When Gai speaks, racing listens.
And the legendary trainer was in fine form on Tuesday morning as the stars of the track had a hit out at Flemington ahead of Cup week.
Waterhouse was there to watch Vauban who is set for another crack at a Melbourne Cup.
But it was a question about potential changes to the Victorian Derby distance that saw the Hall of Fame trainer spark up.
”It drives me crazy the way people have to tamper with things. It’s a Derby … I think it’s magical because it’s different. Who wants every race to be 10 furlongs or six furlongs?”
“Let’s get with it. We’ve got no staying races, everyone wants to breed stayers but we’ve got no staying races. It’s awful.”
“And you know, the saddest thing? The saddest thing is that they’ve dropped the Derby winner backing up in the Cup.”
“It was magical. We had Nothin’ Leica Dane and it caused so much media interest. It’s the local horse that get people betting on the horses, not the overseas horses because they don’t know the form.”
Nothin’ Leica Dane ran second to Doriemus in the 1995 Melbourne Cup. Arena was the last Southern Hemisphere 3yo to run in the Cup back in 1998.
As soon as Waterhouse delivered her impassioned plea, she turned to the reporter with a smile.
“You got a good answer on that one,” she said with a smile.
Fait to say @GaiWaterhouse1 is against any changes to the Derby pic.twitter.com/iKOPStrWMD
— Paul Tatnell (@PaulTatnell) October 27, 2025
Now back to the Melbourne Cup. Waterhouse admits Vauban, once the favourite for the Cup, is quirky with some poor pre-race manners, but reckons he’ll still be competitive.
“I know Blake [Shinn] knows him because he’s ridden him quite a few times,” Waterhouse said.
“He’s a lovely, big driving individual. Blake described him this morning as being little soft in the middle, so he probably has got that funny little kink, but he’ll be there and he’ll be trying his heart out. He’s got a lot of owners that love him.”
