The following is a story was written by Rod Nicholson and appeared in the Sun Herald. It is so good that we believe it needed to be shared with our owners and friends. We hope trust that you’ll find it as interesting and insightful as we did:
Gai Waterhouse still defying the detractors with another remarkable performance
GAI Waterhouse never ceases to amaze. The first lady of racing has been
“gone” for a decade now if you listened to her critics.
Yet she continues to flourish.
Saturday’s Golden Slipper quinella, her sixth victory in the world’s richest two-year-old race which equaled the record of her illustrious father Tommy Smith, is the latest is a career which stares down all detractors.
In recent years Waterhouse has answered her critics in Victoria, those who claim she had a stranglehold in Sydney but was a minion in Melbourne.
She won the
2010 Caulfield Cup with Descarado and the
2013 Melbourne Cup with Fiorente. Only last week she won the
Australian Guineas with Wandjina.
In Sydney, critics said her time was up because of the emergence of
Chris Waller and John O’Shea taking over Godolphin.
Her long time syndicator Star Thoroughbreds moved to the Waller camp, and
"that supposedly was to spell the end of Waterhouse’s golden run."
Yet at Rosehill on Saturday she won the $3.5 million Slipper, and added the Group 1 Galaxy with Sweet Idea.
Those wins took her record of Group 1 wins to 130.
To put that into perspective,
master trainer Lee Freedman claims 124.
Bart Cummings, Tommy Smith and John Hawkes are the only other trainers in Australian history to notch more than 100 Group 1 wins.
And she will have more to come, given the calibre of
Vancouver, Cosmic Endeavour, Wandjina and co in the yard.
Waterhouse has been the victim of the great Australian pastime of "tall poppy syndrome" for many years. But she simply continues to defy all.
She fought too hard to gain a trainers’ licence — given her connection to the Waterhouse clan which was unwelcome in racing at the time — and has been a standout female in a previously male-dominated world.
She became a member of the
Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Australian National Trust made her an
Australian Living Treasure.
Her vitality, enthusiasm, promotion of the industry and forthright predictions of her galloper’s abilities always makes her interesting to the punter — and, importantly, the general public.
Summary:
Gai's owners love her – Dynamic's owners love her - and so do we !