Waterhouse-Bott stable chasing more Queensland Group 1 glory

By Andrew Smith

For a stable with over 150 Group 1 wins to its name, the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott team fell slightly short of its own lofty standards in the Queensland Racing Carnival last year.

Alligator Blood’s win in the 2022 Stradbroke Handicap was the last time the co-trainers tasted Group 1 success in the Sunshine State.

Hawaii Five Oh was forced to settle for third behind Think About It and Rothfire in the 2023 edition of the $3 million race, after winning the Group 3 Fred Best Classic earlier in the winter.

It will be up to a pair of roughies to bring home the next Queensland Group 1 for the Waterhouse-Bott team in this Saturday’s Doomben Cup.

Serpentine and New Endeavour will represent the stable in the 2000m event, with Hoo Ya Mal scratched on Thursday morning.

Speaking at Doomben trackwork during the week, Bott was excited to talk about the team’s winter carnival plans.

“We’ve got a couple of nice ones to target the staying races - Serpentine, we’ll see in the Doomben Cup to kick him off, potentially on a Q22 path…and New Endeavour, who raced on Saturday and went down finishing second (in the JRA Chairman’s Handicap),” Bott said.

“Goldman will also come up for some of the staying features over the carnival as well… I thought the nice three-year-old colt Bases Loaded, he resumed in the Gold Coast Guineas and he’ll head towards a Fred Best Classic.

“We love it up here, obviously a great time of year and the horses do very well, and we love trying to get a select target group of horses to come up.

“There’s some great racing, no doubt the quality’s there and it’s competitive, not easy to be winning but we love being here and obviously the prize money’s very good.”

As of Friday morning, Serpentine was a $21 shot to take out the Cup, and will jump from barrier 15 with Tim Clark in the saddle.

New Endeavour was at longer odds, paying $26 with Craig Williams on board from barrier four.

Amazonian Lass will also fly the flag for the Waterhouse-Bott stable on Saturday, lining up in the Group 2 The Roses.

The filly is coming off the back of a win in the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet on the Sunshine Coast two weeks ago, with Bott confirming they have one eye on the Queensland Oaks.

“She’s in great shape, she’s come through that race really well, she returns to the races again on Saturday to continue that fillies series, and obviously on towards the Oaks,” Bott said.

“I expect to see her keep improving on the way out and I thought she was very competitive in the VRC Oaks in the spring.

“She’s more seasoned, she’s a stronger, more mature filly this time around and I think for the conditions up here and the distance probably, it’ll work more into her favour.

“She’s had those campaigns, she’s had the grounding and her two runs up here have been excellent so hopefully she keeps on the right path.”

$2.6 million filly Clean Energy will also look to make it a second straight victory after her winning debut at Warwick Farm earlier this month.

Adam Hyeronimus will take the ride on the two-year-old who is the $2.10 favourite with the bookies for the Listed Bill Carter Stakes.

“She’s a very talented filly – we want to give her that nice campaign away and try and get her seasoned for the spring, I think there’s some big targets in store for her,” Bott said.

“Hopefully we’re on the right path - I think that’s the natural progression for her and I think that’s the right stepping stone, we are just doing the right thing by her and looking at the big picture.

“She travelled up well, settled in great…I’m excited to see her out there on the weekend.

A sister to the Group 1 champion Sunlight, Clean Energy may also have a JJ Atkins or BRC Sires on the horizon during the northern winter campaign.

“At this stage it’s just the spring races - we’ve kept both those options open, and we could potentially back her up if that was an option to look at off Saturday,” Bott said.

“We want to get Saturday over first, that was the initial and first target with her and we can have a chat with the owners off the back of that and decide what they’d like to do.”