Gai Waterhouse
Gai Waterhouse is arguably Australia’s most recognized trainer internationally. Gai has trained over 125 Group 1 winners since earning her trainer’s license in 1992, including five Golden Slipper winners. Gai was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2007. She is penning a monthly column for the TDN and we reproduce her June column below, with kind permission of the Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN).
Much like in America, in Australia as children we were captivated by the heroes we saw daily on both the small and big screens. Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Happy Days, I Love Lucy, John Wayne films and the iconic M.A.S.H, just to name a few.
These breakfast delights would again be served up as soon as we returned home from school. Australia has always been very in-tune with its great ally, the United States. We have fought shoulder-to-shoulder in wars and we have lived on the same diet. However, when it comes to the way women are treated, it is a very different kettle of fish.
Knocked back
Females in America seem to be a strong, powerful voice. It is different in Australia for women, especially in the racing industry. When I first applied for my trainer’s licence some 25 years ago, I was knocked back by the powers that be. My father, TJ Smith, had dominated Sydney racing in a way that is hard to imagine today; the great trainer won 33 consecutive trainer’s premierships, and Dad was not keen for me to take up training horses. After I completed my studies at university and traveled to London to work in the theater, my father kindly put a couple of horses in my name and even abroad, I was never far away from the races. I was always looking for results in London papers, and attending the races in Europe whenever I could.
When I eventually came back to Australia – much to my parents’ insistence (I am an only child) – I still had my thespian ambitions. We were a tight family, and my parents, even in my early twenties, had great influence on me. However, I very quickly again got engrossed with my love of racing and, before too long, upon my return I was a cog in the family business.
Over the next 10 years I saw the likes of Kingston Town and Red Anchor come and go from my father’s stable, Tulloch Lodge, and eventually I decided I could take the next step and become a horse trainer in my own right. TJ was very reserved about me becoming a trainer; he felt it would be too hard for me to obtain owners, purchase yearlings and make my mark. My father thought I would be much better off working under him for the time being as his PR girl and trackwork supervisor. But like most young people, I could not be swayed. I had an idea in my head and I could not be stopped. TJ was telling the truth, and he knew it would be an uphill battle for me to forge a career on my own.
Devastating Battle
Together with trying to gain Dad’s approval, I devastatingly found myself locked in a 2 1/2-year battle with the Australian Jockey Club trying to get my trainer’s licence. With every rejection of my application my resolve only grew stronger. Eventually I was granted my licence in January 1992, and I remember on the day I was licenced thinking ‘heavens, I am not even sure if I can do this.’ I had been around horses my whole life, and I had been working under my Dad for 10 or more years, yet I had feelings of trepidation on these first few days as a licenced trainer. But as I had nothing to lose, my nervous energy dissipated very quickly. I went straight to the sales and purchased four horses and I was on my way.
At the time of gaining my licence, I linked up with a syndicator named Harry Lawton, as he felt I would be easy to promote. A very successful partnership ensued over the coming years and I can thank this partnership for a lot of my early success. In my first years of training, TJ refused to hand over the reins. We were both now trainers, working out of the same stable and many an encounter on and off the track would take place. Father and daughter were both strong-minded and not one to take a backwards step. Now, many years later I can say that Dad was always right. He had the experience and the wisdom and I was the young hot head. When Dad was ready, after 50 years at the top, the Hall of Fame inaugural inductee and legend allowed me to take over the stable on my own, and I have never looked back.
Time and Patience
The old adage of time and patience is ever so important to my training philosophy still to this day. I fought for over two years to get my trainer’s licence and it was a most traumatic time. When things went in my favor, I did not want to miss a thing. However, I did not rush my horses to the track, where they would have surely been defeated because they simply were not ready. I wanted to kick off my career with a bang, and to do this, I waited almost three months before I sent my first horse to the races. People kept saying to me ‘you battled for so long, now why aren’t you running the horses?’ My patience paid off and it has since paid off many times over. My first runner in a race was a gelding named Gifted Poet. He raced at Hawkesbury (just north of Sydney) on 5 March 1992, and he won by a length at 10-1. The same horse was my first starter in a Sydney Metro race 10 days later and he again won. My first starter in a group race was a gelding named Moods, and he too won. My first starter in a Group 1 race also won (Te Akau Nick), as did my first starter in a jumps race many years later.
Importance of Presentation
It is now over 23 years since I was granted my trainer’s licence and after 132 Group 1 wins (and counting) I still thrive on the challenge. I love working with a team. I have always said that I can’t do it alone and I am only as strong as my weakest link. I am always trying to get my team to strive for the best. I am forever sending my girls and boys to courses as to better their careers or to the dentist as to straighten their teeth. Why the dentist, you may ask? I am a big believer in presentation. It is ever so important that those representing me are well presented. The same reigns true of my horses. I like my charges looking hunky dory and in tip-top order every time they step out. If you pay for the best, you should expect the best.
For the entirety of my training career I have loved to see horses going through their grades. I had a gelding named Bentley Biscuit back in the early part of this millennium and he was the perfect example of a horse that worked through its grades before arriving at the upper level of Australian racing. At his first nine starts, this future Group 1 winner continued to win, and each win was achieved in a race of slighter better grade than the previous. Once he reached open company, he never looked back.
My husband and I have traveled extensively throughout America and been to many race meetings, where I have observed numerous things from many great U.S. trainers. In August we will be visiting Saratoga and I am very much looking forward to this. I have never been to this world-famous racecourse and like all lovers of racing worldwide, I love seeing as many iconic racing establishments as possible. My trip to Saratoga will come on the end of a summer visit to the Northern Hemisphere, where I again will enjoy all that makes racing so special in this top half of the world. See you at the track.
source: Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN)
