AUSTRALIA’s first lady of the racing industry showed just why she holds that rank when she scooped two of the three feature races in front of a big Standalone Saturday crowd at Hawkesbury.
If Gai Waterhouse was all smiles after Rabbuka ($3.50) mowed down stablemate Party Crasher ($6) in the shadows of the post to take the quinella in the $101,000 Winford Win Kia Hawkesbury Rowley Mile (1600m), she was positively beaming when Royal Discretion ($2.40fav) thrashed his rivals to take the $101,000 Bookmaker’s Super Fund 3yo Hawkesbury Guineas just under 90 minutes later.
In between, it was an emotional victory for Woodlands Stud when Sung ($3.80fav) gave trainer Peter Snowden and jockey Rod Quinn the $101,000 Woodlands Crown on what was likely to be the last day before Darley takes over the Ingham empire.
Waterhouse said Rabbuka had the ability to be a superstar and also had high praise for Party Crasher and Royal Distinction.
“Rabbuka is a very good horse, it was no disgrace the second horse being beaten, because this is the makings of a very, very talented middle distance stayer and we had an enormous opinion of him,” she said.
“Royal Discretion is a very exciting horse in the making, because he could have gone the other way, he could have fallen to pieces and not developed, but he’s just matured mentally and physically, and he’ll go to Brisbane with Rabbuka.
“It’s nice to be able to come away from your own track and win one of the main races, and to win two is really fabulous.”
Jockey Nash Rawiller was also delighted in the performance of Royal Discretion.
“I’d only been in Sydney for a couple of weeks and came here last year and won the Rowley Mile on Beauty Watch, so to come back this year and win another good race for Gai is a great thrill,” he said.
“He’s shown great ability the whole way through but it took a long time to get him right mentally – he’s been a slow maturer, but just the last six weeks he’s seemed to get his head around being a racehorse and I could see him potentially making a real topliner down the track.”
Meanwhile, Quinn said Sung’s win was one of the proudest of his 22-year career riding for Woodlands.
“It’s a great result, the stable as we know it is pretty much coming to an end so to be able to win a race that is sponsored by the family on a big day at Hawkesbury is a great feeling,” he said.
“Sung has always showed a lot of ability, that’s only her fourth start so she’s still learning a little and she can improve – that was a great win so she can only go on.”