Bookmaker Tom Waterhouse talking to lawyers as feud between Gai and John Singleton escalates

UPDATE: THE explosive stewards inquiry that will feature Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton has been pushed back until next Monday.

THE explosive stewards inquiry that will feature warring trainer Gai Waterhouse and owner John Singleton has been pushed back until next Monday.

Chief steward Ray Murrihy confirmed he was having trouble getting all the parties to attend the hearing originally scheduled for Friday afternoon due to other commitments such as the Warrnambool carnival.

There will also be several stewards out of town for the two-day Wagga Wagga Cup carnival. It will now start at 11am Monday

More Joyous' owner John Singleton, who has already sacked Gai Waterhouse as his trainer, said he had been prepared to have $100,000 on More Joyous until he was told by close friends that Tom Waterhouse allegedly said there was a problem with the mare and she couldn't win the race.

Tom Waterhouse met with lawyers late yesterday and is considering defamation action following Singleton's explosive allegations against the bookie before and after More Joyous ran unplaced in the All Aged Stakes at Royal Randwick.

FRIENDSHIP FLOATS AWAY INTO DARKNESS

"It is not fair as people back my horses - there is too much conflict of interest," Singleton said after the race.

Tom Waterhouse described the allegations as "very damaging" and hinted at legal action.

"This is wrong, completely wrong. I am going to see my lawyers about defamation," the bookmaker said, adding that suggestions of conflicts of interest were ridiculous.

Singleton refused to comment further yesterday but his racing manager Duncan Grimley said the high-profile owner was upset.

Gai Waterhouse also went to ground yesterday but she admitted at a stewards inquiry after Saturday's race that More Joyous had been treated with an antibiotic on Thursday morning when the mare was found to have "heat in her neck" but she was fit to race on Saturday.

Her bookmaker son denied knowledge of treatment to More Joyous and vigorously defended his mother's integrity.

"I never said to anyone that the horse had any treatment or anything wrong with it at all," he said. "If anyone does not think Mum is out there trying to win every time, they don't know her."

Singleton will be compelled to "name names" when the inquiry resumes on Friday.

Singleton has so far refused to reveal the identities of those who told him the trainer's son, bookie Tom Waterhouse, had said More Joyous "had problems and can't win".

Tom Waterhouse has denied the allegations but Singleton is standing by his story.

Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy said that when the stewards inquiry resumed on Friday, Singleton would need to provide evidence to substantiate his claims.

"I'm sure if the information is relevant, we have the powers to require an owner to provide that information," Murrihy said when asked whether Singleton had to reveal the identity of his friends, including a former Group 1 jockey.

"We need to consider all the information that is relevant to this matter."

Murrihy defended the stewards' decision to wait until Friday to resume the inquiry, saying it was not possible to hold the hearing sooner.

Gai Waterhouse has a commitment at the Warrnambool jumps carnival this week and will not return to Sydney until Thursday night.

"We also have (betting stewards) Terry Griffin bringing in all the betting information from around Australia and that will take a couple of days anyway," Murrihy said.

"The stewards want to look at the full betting picture, what bets were placed and taken. We want to look at Tom Waterhouse's betting on the race and see where that takes us.

"This matter has become a bit public and very unfortunate but there is not much point starting an inquiry with only half the information we need."

One of the key issues in this case is determining More Joyous's fitness to contest the All Aged Stakes.

Murrihy is particularly concerned about Gai Waterhouse's admission that More Joyous had "heat in the neck" after a trackwork gallop last Thursday morning.

Under the rules of racing, trainers are required to inform stewards of any condition a racehorse has that may affect its performance.

Waterhouse denied there were fitness concerns with More Joyous but Murrihy and his panel will explore the matter further.

"The stewards need to determine whether Mrs Waterhouse should have reported that condition," Murrihy told Sky Sports Radio.

"She was obviously worried More Joyous had some infection and the horse was given an antibiotic, that was the precaution she took."

Mrs Waterhouse also had two vets look at the mare, one was her stable vet, Dr Leanne Begg, and the other was John Singleton's vet, Dr John Peatfield.

