in the Cox Plate he wasn’t disgraced, things didn’t work out that well in the run,’’ he said.

Switzerland wins at Randwick on January 27

“It was probably a bit of immaturity too.

“It’s three weeks until the Randwick Guineas or if we ran in the Hobartville (next week) it would enable him to race against his own age group.”

It’s unusual for a Group 1 winner at three to be gelded but Rosehill Guineas winner Lindermann had that procedure after a spring that disappointed the Waller stable.

Commercial realities were a part of the decision to strip Lindermann of his colt status.

“He started his prep well in the spring but just lost his way,’’ Waller said.

“It’s funny how the market drops for middle distance horses in Australia, and I hope that changes."

All the entries, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting