FEATURE STORY
SIXTH TIME LUCKY?
BY PATRICK BARTLEY
She has made the race her own with five VRC St Leger wins within eight years. Will Gai Waterhouse, with training partner Adrian Bott, make it six this year? Gai Waterhouse had been at the Sydney Easter yearling sales for some hours before I caught up with her. She concluded trackwork at her Melbourne and Sydney bases and was deep in study of a vast catalogue of yearlings that would directly influence her and co-trainer Adrian Bott’s team for years to come. As she ran her hand down the leg of a potential purchase, this amazing trainer was managing to do two things at once. After she had finished examining this impatient colt, I mentioned the race name, ‘St Leger’. “Now that’s a race that I’ve had a lot of luck with. A very successful strike rate!” she said. Waterhouse has indeed made the ANZAC Day staying test a race of her own. In recent years, the stable name has become very much synonymous with the 2800-metre event. Waterhouse and Bott scored their third consecutive VRC St Leger in 2020 when Sacramento beat Saint Eustace. Waterhouse and Bott had won the race in previous seasons with Runaway (2018) and Transact (2019). Waterhouse also won the VRC St Leger with Hippopus (2013) and Order Of The Sun (2014) before commencing her partnership with Bott, which leaves her with a staggering win rate of five victories in eight years.
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