Restaurants, wardrobes and horses – behind the scenes of Gai’s spring assault
It is a tick after midday in Melbourne, and Gai Waterhouse has a tip.
She is sitting in the back of a limousine on her way to Flemington for the second time that day.
“I think you should back him in both,” she says. “That’s what I would be doing. I wouldn’t think twice.”
“Him” is Eliyass, a French import running in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup. The six-year-old gelding will then be set for the first Tuesday in November.
Gai Waterhouse oversees stayer Eliyass’s gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday before the Caulfield Cup.Credit: Joe Armao
It is the sort of chirpy optimism we have come to expect from Waterhouse. Confidence in her ability, confidence in her training partner Adrian Bott and confidence in her horse.
“He is racing in the elite form and elite company, and he is doing great. He looks great,” she says.
As usual, Waterhouse seems to be fuelled by a bottomless spring of enthusiasm. She has been up since 3am.
“I go out to the stables at 4.30,” she says. “I have a gentleman (in Melbourne) who has driven me for 20 years. He picks me up, and then we tootle out there, and I get around to see my horses. I am going back there now. It’s 24/7.”
When she gets there, Waterhouse will inspect her horses and then speak to her staff. There’s a fair chance she will even offer them tips. Not about who will win the Caulfield Cup, but little prompts or suggestions about their life.
“I think if you can help someone it is important,” she says. “Whether it is their dress or the way they might talk or the way they act.
“I am lucky enough that I have been able to travel the world for many years and mix with people from all different walks of life, so I think if I can give some tips to the boys and girls that work with me, hopefully they might enjoy it.”
Home Away From Home
One of Sydney racing’s biggest names, Waterhouse has been living in Melbourne for the past month. She migrates south every spring.
“We stay in the city,” she says. “We have a place here, we bought it about 10 years ago. It suits us well.”
“We” is Waterhouse and her bookmaker husband Robbie, who fields on the big race days at Caulfield, Moonee Valley and Flemington, as well as the provincial tracks such as Bendigo and Geelong.
“We live a quiet life,” she says. “We are a pigeon pair. We probably eat out more here in Melbourne than we do in Sydney.”
Gai Waterhouse at track work at Caulfield.Credit: Joe Armao
To Waterhouse, it might be a quiet life, but to watch her in action – be it at track work or on a race day – is like watching a busy director on a movie set. She is always engaged, talking to jockeys, watching the horses, entertaining owners and even mingling with extras in the crowd.
“Yes, I get tired,” she says. “I have to have little catnaps. I will just have a little nap here and there along the way to keep me going.
“Otherwise, I get sick and I get tired and just don’t function very well.”
Even at 70, Waterhouse is offering no hint of slowing down. Despite having won eight Golden Slippers, a Caulfield Cup and a Melbourne Cup, she is still motivated, she says, by success.
“I want to be successful for Adrian’s sake and that drives me to work hard and make things work for him,” she says.
Cup Audition
Gai Waterhouse oversees stayer Eliyass’s gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday before the Caulfield Cup.Credit: Joe Armao
Jockey Tim Clark has ridden Eliyass three times for three wins, all in Sydney. He has also been the benefactor of Waterhouse’s advice.
“Anything you need to know or ask, she’ll have an answer for. She’s a wealth of knowledge,” Clark says.
“And it’s great to be able to have that sort of relationship that, you know, obviously I speak to her a lot about the horse, but there’s always plenty of other things discussed in conversations as well.”
Come 5.15pm on Saturday the two will dissect the Caulfield Cup, talking about race tempo, horses to beat and “all the normal things”.
Clark, who did not ride Eliyass in its last-start third in the Turnbull Stakes, has given up several rides in Sydney to come to Melbourne, flying south as several of Victoria’s best riders – Mark Zahra, Jamie Kah and Craig Williams – head north.
“I think Tim is desperate to show me how well he rides over two miles in Melbourne,” Waterhouse says. “I say that very much with my tongue in my cheek.
“But he doesn’t get the same opportunity in Melbourne as he does in Sydney. He’s a multiple group 1 jockey. He’s a very talented jockey.”
Clark says the deciding factors to bypass Randwick’s sold-out Everest day are his faith in Eliyass and the possibility of him running in the Melbourne Cup.
“I just felt like that was going to be really hard to give up,” he says.
Dynamic Duo
Seymour Bloodstock’s Mark Pilkington has known Waterhouse for more than 30 years, an association that traces back to his beginnings at Lindsay Park.
But Seymour Bloodstock only climbed into bed with the Waterhouse-Bott stable two years ago when she bought one of their yearlings – Fragrant Cloud – for $360,000 at the Magic Millions sale. They subsequently bought back into the horse.
“You admire the time and effort that all trainers put into their horses, but they are a really dynamic partnership,” Pilkington says.
“She is the genuine First Lady of racing and Adrian is a real up-and-coming high talent. Their respect of the owners’ dollar in relation to a horse with a limited future is second to none.”
As for Eliyass, Seymour Bloodstock agreed to take the managing owner’s role and a large percentage in the import after it was bought at a French sale last year for $500,000 by associate Louis Le Metayer – “on the basis it went to Gai and Adrian”.
“So that’s how it got there, and, obviously, it has gone really well.”
The Final Tip
Waterhouse’s ongoing affinity with the racing seasons in Sydney and Melbourne drives her to split her year in two.
“For six months of the year I think all about the Golden Slipper and the horses we should be targeting for that, and the other six months of year, I target and think about the Melbourne Cup,” she says.
“In between then, there are races like the Guineas and The Oaks and all that, but that’s how I break my year in two.”
It is in a similar way that she likes to restock her wardrobe, buying up twice a year when she is abroad.
“Rob always teases me and says, ‘oh, you are getting that for MM’, meaning Magic Millions, ‘or you are getting that for MC’, the Melbourne Cup,” she says.
“And that’s how, when I am away, think ahead: ‘what do I need for those carnivals?’”
So come Saturday, Waterhouse will have the horse and the outfit to befit the occasion. Nothing has been left to chance.
But before she hangs up, she is happy to leave us with one more tip.
“I went and saw the movie on Trump, The Apprentice,” she says. “I enjoyed it very much.
“It is very interesting, and the guy who plays him is so believable. So good. It’s really worth seeing.”
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