Still friends. John Singleton and Gai Waterhouse have a tempestuous relationship. Photo: Jenny Evans JZE
Gai Waterhouse this morning played down overnight criticism from Sydney advertising guru John Singleton about her selection of barrier positions for his mare More Joyous in Saturday’s $3 million Cox Plate as a "lover’s tiff."
Singleton became incensed late yesterday that Waterhouse had chosen barrier 11 with the first selection of the barrier draw for the weight-for-age event, declaring the choice as "madness".
Waterhouse said that she was doing the best by her three runners in Saturday’s race.
Trainer Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton celebrate the win of More Joyous in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick in April. Photo: Dallas Kilponen DAK
"We’ve been texting each other overnight. When he gets cross it’s best not to ring him," Waterhouse said today.
The leading Sydney trainer explained that she chose barrier 11 so her brilliant mare is not "cluttered up" early in the race, giving More Joyous every chance to find a comfortable position in the field.
"My job is to win the race," she said.
Waterhouse then said that her relationship with one of Sydney’s biggest owners was intact.
"We been together for many many years. He has been a wonderful man for racing, he’s a great ideas man that has seen a lot of people come back to the races," she said.
Waterhouse also defended her decision not to take her two high-class three-year-olds Pierro and Proisir to Moonee Valley yesterday morning for Breakfast With The Best.
She explained that taking three-year-old colts to Moonee Valley where there is a large crowd would only hype them up for the day in a week where it was more important to have them at their best on Saturday afternoon.
Trainer John Hawkes also decided to keep his Cox Plate three-year-old All Too Hard at Flemington instead of taking the colt to Moonee Valley to work.
All Too Hard's co-trainer Wayne Hawkes this morning praised Singleton's passion for racing, but dubbed him a "walking headline".
"He loves reading his own press," Hawkes told SEN radio.
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