‘You can’t train two-year-olds’: How a scornful comment from her father Tommy Smith spurred Gai Waterhouse to Golden Slipper dominance

The great Tommy Smith passed away in 1998 and didn’t live long enough to see his daughter’s first Golden Slipper win. But it was a comment on his dying day that was the catalyst for Gai Waterhouse’s future mastery of the race.

Gai Waterhouse has revealed a scornful comment from her late father, Tommy Smith, has driven her to become the most dominant trainer in Golden Slipper history.

“Dad told me, almost on his dying day, ‘you make me sick, sick of backing your two-year-olds, you can’t train them’,’’ Waterhouse said.

“That was probably the greatest thing Dad ever said to me. I said to (husband) Rob I’m going to show Dad I can train two-year-olds – I didn’t want to disappoint him.’’

Smith, who was his daughter’s biggest admirer, passed away in 1998 and didn’t live long enough to see Waterhouse’s first Golden Slipper win.

It was 2001 when Waterhouse finally won the world’s richest two-year-old race but she didn’t just win the race, she trained a historic trifecta with Ha Ha defeating stablemates Excellerator and Red Hannigan.

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At Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, Waterhouse is aiming for a record ninth win in the $5 million Golden Slipper with either North England, Farcited or Bellazaine – which is nine more than her father ever thought she would win!

Waterhouse has become synonymous with the Golden Slipper in the same way Bart Cummings was to the Melbourne Cup.

Cummings trained an incredible 12 Melbourne Cup winners, a record that will never be broken.

Waterhouse is establishing a Golden Slipper training record that is also likely to stand the test of time.

And it wouldn’t be Golden Slipper Week without Waterhouse commanding some media attention on the eve of the world’s richest juvenile race.

The late Tommy Smith with his trainer daughter Gai Waterhouse. Picture: File

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Waterhouse, who trains in partnership with Adrian Bott these days, has revealed for the first time what it was her father noticed she was doing wrong with two-year-olds all those years ago.

“I was giving the two-year-olds a lot of the work I was giving stayers,’’ Waterhouse said.

“So, I was giving them too much work. They are only ‘babies’, they couldn’t cope with it. They were always tired and didn’t have any speed – you want them bouncing out.’’

Waterhouse changed her methods with two-year-olds and after Ha Ha’s breakthrough win, she has trained Dance Hero (2004), Sebring (2008), Pierro (2012), Overreach (2013), Vancouver (2015), Farnan (2020) and Lady Of Camelot (2024) to win Golden Slippers.

Her most recent Slipper wins with Farnan and Lady Of Camelot have been since she formed the training partnership with Bott.

Gai Waterhouse celebrates her 2015 Golden Slipper victory with Vancouver’s jockey Tommy Berry. Picture: File

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Waterhouse describes Bott as the “boss of Tulloch Lodge” these days.

“Adrian is a brilliant trainer and understands the art of training two-year-olds - and very few people do,’’ she said.

“It is his pitch, it is his business, he stamps it and he does a damn good job. I’m better on the sidelines where I can see things often being that little bit removed.

“Two heads are better than one – it works very well.’’

Tulloch Lodge isn’t saddling up the Golden Slipper favourite on Saturday but Bellazaine has already proven herself one of the best fillies in training, Farcited is showing similar brilliant speed as his sire, Farnan, and Waterhouse said last month North England would win the Golden Slipper.

Training partners … Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse. Picture: Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images

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North England then had a slight setback in training and missed a valuable lead-up race. The colt who was once challenging for Golden Slipper favouritism is now out to $19.

Then again, Waterhouse has a history of doing the impossible. Sebring didn’t race for seven weeks leading into the 2008 Golden Slipper – and still won!

“They underestimated the horse and trainer,’’ she recalled.

But Waterhouse’s phenomenal impact on the Golden Slipper – and Australian racing – almost didn’t happen.

It was Tommy Smith who implored his daughter to give up on her dream of becoming a trainer after repeated applications to the then Australian Jockey Club for a licence was rejected.

The late Tommy Smith with daughter Gai Waterhouse after Gai won the 1997 Sydney premiership.

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“Dad said forget it, wake up to yourself, you are wasting money,’’ Waterhouse said.

“It’s not that he didn’t want me to train, he just didn’t want me to keep going to the courts fighting the authorities which, of course, was the AJC.

“But I knew I had been dealt a dud card and I wasn’t entitled to that card.

“I had done my apprenticeship, I had worked in racing and been in racing all my life.

“If I was a man, there would have been no discussion, I would have had the licence.’’

In 1992, the AJC finally relented, granting Waterhouse a licence to train and the rest is history.

The trainer they call the “First Lady of Racing” has prepared 161 Group 1 winners, including 27 majors with Bott, and has won just everything that is worth winning on Australian racetracks.

But although Waterhouse might have turned 70 last year she has no plans to retire. In fact, she maintains: “I’m just getting started!”

Originally published as ‘You can’t train two-year-olds’: How a scornful comment from her father Tommy Smith spurred Gai Waterhouse to Golden Slipper dominance