Just when you thought the More Joyous saga had been wrapped up, it’s about take on a new installment. This time, star trainer Gai Waterhouse will be taking the stage to answer an inquiry on whether her thoroughbred pupil More Joyous had any health issues last April when it raced at the All Aged Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse and performed far below her usual standards.
At that time, Gai Waterhouse was fined AUD$5,000 for not reporting More Joyous’ injury that led to her stinking up the joint during the race. Gai has pled not guilty to the charges and will now have her day in court to try to clear her name.
This episode is just the latest in a long line of bizarre incidents that took a life of its own last April when More Joyous owner John Singleton launched his now legendary rant against his star trainer, alleging her for passing inside information to her son Tom Waterhouse that More Joyous wasn’t in peak condition to run the race, which Singleton claimed at that time led to the younger Waterhouse trading on insider knowledge knowing that his mommy’s prized stallion was going to be a non-factor during the race.
The younger Waterhouse has since been cleared of those allegations and now, the older Waterhouse will get her chance to likewise absolve her name from this months-long mess.
The two former partners (Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton) have launched a volley of barbs and insults towards each other during the first part of this saga with the latter verbally undressing her then trainer by launching one verbal shot after another on his way to firing her as More Joyous’ trainer. Not to be outdone, Waterhouse the Elder returned fire, calling her former boss a “drunk” and a “sham”.
The feud between the two then took a new shape after Singleton accused Gai’s son Tom of revealing inside information to his Network Nine colleague, Andrew Jones that More Joyous had no shot of winning the race. That, of course, led to the inquiry on Tom Waterhouse’s alleged insider trading.
In the end, though, Waterhouse was cleared of all the allegations, something his mother hopes will also happen to her now that the inquiry on this whole brouhaha is set to resume.
