Equestrian Legend - Gai Waterhouse

This article is from the February 2021 Horse Deals magazine.

The First Lady of Australian Racing

Gai Waterhouse is the most well-known name in Australian racing and a well-known name in international racing. Of course, she was going to become a racehorse trainer like her famous father, the late TJ (Tommy) Smith MBE, and perhaps training racehorses was in her blood, but it was not her only career option. Far from it. But once decided upon, Gai proved herself to have a wonderful eye for a horse and have the ability to get the best from it. So much so that she has trained 135 plus Group 1 winners and won the Sydney Trainers Premiership seven times. She was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2018. (Her father, Tommy was inducted in 1998). And you can’t do all that by being mediocre. Even though racing may not be our discipline, there is no doubt, that a week spent working with Gai would teach us a lot about training horses, any horses, as well as giving us a crash course in diplomacy and public relations.

There was not the scope in the short interview that Horse Deals conducted with Gai on a race day morning to delve deeply into her successful career, but we did get some insight into her success. One indication of that is that she agreed to talk to Horse Deals on a busy morning when it would have been so easy to put the interview off. If this brief article whets your appetite to read more about the successful horsewoman and businesswoman, you might like to read her autobiography, “In My Words.”

The leg up Gai must have acquired as a child at her father’s Tulloch Lodge stables in Randwick perhaps cannot be measured, but it must have been an amazing race training kindergarten. “As a little girl, I used to be perched on my father’s creamy pony called, Cornflake and he would ride out to the centre of Randwick,” remembers Gai. “We used to swim the horses at Coogee Beach, something you are not permitted to do today, and I would sit up the front of the rowboat, with the horses swimming behind. I have vivid memories of that. I also had a little stable pony that I used to dress up and ride every day and I loved that. I loved being around the racing stables and I loved being around my father and I really enjoyed being around the horses. I didn’t go to school until I was seven, so I spent a lot of time at the stables, but I had no desire at that stage to train because I didn’t know what it was all about. But I spent a lot of time being with my parents and being at the stables.

“I knew about other horse activities, as I belonged to the pony club in the Eastern Suburbs and went to shows etc., but that didn’t really interest me. I really enjoyed the team events, but I had no ambition to further my riding in that way.”

After Gai completed an Arts Degree at the University of NSW she embarked on a modelling and acting career, and nowadays her reputation as a fashion icon is reinforced at every race meeting. “I went and modelled and acted for a number of years and did some TV work (including the role of a Gallifreyan Savage Woman in the Dr Who series, The Invasion of Time). I went all over the UK and went to Europe and North America as well. I was on the road a lot with shows and I enjoyed it, but I was always going to the races. I would find an excuse to go to the races if I was near a racecourse. If we didn’t have a matinee, I would go to the races and be back in time for the night-time performance. Ultimately I didn’t think I was a good enough actor to pursue it as a lifetime career. I worked overseas for three years and I did it for a while in Australia when I came back. I just didn’t feel I was going to be a master of it. My father influenced my decision saying; you’ll never make a dollar in the theatre, join me in the business.”

And that is what Gai did for 15 years before getting her own training licence in 1992 and taking over the reins of Tulloch Lodge in 1994 due to her father’s ill health. This move was to receive some criticism and blatant sexism at the time, suggesting: a woman can’t run a racing stable. They certainly got that wrong.

“I find the horses very interesting and I find the people in the industry very interesting. I am fascinated about the process of training. You always have to adopt different ways and different methods to get the best out of the horses. Not one rule applies to all; I like that, every horse is different. I would not just buy a horse on breeding, I have to see the horse; see how it moves and carries itself. It has to catch my interest. I look at them in the paddock, usually a couple of months before the yearling sales. Then if they attract me, I will look at the pedigree and then see if what I have seen in the paddock can be seen in the pedigree. I look for an athlete, and if they are not an athlete, they can’t be a champion. They have to be very well balanced, just like a good human runner. If they are well balanced, they will hit the ground running and get maximum output for the effort put in. They are less likely to be unbalanced in a race, and if they are, they will balance up quickly. I try not to buy a horse if it is not well balanced. To be a champion, the horse needs a will to win; they have to want to win.

“We are relatively boutique and we have five or six yards at Randwick ranging from a stable of 70 horses, down to one of ten. There is a stable to suit every type of horse. There are about 120 horses under my watchful eye. We try to place our horses where they can win. Not all horses are going to be champions, far from it, but if they can win a race, at least they can help pay their purchase price. It keeps people happy and it keeps the stable afloat. I think most of our horses pay their way, but that has to do with selection and training and where to place them to win. For dollar spent, we probably give the owner the greatest success. People ask about the necessity of getting up early, but I find it easy, I am an early person. I can get my work done and I can talk to my overseas owners and I really enjoy it.

“I think dressing up and making an effort with one’s appearance is important. People pay a lot of money for their horses and it is nice to make the effort to make them feel special when you are at the races. It’s a day out, it’s an occasion and there are few places to go to get dressed up these days. Also, an essential part of being a successful trainer is dealing with the owners. It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg, which comes first? If you don’t have the owners, you don’t have the horses.

“Australia is a wonderful place and a very strong racing country. We have a strong yearling market and it is a very good place to be if you want to be in the horse business. The prizemoney here is far better than in the UK or most of Europe. It is good in the USA, Japan and France, but it is very costly to keep horses in Europe.”

“The kids are all very interested in what mum is doing and all interested in racing. Tom is a bookmaker and Kate is involved in fashion and I always involve them in the horses, but they are too smart to get involved in training!

“Covid-19 has not affected us too badly, as we have been very lucky and been able to race the horses.” Showing no signs of slowing, Gai declares, “I will keep on for as long as anyone wants me.”

Autobiography. “Gai. In My Words.” Published 2010 by The Slattery Media Group (AFL Publishing).

Article: Anna Sharpley.

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