Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
In the final few weeks of each spring leading into summer, Gai Waterhouse is in the air and on the roads around Australia’s breeding farms. It’s the time of year when yearling inspections are in full throttle for Magic Millions and, after months of lockdown, the ‘First Lady of Racing’ was especially vigorous this year.
Waterhouse kicked off her whirlwind tour in late November, visiting Widden and Baramul Stud deep in the Widden Valley. She went to Amarina Farm and Kingstar on the same day, then hummed through a further four days across the Hunter, stopping in on almost every major player in the business.
It was Coolmore and Newgate on day two, then Yarraman Park, Vinery and Kitchwin Hills on day three. On day four, she stopped by Sledmere Stud and Segenhoe, while her final day in New South Wales took in Cressfield Stud, Emirates Park, Kia Ora Stud, Attunga Stud and Middlebrook Valley Lodge.
By day six Waterhouse was south of the border, taking in the stock at Three Bridges Farm in Victoria. Then it was back home in time for the races and riding club on Wednesday mornings.
Annual pilgrimage
Waterhouse’s inspection tours are an exhausting pilgrimage for the Sydney trainer, but they are critical to her annual routine. For a very long time, she has traversed Australian farms at this time of year in search of Group-level stars at the sales.
She will often bring an entourage of people, including her Sales and Bloodstock Manager, Claudia Miller, and her best friend Lea Stracey, who is vital for documenting yearlings. At other times she will have trainees in tow from the Godolphin Flying Start program, as has been the case for the last few years.
“It was wonderful to get around the studs this year,” Waterhouse said. “I’ve done it for a very long time, and I usually head off in October around Victoria, and I try to do them all before I head up north to the Hunter. I do all around Scone before I do all around the outskirts of Sydney, and then, when we can, we go north to Queensland to see all the studs up there. Of course, we haven’t been able to do that this year.”
Lea Stracey and Gai Waterhouse | Image courtesy of Inglis
The trainer can’t remember the first time she began this ritual, but she’s hardly missed a year and she still enjoys every moment of it. By the point of her arrival to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, she and co-trainer Adrian Bott have seen 80 per cent of the catalogue with their own eyes.
“I see a lot of horse flesh, but I enjoy it,” Waterhouse said. “I enjoy seeing the horses in their natural environment, and I enjoy seeing what the studmasters are feeding them or not feeding them.
"I like to listen to what the boys and girls looking after them have to say about each horse, and it’s nice. You get the personality of the farm that the horse is bred on, and the personal interaction is very enjoyable each year.”
"I like to listen to what the boys and girls looking after them have to say about each horse, and it’s nice. You get the personality of the farm that the horse is bred on, and the personal interaction is very enjoyable each year.” - Gai Waterhouse
Tireless
Australia’s first lady of racing is 67 years old and tireless. Despite the endless procession of young horses during these inspections, she won’t say it’s exhausting.
“When the weather is very warm, it’s very testing,” Waterhouse said. “You can sometimes be standing in 40-degree heat all day long, and they’re long days then. Six or seven hours of just looking at horses and you’ve got to keep your concentration up, but the heat can make you waiver.”
Gai Waterhouse at Attunga Stud | Image courtesy of Gai Waterhouse
Still, her presence across the Hunter Valley and in Victoria at this time of year is a catalyst for yearling season across farms. Without fail, Waterhouse is always the first to inspect yearlings at each farm, and she has made a point of that for a very long time.
“I am the first in every instance,” she said, “and I like to do that because you can then see the horses that make the quantum leap by the time they get to Magic Millions.”
“I am the first in every instance (to inspect yearlings), and I like to do that because you can then see the horses that make the quantum leap by the time they get to Magic Millions.” - Gai Waterhouse
Waterhouse’s arrival signals to the farms that it’s sale time, and even she admits that it can put pressure on certain operations.
“They have to have their horses to a certain standard that they can show them, and that they show well,” the trainer said. “And that’s important because that’s what I carry in my head when I talk to my owners and other stud people when they ask about the Capitalists or the Savabeels, or this horse or that.”
Waterhouse has a jaunty sense of humour about the whole thing, though. It’s a serious business but there’s room for good humour.
Gai Waterhouse at Vinery Stud | Image courtesy of Vinery Stud
“They all moan shockingly about us coming, that they’re not ready or they don’t have enough people, or they’re doing work to the farm,” she said. “But when we get there, we all have a lot of fun, and I really appreciate the trouble they go to to show me the horses. I know it’s a bit of an ask but it’s got to be done on their side and it’s got to be done on mine.”
Stamping the stallion ranks
Waterhouse visits as much of the catalogue as she can and, often, she has a particular hand in many of the yearlings she’s inspecting.
She’ll have an insight into the progeny of Pierro and Vancouver, or an opinion on how Farnan is looking in his first season at stud, having trained each of these stallions during their glittering careers.
Gallery: Gai Waterhouse-trained now Standing Stallions
“We’ve produced a lot of colts at Tulloch Lodge that stand at stud,” Waterhouse said. “And a lot of Champion colts. You only have to go through Pierro, Vancouver, Sebring and now Farnan. All of them are or were standing around studs in New South Wales.”
The trainer shocked herself about two years ago when she flicked through a Victorian stud calendar and counted the number of horses she had trained from it, but she doesn’t keep count. The last time she did (in 2014), it was around 26 stallions that had emerged from her training operation.
“We fare them well and wish them well, and it’s great to be training them,” she said. “I buy their progeny because if you know a stallion like Pierro, why wouldn’t you want a Pierro in your stable?”
“I buy their progeny because if you know a stallion like Pierro, why wouldn’t you want a Pierro in your stable?” - Gai Waterhouse
At the upcoming 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, the catalogue will offer 1230 young horses. They represent 107 different sires, 20 of which are first-season stallions. Of these 20, Trapeze Artist, The Autumn Sun and Justify (USA) are grabbing attention.
“The Justify yearlings are lovely, big, strong individuals,” the trainer said. “They’ve got very good hip to hock, and there’s a lot of chestnuts among them. The Autumn Sun throws a more neat, compact horse. They’re not a very big sort of horse but they’re tidy.
Gallery: First-season sires represented at Magic Millions in 2022
“Trapeze Artist then is a stunning individual to look at. He’s let down magnificently. We saw him at Widden and he’s getting a good style of horse. Of all the horses, they probably carry the most bone.”
Waterhouse said it was very likely she would have the progeny of all three sires at Tulloch Lodge after the Sale.
“Of those three stallions, we’ll have representatives in our stable by the end of January,” she said. “They’re three nice sires throwing very nice individuals from what I’ve seen.”
