No Stopping the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott Juggernaut

27 Apr 20

Gai & Adrian finished the leading Group 1 trainers during the Sydney autumn carnival and their big-race winning spree continued on Saturday with a 2-state feature double when Dawn Passage destroyed his rivals in the Group 3 $160,000 Blacktown Workers Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens and in Melbourne Sacramento survived a protest to give Gai and Adrian a hat-trick of wins over the past 3 years and supplied Gai her 5th win in the past 8 years of the time-honoured Listed $160,000 VRC St Leger 3yo staying race at Flemington.

The stable has had an autumn carnival to remember.

“We are not finished yet, either,’’ Gai Waterhouse said.

DAWN PASSAGE

“Dawn Passage will go to the Inglis 3yo Guineas next [Rosehill, May 16] then we will look at Brisbane.

“He could be a Stradbroke Handicap horse, but I have a feeling he might be looking for further. I will talk it over with Adrian and see what he thinks.

“But we have always had a big opinion of Dawn Passage and he was absolutely dynamic today.’’

Gai Waterhouse was watching from home whilst Adrian was at Rosehill as Dawn Passage zoomed away to win by nearly three lengths from St Covet’s Spirit with Icebath in third.

Dawn Passage gave Gai Waterhouse a record fourth win in the Hawkesbury Guineas after previous wins with Roadagain (2004), Royal Discretion (2008) and Najoom (2015).

But this was her first Hawkesbury Guineas since forming the training partnership with Adrian and continued their extraordinary autumn that yielded four (4) Group 1 wins with Farnan (Golden Slipper), Con Te Partiro (Coolmore Classic and Coolmore Legacy Stakes) and Shout The Bar (Vinery Stud Stakes).

Adrian Bott said he felt Dawn Passage appreciated getting back on top of the ground on Saturday.

“He has got a devastating turn of foot and we were able to see that today,’’ Adrian said.

“Being able to step up to the 1400m meant Adam (Hyeronimus) was able to have him that little bit closer in the run whereas over the 1100m/1200m he has been taken too far out of his ground.

“He travelled well today, I’m not sure if Adam was able to get cover down the back there at all, if he hasn’t it has been a very impressive victory.”

Jockey Adam Hyeronimus, who has had a breakout autumn carnival after winning his first Group 1 race on Shout The Bar last month, said Dawn Passage was trapped three deep adding even more merit to the win.

“It was touch and go early on, pulling off the perfect ride, but James McDonald’s horse got a little bit keen and I wasn’t able to coach him to the fence, so I was left three deep,’’ Adam said.

“But he is such a relaxed colt, he got into a rhythm and once I clicked him up before the turn, he really picked up the bridle and I felt like the winner from there onwards.

“Hopefully he can knock off a few more of these races and then progress onto something more later on down the track.

“At the moment I think it’s important for him to find the right races, on the right tracks, and have things fall into place for him.

“If we can keep winning with him, he is going to keep building confidence. He is a nice colt and he’s going the right way.”

SACRAMENTO

SACREMENTO (Red)

In Melbourne, the VRC might need to consider renaming their feature race the “Gai Waterhouse St Leger.”

It’s nothing new for the First Lady of Racing to be training feature staying winners but she certainly owns the VRC St Leger and she proved it again on Saturday.

Gai has won this race five of the last eight years and since forming a training partnership with Adrian Bott, the Dynamic Duo have combined to win the past three years in a row to bring up an amazing “hat-trick’ in the time-honoured event.

Jockey Ben Melham said he was looking to take a sit, but things didn’t exactly go to plan, when a mid-race move had him back midfield approaching the home turn with nowhere to go.

Melham didn’t panic, despite being held up, easing wider at the 400m, then once he saw daylight Sacramento let down hard and despite laying in late, survived an unlikely protest to add another chapter to the amazing Gai Waterhouse story.

Gai Waterhouse, Dean Watt, Fiona Watt, Adrian Bott

Gai and Adrian’s stables are flying, and their training partnership has been highly successful.

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