Waterhouse confident of Northwest Passage’s chance for Cup run
CHAMPION trainer Gai Waterhouse says she will have no hesitation running Northwest Passage in the Melbourne Cup if he can win today’s Hotham Handicap.
The five-year-old gelding by So You Think — a dual Cox Plate champion and Melbourne Cup placegetter in his own right — finished second behind stablemate Runaway in last month’s Geelong Cup.
Heading into the Geelong Cup, Waterhouse admitted she had Northwest Passage rated higher than the eventual winner.
“Northwest Passage was going a bit better than Runaway,” Waterhouse told the Geelong Advertiser.
“He was probably showing a little bit more class on the training track, but Runaway was doing everything right, I couldn’t fault him.”
Northwest Passage is partowned by Geelong’s Peter and Rhonda Mullen and Jamie and George Medved.
Waterhouse said she was happy with Northwest Passage’s run and he had trained on “sensationally” for today’s Melbourne Cup exempt race.
“His run behind Runaway was excellent,” she said.
“He probably just needed a bit further and he probably needed that run the other day. We won’t wait and see at all (about backing him up); he’s running with the intention of running in the Cup if he can win.”
With Derby favourite Thinkin’ Big likely to head to the Melbourne Cup if he wins today’s feature race for threeyear olds, Waterhouse said it would be a thrill to have three runners in the race that stops the nation.
“It would be a dream come true. It’s nice enough to have one in the Cup,” she said.