Best of the best: Rawiller is my George Moore, says Waterhouse
GEORGE MOORE and Tommy Smith were one of racing's most successful partnerships but Nash Rawiller and Gai Waterhouse are becoming the modern equivalent out of the same famous Tulloch Lodge stable.
The Rawiller-Waterhouse team took home seven of the 20 group 1s during the Sydney autumn carnival and, while their partnership is not as fiery as Moore and Smith's was, it has its moments.
''He is my George Moore,'' Waterhouse said of Rawiller. ''He is the best jockey of his time and a major part of the stable's success.
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"Waterhouse dominated the carnival just ended."
"Waterhouse dominated the carnival just ended." Photo: Dallas Kilponen
''It is a partnership, really it is a bit like a marriage, you have rock and roll. There are times where you disagree but you work it out together.''
Rawiller joined the Waterhouse team five years ago and they had immediate success winning the TJ Smith-All Aged Stakes on gun sprinter Bentley Biscuit and the Champagne Stakes on Meurice.
It was a dynamic start but the partnership has endured some leaner times before this year's high point.
Rawiller left Randwick on Saturday, the winner of the George Moore whip for the leading rider of the carnival, but admitted he still hadn't taken in the achievement.
''I will sit with a glass of wine and look back on this; in the next couple of days it will sink in,'' he said. ''You have to have the horses to do it, and they have to be right on the day but seven group 1s is incredible.''
The praise from Waterhouse shocked Rawiller further.
''Wow,'' he said. ''That is an honour because I know what she thinks of TJ and George Moore.''
It was a Moore-like carnival for Rawiller. Moore once rode 15 winners during the Easter carnival at Randwick in 1969, a feat unlikely to be matched.
Rawiller's 2012 carnival was amazing: not only did he have the seven group 1s, he had another top-flight win to tally when he won the William Reid on Foxwedge at Moonee Valley on March 23, the eve of the carnival. He had 18 rides during the three meetings at Rosehill for five winners, adding a pair of group 2s to his trio of group 1s. Once the carnival moved to Randwick, his strike rate improved to eight winners from 18 rides.
Rawiller's opportunities are restricted because of weight but he racked up another four group 1s on star juvenile Pierro and More Joyous. He also scored on promising horses that will keep him in the money in coming weeks, including the unbeaten Landing and Fat Al, which completed Carbine Club-Packer Plate double.
However, More Joyous has been the star of the team, and Rawiller, who was in the saddle for all four wins this campaign, gave the credit to Waterhouse for having the mare at her best in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday.
''This has been her best preparation,'' Rawiller said. ''But [in the Queen Elizabeth] she made it look easy. Gai has done a great job with her because she had real ping in her legs, and they couldn't go with her.''
Rawiller has 10 group 1s win in Australia this season to be the leading rider at the top level, and he won another on Atomic Force in the Railway Stakes in New Zealand.
Waterhouse went to eight group 1 winners for the season after Pierro and More Joyous won on Saturday. She leads Peter Moody by one on the trainers' group 1 standings as the season goes into its final phase.
Waterhouse's seven group 1 wins and four placings during the autumn earned her more stakes than the next four trainers combined on Sydney group 1 table.
Rawiller was the stand-out hoop, while Hugh Bowman, Luke Nolen, Michael Rodd and Dan Nikolic each scored two group 1 wins. Corey Brown was the unluckiest, although his mounts did earn $940,000 in the group 1s. He racked up runners-up finishes on Rangirangdoo in the Ranvet Stakes, Snitzerland in the Golden Slipper and Rain Affair in the TJ Smith Stakes by combined margins of less than a length.
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