Gai aiming for ninth win in special race

The feature staying race has a special significance for Waterhouse as it provided the trainer with her first Group 1 winner 30 years ago. Then there was Herculian Prince’s win in the 2010 The Metropolitan which gave Waterhouse her 100th Group 1 success and she now holds the race training record with eight wins.But racing’s first lady remembers her 1992 Metropolitan win with Te Akau Nick as if it was yesterday.“I’ve never forgotten that day,’’ Waterhouse said.“I even know what I wore – a green velvet dress with a big green hat. I was so excited when Te Akau Nick won that I ran across the mounting yard at Randwick and one of my shoes came off.’’Waterhouse had only just started training a few months earlier but went into The Metropolitan with a confidence that has become her trademark over the last three decades.“Te Akau Nick had pleased me so much leading into The Metropolitan and I thought he would win,’’ Waterhouse said.“When you have a horse going the right way like he was that spring then they tick all the boxes.“But he was a very talented stayer, too. He was sent over from New Zealand by (owner) David Ellis for my Dad (Tommy Smith) to train only for Dad to say ‘you must give the horse to Gai, she’s a much better trainer than me’.“I had only been training for three seconds!”Smith also used to say that his daughter would break all his training records and some 30 years later, she is doing a pretty good job of making that prediction come true.Waterhouse, who has been training in partnership with Adrian Bott since 2016, has already prepared eight winners of The Metropolitan, breaking the previous record of seven wins set by her father.Grove Ferry, winner of the Colin Stephen Quality last Saturday, is the pick of the Waterhouse-Bott stayers at $8.50 for The Metropolitan with Sacramento at $34.“I know Adrian is very happy with Grove Ferry,’’ Waterhouse said.“He did a super job to win last week and has been doing everything right since. It took him a little while to work out what he has to do but he’s another horse that is coming right at the right time.“Sacramento ran a good race at Newcastle, he’s better for those two runs back and he’s a tough stayer.’’Smith also trained seven winners of the Epsom Handicap (1600m), a record Waterhouse has already equalled and could break with either Converge or Cross Talk in Saturday’s Group 1 $1.5m feature Randwick mile.Converge has become the forgotten horse of the Epsom after two unplaced runs to start his spring campaign.But the talented gelding was third-up in the autumn when he defeated Godolphin superstar Anamoe in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas over the Epsom course and distance.However, the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Converge is at $19 for the Epsom while stablemate Cross Talk is prominent in betting at $7.50.“Converge got too far back the other day,’’ Waterhouse said of the gelding’s last placing in the George Main Stakes behind Anamoe two weeks ago.“We feel Converge should have been closer and he would have had a better chance of being competitive. He’s a proven Group 1 winner so we are expecting him to run well.’’Waterhouse said Cross Talk’s lightweight of 51kg and the expected soft-heavy track conditions bring him into the Epsom with an undeniable chance.“Cross Talk is a really exciting horse and if things go his way he will be hard to beat,’’ she said. “You always find lightweights run well in the big Randwick miles.’’Waterhouse is also chasing her 11th win in the Group 1 $750,000 Flight Stakes (1600m) with North Star Lass and is closing in on Smith’s record of 13 wins in the three-year-old fillies classic.North Star Lass has been mixing it with the top fillies through the Princess Series with her win in the Group 2 Furious Stakes sandwiched between a third placing in the Silver Shadow Stakes and close fourth in the Tea Rose Stakes.“She is thriving,’’ Waterhouse said of North Star Lass. “She will run the 1600m with her eyes shut.’’The Waterhouse-Bott stable is taking some real momentum to Epsom Day after they secured a stakes race double with Grove Ferry (Group 3 Colin Stephen Quality) and Surf Dancer (Group 2 Shannon Stakes) at Rosehill last Saturday.Alligator Blood then gave Waterhouse her 151st Group 1 win – and her 17th in partnership with Bott – when he won the Underwood Stakes at Sandown last Sunday.Tulloch Lodge also prepared a treble at the Rosehill midweek meeting including the impressive import White Marlin.Waterhouse was in Melbourne earlier this week and said Alligator Blood had pulled up well after his Underwood win.“Alligator Blood is in a happy mindset and just wants to please you,’’ Waterhouse said. “When you get them fit they can shoot the breeze as I call it and that is Alligator Blood at present, he is amazing.’’Waterhouse confirmed Alligator Blood is likely to take on Anamoe in the Group 1 Might And Power Stakes at Caulfield next week in his final lead-up to the Cox Plate later this month.At Flemington on Saturday, Waterhouse and Bott have their Melbourne Cup contender Knights Order contesting the Group 1 $1m Turnbull Stakes (2000m).Knights Order won the Sydney Cup earlier this year then resumed with a first-up win in the Chelmsford Stakes before his third to Alegron in the Kingston Town Stakes.Waterhouse and Bott also have English Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal in quarantine before he is sent down under to be aimed at the Melbourne Cup.“You have to forget Hoo Ya Mal ran in the (English) St Leger the other day, the jockey lost his compass,’’ Waterhouse said. “We will have Hoo Ya Mal in Werribee soon and get him ready for the Cup.’’The champion trainer only returned from England herself last week after being invited by Buckingham Palace to attend the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.Waterhouse, who trained for the Queen and also the Queen Mother, said she was honoured to be at the funeral.“It was quite remarkable, the pageantry, the uniform, the precision, they got it so right,’’ Waterhouse said.“The funeral was a historic event and such a wonderfully solemn occasion, so touching.“So many people came to London to pay their respects, the love for the Queen was obvious.“If you think about it, your grandmother and grandfather knew of the Queen, your mother and father did, every generation knew her because she reigned for such a long time.“It was an honour to be there, it is something I will never forget.’’ Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au