GAI ON A CUP CRUSADE
It’s shaping up as a battle royal with Australia’s queen of the turf represented by two outside chances with ties to the throne. RAY THOMAS backgrounds Knights Order and Sir Lucan
IT WAS early 2013 and Gai Waterhouse was putting the finishing touches to her autumn campaign plans for Fiorente. The former English stayer had finished second in the Melbourne Cup the previous year at his first Australian start and Waterhouse was excited about what the horse could do in the autumn.
The trainer showed her husband, bookmaker Rob Waterhouse, the program she had in mind for Fiorente and was eager for his approval.
“We can win the Australian Cup, the Tancred Stakes and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, he’s that good,’’ Waterhouse said.
Her husband listened intently but his response was not what the trainer expected.
“Gai, before you go any further, ring Lloyd Williams and see what he thinks,’’ he said.
The trainer wasn’t sure what to make of her husband’s reticence and replied, “Why, what will he say?”
He said: “I’m sure Lloyd will tell you to give Fiorente only one weightfor-age race in the autumn so he is not weighted out of the Melbourne Cup.’’
Gai replied: “That’s ridiculous.’’ But after a little procrastination, the trainer called Williams to ask his opinion and the reply was as predicted: “Give Fiorente one race in autumn and concentrate on the Melbourne Cup.’’
Williams knows a thing or two about winning the Melbourne Cup.
The owner has won the race seven times, including in 1981 with Just A Dash, trained by Waterhouse’s father, the late, great Tommy Smith.
Waterhouse accepted Williams’ sage-like advice and restricted Fiorente to just one run that autumn.
Later that year, Fiorente gave Waterhouse the Melbourne Cup win that had seemed her destiny but had proved elusive.
Waterhouse had trained second placings with Te Akau Nick (1992), Nothin’ Leica Dane (1995) and Fiorente (2012) and was starting to wonder if she would ever win the race that stops a nation.
When Waterhouse finally got her hand on the most coveted trophy in Australian sport, she was humbled by the magic of the Melbourne Cup.
“I suppose in many ways it changes your life,’’ Waterhouse said.
“This is the race Australians love, everyone wants to have a Cup runner.
“We had been so close a few times and you keep trying, hoping it will happen.
“When we finally won the Melbourne Cup … well, it was hard to put into words what it meant. It was a dream come true, to be exact.’’
Waterhouse now trains in partnership with Adrian Bott and is trying to win the Melbourne Cup again with Sir Lucan and Knights Order on Tuesday. There’s a bit of Fiorente about Sir Lucan … but more of that later.
Rob Waterhouse tried to put into perspective what Fiorente’s win in the Melbourne Cup meant to the Hall of Fame trainer.
He explained that Gai kept only two of her racing trophies on display at home and, though the mantelpiece was a little crowded with seven Golden Slipper trophies, there was room for a second Melbourne Cup.
“I speak for Gai as well as for me when I say I didn’t realise how important the Melbourne Cup is to Australians,’’ Waterhouse said.
“I thought maybe it was twice as important as the Golden Slipper but the true ratio is many times more.
“When you walk down the street after winning a Golden Slipper, the odd person knows about it.
“But when Gai went anywhere in the weeks after she won with Fiorente, everyone knew she had won the race.’’
I can attest to that because, a few days after Fiorente’s win, I was in the Herald Sun offices in Melbourne when the trainer came into the building for an appointment with then-managing editor Peter Blunden.
Waterhouse had 15 minutes to spare on her busy schedule but she didn’t leave the building for nearly two hours. She had the Melbourne Cup trophy with her and it seemed nearly every journalist, copy kid, advertising executive, cleaner and tea lady wanted to take a selfie with the trainer and the Cup.
The experience Waterhouse had with Fiorente has only fuelled her desire to win the Cup again … which brings us to Sir Lucan and Knights Order.
Sir Lucan, a three-year-old by northern hemisphere time, is a full brother to Sir Dragonet, winner of the Cox Plate and Tancred Stakes last season, and was acquired by Waterhouse and her syndicate of owners this year.
A winner of two of his eight starts including the Listed Yeats Stakes over 2615m at Navan in Ireland, Sir Lucan is going straight into the Melbourne Cup at his Australian debut, just as Fiorente did nine years ago.
Fiorente had also won just two races from nine starts when he contested the 2012 Melbourne Cup when still a northern hemisphere three-year-old and ran well to finish second to the Williams-owned Green Moon.
“When we identified Sir Lucan, I asked Rob to do an analysis of the horse and liked the form very much,’’
I suppose in many ways it changes your life
Gai Waterhouse
Waterhouse said. “But he’s a very different style of horse to Fiorente at the same stage of their careers. Fiorente was a more furnished type but Sir Lucan is very talented and has the makings of a very good horse next year. He’s an extremely nice, free-moving individual.
“Knights Order is a rank outsider in the Cup but sillier things have happened and he can stay the 3200m with his eyes shut.
“But Incentivise is the horse we have to beat. He is certainly very talented, is he too brilliant?
“We will find out on Tuesday but it is a wonderful thing to have such an exciting horse as Peter Moody’s stayer in the race.’’
Rob Waterhouse said, with the obvious exception of Incentivise, Tuesday’s race might not be the strongest Melbourne Cup field of recent times.
“This is probably an easier year and Sir Lucan is a very strong stayer,’’ Waterhouse said. “He’s a worthy contender but will be better next year.’’
There is a hint from the trainer and her husband that Sir Lucan might do a Fiorente; that is, run well in the Cup at his debut but be better again for the Melbourne Cup next year. Does this mean Sir Lucan will appear only briefly on the racetrack next autumn?
“It’s a very interesting philosophical question,’’ Rob Waterhouse said.
“The Melbourne Cup is s a handicap and the people who have the most success are those that are single-minded about out trying to win it and protecting ting the handicap of their horses. es.
“All Lloyd wants to do is win the Melbourne Cup, Bart (Cummings) was the same.
“In Tommy’s case, he wanted to win everything along the way. He did win two Melbourne Cups (Toparoa a in
1955 and Just A Dash) but he didn’t win it with his great horses s like Tulloch, Kingston Town, Redcraze and Gunsynd because they y were carrying the ‘grandstand’.
“I’m sure if Tommy had d ‘cuddled’ a couple of his champions, , they would have won the Cup.’’
Which brings us back to Tuesday’s race.
There’s a bit of Fiorente e about Sir Lucan …