Trainer Gai Waterhouse with (left to right) horses Galiando, Monopolize and Julienas. Picture: Gregg Porteous
Source: Herald Sun
GAI Waterhouse has joined the European staying revolution in an attempt to at last win a Melbourne Cup.
Waterhouse travelled halfway around the world and spent about $1
million on four English racehorses she believes can develop into leading
Cup chances.
It's the first time Waterhouse has ventured to Europe to find a staying horse.
But
with seven of the past 10 Melbourne Cup winners being bred in the
northern hemisphere, Waterhouse said she could no longer ignore the
odds.
At her Tulloch Lodge stables near Randwick racecourse
yesterday, Waterhouse revealed her recruits: Galiando, Glencadam Gold,
Monopolize and Julienas.
Waterhouse, who has come close to
winning the Melbourne Cup with second placegetters Te Akau Nick (1993)
and Nothin' Leica Dane (1995), said her reasons for going overseas were
simple.
"The European stayers are much better than ours," she said.
"We went to the sales in England late last year with one purpose: to buy a Melbourne Cup winner.
"The four we purchased are all very promising, well-bred young horses with a lot of scope."
Waterhouse wasn't making a sales pitch. She has already syndicated the four stayers to a group of 30 stable clients.
The
quartet are all lightly raced, stoutly bred, rising five-year-olds who
have been in light work since arriving in Sydney in January.
Waterhouse
is following a growing trend in Australian racing. More and more
trainers are travelling overseas to find potential Cups contenders.
Chris
Waller is a pioneer of the European experiment and has dominated Sydney
staying races in recent years with imports such as Stand To Gain, Hawk
Island and My Kingdom Of Fife.
Waterhouse's husband, leading Sydney bookmaker Robbie, examined more than 200 European stayers before making their purchases.
It's
a formula the trainer has used to buy many emerging New Zealand
stayers, including her 2010 Caulfield Cup winner Descarado, Herculian
Prince and Tullamore.
"We looked at those English horses that
were rated to win at Listed level here and that were young and lightly
raced, which left us with about 60 to choose from," Robbie Waterhouse
said.
"Then we watched race replays to see if their action was good and that wiped out many of them.
"Given
the strength of the Australian dollar, Gai was able to buy these four
horses for about a third of the price you would have had to pay three
years ago."
