Waterhouse plots her Melbourne expansion - The Australian

MELBOURNE is to see a lot more of Gai Waterhouse after the spring carnival.

The champion trainer has taken a shine to the city and its people and intends to expand her business there, attracting more clients and racing more horses in Victoria.

The whispers in the harbour city have grown to a dull roar, with the big tip being that the first lady of Australian racing may offload some of her Randwick real estate and set up shop south of the border.

There have been suggestions that Sydney is no longer big enough for both Waterhouse and the Racing NSW stewards, led by Ray Murrihy, after several differences of opinion over the past six months.

Rival trainer Chris Waller might have slipped ahead of Waterhouse on the premiership table but the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith is not about to surrender the turf he presided over for almost four decades and that she has dominated for much of the past 20 years.

"I have family and commitments in Sydney. I don't intend to turn my back on them," Waterhouse told The Australian.

"But it is a pleasure to be here in Melbourne. I feel very welcome when I come here."

Upon her return from an afternoon walk on the edge of the Melbourne city precinct yesterday, Waterhouse explained she would have a boutique operation at Flemington, nothing as vast as her Sydney operation, and the purpose would be to capitalise on the "diversity" that racing in the southern capital and its regional areas offers.

With properties adjacent to Randwick racecourse, Waterhouse has four stable blocks that house upwards of 100 horses. Her operation at Flemington is smaller and unlikely to cater for larger numbers in the short term.

"I want to develop my Melbourne stable and I do intend to spend more time here," she said. "The prizemoney is good, especially in the bigger races, but the diversity of the racing makes it attractive. I am keen to get some jumpers after going to Warrnambool last year and having a wonderful time.

"I have 16 boxes and I will have those full in the next week. I would rather have the best 16 here than have 35 also-rans.

"What I want to do is move horses between states and send them down here when the right races are there for them.

"At the moment I'm getting ready to train some Group I winners," said the trainer, who has Melbourne Cup favourite Fiorente leading a strong team into the biggest month of racing in the southern hemisphere.

Previously, Waterhouse has commuted between Sydney and Melbourne, bunkering down in a five-star hotel at the height of the carnival. With the change in direction she is taking with the business, she and husband Robbie are believed to have acquired an inner-city pad.