Gai Waterhouse wins her sixth Newcastle Cup with Broadside

Broadside after winning the Newcastle Cup.

ADRIAN Bott says Broadside will be aimed at the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap after scoring a gritty victory in Friday’s Group 3 Newcastle Cup (2300m).

With 54 kilograms on his back, Broadside was taken straight to the front by jockey Tim Clark and was able to lead throughout, holding off a late challenge from Auvray to win by 0.35 lengths on the line.

It was a complete form reversal from the lightly-raced six-year-old which had run last at Rosehill first up, finishing more than 10 lengths behind Dee I Cee when resuming over 1900m on August 26.

“I’m so happy the horse has been able to turn his form around – he is a really progressive type and we knew he was capable of winning a race like this,” Bott told Horse Betting.

“We were disappointed with his run first up but I think he had genuine excuses – it was a tough run – but he came back today and showed what he is really capable of.”

Bott, who trains in partnership with Gai Waterhouse, said it was a gutsy performance from the won of Raise The Flag and Anam Cara, which has now won six of his 13 starts and almost $300,000 in prize money.

“It was a big effort – it’s tough leading all the way against some nice horses in a Newcastle Cup second up so full credit to the horse,” Bott said.

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“It was a very satisfying win.”

It was the first Newcastle Cup win for Bott, with Waterhouse having now won the race six times – her other winners being Emerald Cut (1997), Agincourt Express (2001), Bianca (2008), Stratofortress (2010) and Glencadam Gold (2012).

Bott confirmed Broadside will now be aimed at winning the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap, run over 2400m at Randwick on September 30.

“Gai has used this race previously as a stepping stone to the Metropolitan and we’ve had some success through the years – hopefully we’ll be back again next year.

“There is definitely improvement in [Broadside] based on what we saw today as he gets over more ground.

“We have a bit of an opinion of him – he is nominated for a couple of the big races down in Melbourne later in the Spring and he is bred to run the longer distance.

“But first thing’s first – he’ll head towards the Metropolitan now and we’ll try and get some success in the big races up here.”

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