Sure, the Indian Ocean is warmer, but legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse showed recently that she is still very much hands-on whether by land or sea.
Waterhouse gave Perth Cup hopeful Zoumon her personal touch at Military Beach, which caters for equine swimming in the West, and the session was captured by husband Rob, a most unlikely assistant.
Gai Waterhouse with Zoumon at Military Beach.Credit: Rob Waterhouse
“You may say that but I was up close for the snap,” Rob Waterhouse stressed. “Throughout the morning Gai had the horse lunging and moving, going through routines in the water to the degree that the strapper was exhausted.”
Before swimming pools were introduced to racecourses and training regimes, the salt water treatment was vital. Now councils frown on horses paddling in people places.
Coogee was a prime location, and old prints show Tommy Smith, the record-breaking trainer and father of Waterhouse, pictured at La Perouse but never immersed like his daughter in Perth.
One of Smith’s charges, Regal Rhythm, once broke clear at La Perouse on a Sunday morning, and folklore has it that the gelding swam most of the way to Kurnell before returning and winning at Randwick the next day.
Rachel King will head west for the Perth Cup meeting on Monday after a busy Saturday at Randwick.Credit: Getty
Annabel Neasham, who has Numerian in Western Australia’s major staying test, has regularly taken to the ocean with team members on the eastern seaboard.
Numerian holds a recent decision over Zoumon in the group 2 Van Heemst at Ascot, but Zoumon, which was ridden by Rachel King, “mis-stood” 150 metres out, according to stewards, or “wobbled badly”, as racecaller Darren McCauley put it.
King is set for a demanding weekend. Before heading to Perth for Monday’s cup meeting, she has a full book of rides at the 10-race Royal Randwick meeting on Saturday, where Jamie Kah, who has super-star status in Melbourne, will be a feature with the absence of James McDonald, Nash Rawiller and Tyler Schiller.
Kah has the favourite Parkour in the opening race for two-year-olds, where King will ride Vianarra, which finished third behind Parkour (second on debut) at Ballarat last start on a rain-affected track where both were back and wide on slower ground.
Kah has to navigate the James Cummings-trained colt from the nine draw, while King launches the Trent Busuttin-Natalie Young trained colt from three. King has many chances among her other nine mounts.
Perhaps the program can be described as the dead-end to the season and below average Saturday standard. Considering the majors that were run at Gosford on Thursday, would it – with other Saturday-class races added – be a better option than the current saturation of headquarters?
As usual, Boxing Day at Randwick was outstanding: an estimated attendance of 18,000, 16,050 of which took advantage of the free admission. Be they backpackers or youngsters having a different day out, they were, in the main, well-dressed and thirsty.
Maybe, too, Rob Waterhouse could extend his photography interest to selfies, which would prove he was in the sea at Military Beach.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
