MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 10: Kathy O'Hara riding Single Gaze finishing 2nd in Race 8, Ladbrokes C.F Orr Stakes during Melbourne Racing at Caulfield Racecourse on February 10, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)

Last year’s Caulfield Cup runner-up Single Gaze is set to resume her racing career under champion trainer Chris Waller.

At the end of her Autumn campaign this year, now former trainer Nick Olive announced that she was to retire from racing and head to stud to become a broodmare.

The small but tough mare was sold in a private deal to Yoshida’s Northern Farm to continue her life in the breeding barn but as the Northern Hemisphere’s breeding season doesn’t begin until early next year, her new owners have elected to give her one more Spring campaign.

Olive was contacted by Waller to let him know what was happening with the mare.

"I've had better weeks, that's for sure," Olive told RSN927's Racing Pulse.

"A bit of a shock to all of us, it is.

"Chris actually called me and let me know, and news broke last night after that.

"That's when we found out.

"We made the decision to retire her. The offer came in, it was a good offer, and she was sold on the proviso that she was going to stud in Japan.

"We wanted the best for that horse, we love that horse so much, and she affected so many people, not just close to her but in the racing industry.

"We just felt that she's gone to the well so many times for us.

"We made the decision to retire her and let her move on to the next part of her life and enjoy things.

"If we had any intention of racing on, we'd have raced on ourselves.

"Personally, I struggle with it. I feel like I've let the horse down, and people around me.

"Yeah I definitely have those fears [she might struggle/be at risk of injury]."

Waller said he didn’t have to contact Olive but he did it out of respect to the situation knowing how much the horse meant to him and his team.

"That was out of courtesy to Nick, I didn't need to speak to him and let him know but I thought he deserved the chance to hear it from me first," Waller said.

"I understand the sensitivity of the situation but if I don't train her, someone else will.

"I'm not aware of the details of the deal that was done, all I'm going to do is see whether she can measure up again this spring.

"Mr Yoshida contacted me and asked if I could train the horse for the spring.

"Northern Farm purchased her as a potential broodmare but with the Japanese breeding season not beginning until next year, he asked whether we could give her a spring preparation and see whether she is still up to racing or whether she will just go to stud in Japan or Australia or wherever.”

There is no official spring program set for Single Gaze just yet but Waller says the mare is sound and healthy.

"She has only been here a couple of days, we haven't done much with her on the track, we are just taking things quietly and seeing where she is at," he said.

"She is sound, she doesn't appear to have any issues."

The rising six-year-old mare won the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes at three and has been runner-up at Group 1 level three times for a total earnings of $2.3 million.