Australia’s celebrity bookmaker, husband of renowned trainer Gai Waterhouse, answers the questions
Robbie Waterhouse, 67, is the best-known bookmaker in Australia thanks to a career that has at times been as controversial as it has been successful.
Married to the world’s most famous female racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse, the high-profile bookie is seldom far away from the headlines.
Son of former leading Sydney layer Bill Waterhouse, Robbie took out his own licence in 1972 – but in 1984 father and son were warned off after the Fine Cotton affair, the notorious attempted betting scam for which the organisers employed a ringer. The Waterhouses were found to have prior knowledge of the coup.
The younger Waterhouse then earned a living as a professional punter until the ban was lifted in 2001 when he successfully reapplied for his licence. During a visit to Europe in the summer he took bets from a pitch in the betting ring at the 2022 Royal Ascot meeting.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
Of living people, how could anyone not choose Aidan O’Brien, the world’s greatest trainer ever? Just look at his figures.
Henry Rous, who imported the first shuttle stallion to Australia in the 1840s, made the greatest contribution to racing. He pioneered handicapping, codified racing’s rules and published a weight-for-age scale. A polymath.
I would also include the American Tod Sloan, whose career outrageously and shamefully ended in disgrace. He changed jockeys’ riding style totally, in spite of being heavily ridiculed. Race time records crashed because of his ‘monkey-on-a-stick’ stance.
Which is your favourite venue and race anywhere in the world?
As a venue, the White Turf at St Moritz is fantastic but I have to say I fell in love with Goodwood when I visited the track during the summer. What a magical racecourse, gloriously presented by the Duke of Richmond. It is my favourite.
The Melbourne Cup is unique in that it captures the whole Australian population. It is officially a public holiday in Victoria and an unofficial half-day elsewhere. People still congratulate my wife Gai on her 2013 win.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
We all have memories of great racehorses. The great two-year-old Luskin Star I saw ‘with young eyes’ – he just dominated and was good to me. Kingston Town was a champion – always half broken down, he invariably raced in high prize-money handicaps carrying huge weights.
But there was a poorly named pacer mare called Ranji Bill. In her career, I stood her when she was beaten and didn’t lay her when she won … save in the last race one night at Harold Park trots. I stood her ‘over the Gap’. The Gap is a famous Sydney landmark, near the entrance to Sydney Harbour. It is a high cliff top. It is by far the most popular suicide venue – and site of a few murders, pretending to be suicides.
Victims include bookies and punters. Anyway, Ranji Bill won. There was a long queue, which took time to pay out. Toward the end, I heard two shotgun blasts. Thieves had been waiting at my car for me. They got impatient and robbed someone else. God bless Ranji Bill!
What is your fondest memory in racing?
My wife Gai’s Melbourne Cup win with Fiorente is my fondest memory. We bought the entire in England – we loved his win in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket and made a “gutsy” offer, in the words of his then trainer, Sir Michael Stoute. But we didn’t secure him for another month.
I loved his chances and marked him a short price, which he justified. Gai says she had never been so nervous before a race. In Australia, the Melbourne Cup is 500 times more important than any race, life-changing. For the next six months Gai went everywhere with her trainer’s trophy. No trophy has been photographed more. I can report, Gai was up at 2.15am the next morning to have first use of the training track at Flemington. She is well grounded!
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
I’d reduce betting taxes/fees and tote take-outs, which would explode turnover and increase revenue to racing. It is hard for racing, with its high overrounds, to compete with the low take-outs of sports and online casino games. It must be remembered that 98% of racing’s fans are punters and they are racing’s only customer. Everyone else is a supplier.
Robbie Waterhouse was speaking to Jon Lees
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