Keeping up with Gai

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Slade's Kestrel Thoroughbreds teamed up with Waterhouse and co-trainer Adrian Bott for the first time on the Gold Coast, and, on numbers of yearlings purchased alone, it proved a major success. Waterhouse and Bott bolstered their stable by well over 40, with 35 purchased in partnership with Kestrel.

Slade also continued his successful partnership buying for Gold Coast locals, Toby and Trent Edmonds in a market that was extremely competitive for buyers, and that required a fair bit of strategic planning to secure a winning bid.

"I thought it was a very good catalogue, a really high-class catalogue across the board. Pedigree-aside, just on types and racehorses, I thought there were plenty of good-running horses there, which of course Magic Millions has built its reputation and brand on," Slade said.

"There were lots of nice choices and it was just a matter of trying to get them bought. We just felt our way around it, did a lot of vetting and sat and waited for the ones that fell within our value ranges.

"Gai and Adrian have come away with close to 40 out of the Sale, which is more than they have for a few years and Toby and Trent had a record haul of 20-odd horses. It was really pleasing, it’s just great to get some good-quality horses into the stable, get them educated, get them into the system and hopefully polish a few diamonds."

Waterhouse was rapt to have Slade back on board helping her select yearlings on the Gold Coast.

“It is great to have Bruce. I plucked him, so to speak, from New Zealand when he was bid-spotting many years ago. He worked with me, then he went on to work at Newgate Farm and he’s come back more mature and a lot more experienced and he’s a huge help to us,” she said during the Sale.

For Slade, the phenomenal energy Waterhouse brings to her job, at an age where many are already in retirement, still amazes him.

"She said she thought I'd matured a lot, which I thought was interesting. I suppose we all mature and age and organically grow!" he said.

"Gai has bought a lot of horses in her life, so it’s always educational and it’s just incredible when you think I first started working with her a decade ago, just her energy and her enthusiasm and the way she never stops.

"Even though the business is Adrian's day-to-day, she treats it as her own and she hasn't lost any of her passion, vigour or work ethic. It was good fun, and when she's out in front, leading as she does, you just follow. That ties in quite nicely to the way she likes her horses to race, it’s just trying to keep up, but it’s good to have a bunny to chase."

Bott's growing influence as a co-trainer is the major change Slade has seen since he last worked with Waterhouse Racing in 2015, and he sees the pair as a great foil for one another.

"He's an incredible person, he really is. The way he and Gai work in together, it’s impossible for you to always to see eye-to-eye, but they bounce off each other and let each other have their wins here and there," Slade said.

"Gai's trained for a long time, and of everyone who has been through the gates there, he is the one that has been able to take over the mantle, and so that's a huge credit to him."

No Doubt over the standout

Of the all the purchases made by the team at Magic Millions, it was Lot 705, the filly by Not A Single Doubt out of Rhodamine (Success Express {USA}), offered by Silverdale Farm, that Slade is most excited about. At $750,000, she was the most expensive buy of the Sale for Waterhouse, Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds.

"We are just ecstatic to land her. You go in there hoping, and we had been beaten on a couple of other fillies we really liked. She was a top three physical in the Sale for us, filly or colt. What made her stand out was just her mentality," he said.

"When you go back to see her the eighth, ninth and tenth time, and it's getting closer to the Sale and little things can upset them, but every time she came out of the box, it was business as usual. I love seeing that, when fillies are able to cope with pressure."

The most exciting colt purchase in Slade's eye, was lot 665, by Pierro out of Princess Mia (Fastnet Rock) from the draft of Bott's father Tony's Evergreen Stud Farm. He cost $475,000.

"He's a beautiful horse. Obviously his second dam is Princess Coup, who was a champion horse. He's just that horse that has got the physicality and strength to be up and going as an autumn 2-year-old like his dad, but he's also got that scope and size," he said.

"You can see him leading out big weight-for-age, mile and sprint races in time. He's an exciting colt."

Edmonds Racing's record haul

Slade was also rapt with the horses he was able to secure for Edmonds Racing, who were the first clients in his new business at this Sale last year.

The pick of the bunch from 2021 was Lot 283, a filly by I Am Invincible out of Extra Olives from Coolmore which cost $360,000.

"We have had so much luck with I Am Invincible, through Houtzen and I think four or five other stakes winners as well. Toby selected I Am Invincible as a yearling and purchased him and initially trained him for the Gall family. He's a sire very close to our heart," he said.

"This filly is from a very fast family, her third dam is Alinghi and it’s a quick family. She looks like she could get up and take on black type before Christmas this year and hopefully she is in the race next year."

Slade was also pleased with the purchase of Lot 40, a colt by Nicconi out of Amansara (Not A Single Doubt), which Edmonds Racing and Kestrel Thoroughbreds were able to buy for $250,000.

Lessons learned

Working for two major clients presented its challenges for Slade on the Gold Coast but having got through a very busy start to the year, he has probably learned that he may need some help keeping up with his clients moving forward, particularly with Gai.

"It's just full on the whole time, full pace. Especially working for the two. It’s the only Sale where both of them are really active. At other sales, it will generally be one or the other," he said.

"Going into it, I wasn't sure how it was going to work. You just have to have very open communication lines and be very honest and where they come together on the same horse, they bid against one another as they normally would.

"I could definitely do it better for them both and that probably means I just need some help going forward in that regard. There are some things I could be doing, which I just can't physically do by myself. I probably just need an extra set of hands that can be there helping me add further value to them."