We’re all about giving credit to those who open doors for others.
As a female trainer from Australia, Gai Waterhouse is a true leader. She is also a Melbourne Cup winner. We’re talking about her, and her Flemington achievement.
About Gai Waterhouse
Born Gabriel Marie Waterhouse in 1954, ‘Gai’ Waterhouse is among the most popular trainers in Australia.
The actress turned trainer is following in the family footsteps somewhat, but is a Hall of Famer in her own right having been inducted in 2007. She has been described as the “first lady of racing”.
Granted a license back in 1992, she saddled her first Group 1 winner that year in the Metropolitan Handicap. Since then, she has trained more than 150 Group 1 winners which is some achievement.
Among Waterhouse’s top-level wins are; AJC Oaks x 3, All Aged Stakes x 5, Champagne Stakes x 5, Chipping Norton x 5, Coolmore Classic x 5, Doncaster Handicap x 7, Epsom Handicap x 7, Flight Stakes x 9, George Main Stakes x 4, Golden Slipper x 7, Mackinnon Stakes x 4, Queen Elizabeth Stakes x 4, Queen of the Turf x 5, Ranvet Stakes x 7, Sires’ Produce Stakes x 7, The Metropolitan x 6.
Melbourne Cup Achievements
Some trainers are famous purely for their prowess on the track. Others add to their status because of breaking new ground.
Gai Waterhouse, in 2013, became the first Australian female trainer to win the race that stops a nation. Via her Fiorente, she showed other female trainers that the feat can be achieved. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been placed in the race since but she does keep trying.
Fiorente
Fiorente was a fine-looking horse. By German galloper Monsun, he was always bred to stay a distance. Initially, the horse was with Ballymacoll Stud and their star trainer in England, Sir Michael Stoute.
Gai Waterhouse took over the reins after Fiorente was sold to Australia in 2012. She sent him straight to the Melbourne Cup, looking to become the first female trainer from Australia to win the race.
Fit from his European campaign, Fiorente got ever so close to winning. In the end, he was a length second to Robert Hickmott’s Green Moon.
Some may have thought that all the work was done by Stoute. But Waterhouse was to aim Fiorente at Flemington once more in 2013.
After running fourth in the Turnbull Stakes and third in the Cox Plate, Fiorente went off the $7 favourite for the 2013 Melbourne Cup. This time, he got there in the shadow of the post to record a famous win. He returned to Flemington in March 2014 to win the Australian Cup too.
