Racing's first lady Gai Waterhouse cleared by racing Victoria Stewards of wrong doing

LIKE winter snow, Gai Waterhouse, Teflon Gai, walked out of Friday's stewards' hearing untouched.

Trainer Gai Waterhouse in the mounting yard

LIKE winter snow, Gai Waterhouse, Teflon Gai, walked out of Friday's stewards' hearing untouched.

Racing Victoria Stewards decided to take a common sense approach to a new rule that demanded a six-month ban if horses were treated on race day, as Waterhouse's Melbourne Cup hope Tres Blue was on the morning of the Cup.

But they decided differently when Paul Beshara was found to have done similar with Happy Trails in September, giving him the full six months.

Waterhouse claimed a stable rep mistakenly rubbed a balm on Tres Blue to treat "greasy heel", and Racing Victoria accepted that and once it was told by its vets the cream was not prohibited they took her word and exercised discretion. Beshara claimed he did not treat Happy Trails on race morning, but stewards did not believe his alternative explanations for what appeared to be a puncture mark on his neck.

Maybe he should have said he did, but that it was merely a vitamin B shot.

Waterhouse blamed her mistake on human error, and no one thought to ask how one of the most professional stables in Australia could make such a mistake on the morning of Australia's biggest race.

Phew! Close call, that!

Waterhouse, of course, is a formidable power within the racing industry.

It was never better illustrated than earlier this year when her legal representation, worth more than $100,000, fought her $7000 fine for failing to declare a treatment of More Joyous (which bears some resemblance to Tres Blue) days before the All Aged Stakes, and which cost punters $2 million.

Given she wields such influence, it makes you wonder why her victory in the Cup was treated as an underdog story.

Trainer Gai Waterhouse in the mounting yard

The legend of the Melbourne Cup legend was built on theatre and romance, and while the daughter of legendary trainer TJ Smith finally cracking it for a winner in her 20th attempt was a solid chapter in Cup history, it was hardly an underdog story, as many tried to portray.

It didn't need the extra bells and whistles some attached.

She is arguably Australia's richest trainer. So cheering her to victory on the premise of cheering for the underdog, given how many true battlers are out there, is like cheering for the Commonwealth Bank. Or BHP.

Some claim it is because she is a female trainer in a male dominated world, but when Kim Waugh wins the Sydney Cup with Mahtoum, to pluck one example, the sisterhood remains mute.

Waterhouse sells racing at every opportunity, and interviews wonderfully, but often it is also about the business of selling Gai.

When it's not - as when she walked out of the stewards' room before Tuesday's Cup - well, she refused to be interviewed by Seven's Peter Donegan. Few trainers have the resources at their disposal that Waterhouse has, never better exemplified than by Cup winner Fiorente.

She acquired the horse after heading overseas with husband Robbie, finding him and organising a syndicate to buy him so she could target him for the Cup. She also acquired Glencadam Gold and Julienas, deals north of seven figures that most other trainers only dream of.

Still, she smiles a lot and the non-racing people adore her, and so she's good for racing.

JANA MUSCLES UP

JANA Pittman sat on the set of The Back Page on Wednesday, shuffled in her seat, and said "I've given up on buying girl clothes anymore. My arse is so big I buy boy clothes."

Pittman has put on 13kg of muscle since her hurdling days, powering up to make the bobsled team for the Winter Olympics.

Few athletes have impressed the panel as Pittman has. She was candid enough to not only confess to the size of her backside, but to put the early lows of her career down to the whims of a young girl getting carried away with being famous, even as world records fell.

In that place now stands a divorced mum of a small boy, training for the Olympics while studying medicine.

She's had a great teacher, and it's called life.