Melbourne Cup Missing Its Gai Flavour

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Gai Waterhouse

The ebullient Gai is a notable omission from this year's Melbourne Cup build-up after failed in a last-ditch bid to book a start.

It is the first time in five years, and just the third in a decade, that one of Australia's most popular trainers has not been represented in the country's most famous race.

Waterhouse claimed her first and only Melbourne Cup win with Fiorente in 2013, a year after he finished runner-up to .

She hoped Japanese import Hush Writer could snare a spot in the field by winning the Hotham Stakes at on Saturday but it was not to be with the horse struggling on the rain-affected ground to finish sixth behind .

“Most years we have had a runner so it's a bit disappointing but c'est la vie,” Waterhouse, who now trains in partnership with , said.

“He ran a creditable race. He was wide all the way and he prefers the firm track to the soft.”

While disappointed not to have a Cup runner, Waterhouse will still be part of 's action at Flemington.

The stable will saddle up , who finished down the track behind in last year's Melbourne Cup, in the Furphy Plate (1800m).

A $26 chance in early markets, Runaway will be ridden by who has announced he will retire at the end of Cup week.

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