"I'm not saying anything disparaging about those two vets but in this case, perhaps we needed to have the Racing NSW vet, an independent 'umpire' also look at the horse.

"If we were told, we would have had our vets run the rule over More Joyous and made a considered decision about whether to run. The horse did not pull up lame but that wasn't an issue leading up to Saturday's race."

Yesterday Tom Waterhouse denied Singleton's allegations he had information More Joyous could not win Saturday's race.

Singleton launched an extraordinary public attack on the bookie and his mother after his horse finished out of the placings.

The fallout led to Singleton immediately sacking Gai Waterhouse as his trainer.

But Tom Waterhouse has disputed Singleton's version of events, saying he lost out from More Joyous' below-par run.

"I never said to anyone that I thought that More Joyous was injured," Tom Waterhouse told TVN's Racing Review yesterday.

"I backed More Joyous. I thought Epaulette was the value in the race and I backed Rain Affair."

A snapshot of Waterhouse's ledger showed All Too Hard was a losing result for him.

"All Too Hard was backed off the map. I laid All Too Hard till the cows came home," Waterhouse said.

"Rain Affair was by far and away my best result. More Joyous takes out $4500, All Too Hard takes out $300,000 and something and Epaulette takes out $60,000.

"More Joyous is a 300-and-something-thousand dollar better result than All Too Hard."

Dozens of horse owners arrived at Ms Waterhous's Gai and Star Thoroughbreds on Bowral St, Randwick yesterday, but they showed no concern for the trainers spat with Singleton.

Every owner offered a "no comment" when questioned about yesterday's confrontation.

Ms Waterhouse is known to check the horses on Sundays, which follow a racing meet however she was not spotted.

Yesterday morning Singleton took custody of his seven horses at Waterhouse's Randwick stable.

He is expected to announce new trainers for the horses in the coming days.

Australia's most famous racing partnership appeared on the rocks immediately following the All Aged Stakes.

In an explosive outburst after the duo's glamour mare More Joyous flopped in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m), Singleton claimed to stewards that Tom Waterhouse, Gai's bookmaking son, had told "good friends of mine" the horse couldn't win.

"Why (did she run)? Her son Tom Waterhouse is the biggest bookmaker in Australia ... who told mates of mine, who I trust and have known for 20 years, (she wouldn't win). This is the third time it's happened."

Tom Waterhouse vigorously denied the allegation both to The Sunday Telegraph and to his mother Gai, who relayed her conversation to racing stewards.

"I rang him after the race with John Singleton's assertions," Waterhouse told chief steward Ray Murrihy. "I said, 'What did you say?', and he said, 'Nothing was said, Mum'.

"If anything, I backed the horse, and it was a $300,000 difference to me. I was on More Joyous to win the race'."

More Joyous drifted in betting from $2.50 to $3 and finished seventh, beaten by nearly four lengths by race favourite All Too Hard.

After the loss, a furious Singleton shook his head in the mounting yard and immediately declared he would sack  Waterhouse as trainer of all his horses.

"That horse shouldn't have run," Singleton said. "Tom should shut up, and (my racing manager) Duncan (Grimley) and I will find a new trainer."Gai is finished. "I think Gai is a genius, but Gai and Tom ... they're not for me any more."

Later he said: "Tom has been saying she (More Joyous) has got problems and I don't know about them.

"It's too much. It's a conflict of interest.

"When I hear the horse has got problems and I don't know about it, it's wrong."

In the mounting yard,  Waterhouse walked towards jockey Nash Rawiller but refused to look at Singleton.

Singleton glared at Waterhouse, waved his hand and shouted: "Goodbye, Gai."

 Waterhouse and  Singleton faced each other late on Saturday in a stewards inquiry, where Singleton continued with the stunning allegations.

"I told Gai the horse has got a problem, and Tom Waterhouse told a Group 1 jockey friend of mine, and a number of guys I've known for 20 years, the horse had 'problems', and she can't win," Singleton told stewards.

Murrihy challenged Singleton to reveal names, but the advertising guru and radio network owner refused.

The second stewards hearing, for all of the Waterhouses and Singleton, has been set down for Friday at 2pm.

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