Waterhouse-Bott win race for Leilani Lodge to spark major stable move

The Australian Turf Club has cited safety concerns as a major factor in granting Leilani Lodge to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in a move that is set to signal the end of Sydney’s most successful stables, Tulloch Lodge.

The ATC announced on Thursday that Waterhouse and Bott would take over the lease of 65 boxes at the High Street stables established and made famous by Melbourne Cup king Bart Cummings from the early 1980s.

Leilani Lodge was vacated early last year after Cummings’ son, Anthony, was stripped of his trainers’ licence and evicted. Ciaron Maher then beat Waterhouse and Bott to secure the lease, but the top Victorian trainer, a three-time Australian premiership winner, had not moved any horses in after months of significant refurbishments then a change of his plans to instead take over at Racing NSW-bought 125-box Crown Lodge at Warwick Farm.

Waterhouse and Bott this time edged out Michael Freedman on the short-list for Leilani Lodge, although he will be given an additional 20 boxes on course in a rejig of other stables.

The decision means the Waterhouse-Bott operation will move from Tulloch Lodge on Bowral Street to the on-course stables. Tulloch Lodge was founded in 1941 by Waterhouse’s legendary father, TJ Smith, who won an astounding 33 consecutive Sydney trainers’ titles up to 1984-85. Waterhouse then won another seven in her Hall Of Fame career, which has continued in partnership with Bott since 2016.

Bart Cummings and TJ Smith share the Australian record for most group 1 victories on 246.

The ATC said it welcomed the Waterhouse-Bott application because it will improve safety around Royal Randwick racecourse by removing the need for horse movement along Bowral Street and Doncaster Avenue from Tulloch Lodge.

“Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott are iconic names in Australian racing and are a part of the fabric of Royal Randwick,” ATC chief executive Steve McMahon said in a statement.

“In time, this move to Leilani Lodge will mean for the first time in the history of Royal Randwick, there will be no horses crossing any road for morning trackwork or afternoon exercise.

“Horse and participant safety was a key factor in the ATC’s decision, further strengthening Royal Randwick as one of the world’s best racing and training centres.”