Australia's first lady of racing Gai Waterhouse, in Albury to launch the city's Gold Cup carnival, says it is "highly likely" her stable will field a runner at this year's $855,000 prize money event.
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"The first thing I'll do when I get on the plane is pull out my nomination book and see what I can bring up here," she said at the Commercial Club on Friday, March 1.
The Sydney-based trainer, however, cast doubts as to whether she would attend the carnival in person, citing commitments in the US.
Waterhouse, who has previously had a winner at the Albury Gold Cup with Entente in 2021, spoke at the Albury Racing Club's cup launch.
She described the presence of big-name trainers at country cups as "essential" for the sport.
"It brings the owners and it brings the interest, there's more betting if there are horses coming from Melbourne, Sydney, the biggest cities, it brings a focus on it," she said.
"I think that the locals like to see them, they see (Waterhouse's co-trainer) Adrian Bott and, oh, by the way, there's Gai Waterhouse, yeah I think they love that."
Waterhouse said she was unsure as to whether she would travel back to Albury to attend the two-day carnival which begins on Thursday, March 21, but said the city had a geographic attraction compared with other country features.
"I'll just have to see because I'm going away to America to the Kentucky Derby, so I'm just not sure, I don't know if it will be me or it might be me in drag, (jockey) Neil Paine," she said with a laugh.
"Albury is so accessible both to Melbourne and Sydney, it's literally the halfway mark, you know, you could be sending horses from our Flemington stable, or from our Randwick stable, it's great."
