Tulloch Lodge’s incredible start to this season has been years in the making, but the way it has come together in the first months of the 2023-24 term has amazed co-trainer Adrian Bott.
The stable was long the benchmark in Australia under Gai Waterhouse, who Bott entered into partnership with in 2016, but has been overtaken by the super-sized operations of Chris Waller and the Ciaron Maher-David Eustace partnership in recent years.
Zoumon returns in the Five Diamonds Prelude at Randwick on Saturday.Credit: Getty
But this season Waterhouse and Bott’s raw winning numbers have matched the bigger operations with four group 1 wins from Just Fine’s Metropolitan, Tropical Squall in the Flight Stakes and Alligator Blood’s two dominant wins in Melbourne to put him among the leading Cox Plate contenders. That is equal to Waller in terms of group 1s, and they lead him by four wins in the Sydney premiership.
“It has been a couple of years in the making to have this good couple of months,” Bott said.
“You could see the stable developing and we had the right horses coming through together at the right time in the right races.
“There is a real depth to the team from maidens to group horses at the moment, which is exciting. But you need things to go right to get results like we have had to start this season, and we have had a lot more winners than seconds, which is always a good sign.
“We are going into carnival days like Saturday with runners in the big races and a lot of chances, and take a bit of confidence to the races. We would like to keep it going for the rest of the spring.”
Waterhouse and Bott have 52 winners around the country and 54 more in the minor money from 242 runners. Those numbers represent about half the starters of Maher-Eustace and Waller, who had 69 and 61 winners respectively before yesterday.
Tulloch Lodge will have six runners at Randwick, starting with $2 favourite The Three Hundred and Shangri La Express in the Kirkham Plate. Zoumon and Converge line up in the rich Five Diamond Prelude, and For Valour and Journalism line up in the Big Dance Wildcard.
“They sum up our team at the moment,” Bott said. “We have a good group of two-year-olds, and I’m looking forward to seeing The Three Hundred on race day,” Bott said. “He has done nothing wrong in his two barrier trials wins, and we expect him to run well. Shangri La Express has had the one trial and is open to improvement.”
Zoumon returns in the $1 million Five Diamonds Prelude after a winter in which he won the McKell, Caloundra and Grafton cups.
“We wanted to get a run into Zoumon before the Five Diamonds to have him at his best for it. He is going to better when he gets up in a trip longer than 1500m, but he will run well,” Bott said. “Converge gets into this race really well considering his rating and didn’t have much luck in the Epsom.
“It’s another day where we are looking forward with a couple of horses, and it would be good if For Valour and Journalism can run one-two because that will get them into the Big Dance.”
In Melbourne, Waterhouse and Bott will look for another group 1 with Hoo Ya Mal and Goldman in the Caulfield Cup, while Flight Stakes winner Tropical Squall continues her Oaks preparation in the Ethereal Stakes.
“It is a very good Caulfield Cup field, but I thought Hoo Ya Mal was outstanding in the Hill Stakes and he gets a handy weight around on the winner there, Montefilia,” Bott said. “He was runner-up in an English Derby, so he will get the trip. He is getting better with every run and, with no weight on his back, I think he will be in the finish.
“It is good to see Adam [Hyeronimus] going down to Caulfield and he has so much faith in the Tropical Squall.”
Meanwhile, Bott and Yulong are considering running Alcohol Free in The Invitation next week, where she would join Magic Time, Banana Queen, Opal Ridge, Roots, Espiona, Ruthless Dame and RoyalMerchant.
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