Women of the Coolmore
March 3, 2022
Women of the Coolmore
The Coolmore Classic for fillies and mares will this year have its 50th running. Begun in 1973, it has had name changes over the years, settling on the Coolmore Classic in 1996 when it was won by Chlorophyll.
Further celebrating women in the race, Kathy O’Hara was the first female jockey to win. She took the race in 2012 aboard the five-year-old Ofcourseican. Then in 2015, Linda Meech won aboard Plucky Belle, a late upset win relegating First Seal to second.
Often styled the Queen of Racing, Gai Waterhouse has five wins in the Coolmore Classic, two more than her famous father T. J. Smith. Gai had her first Coolmore Classic win in 1997, close to the start of her training career, when Shane Dye took Assertive Lass past the post. Next came Bollinger in 2003 and Shamekha in 2004. Tuesday Joy won in 2007, also winning the Ranvet Stakes, the BMW (now the Tancred Stakes), the Chipping Norton Stakes and the Apollo Stakes. Most recently with her training partner Adrian Bott, Waterhouse had success in 2020 with Con Te Partiro.
Image: Gai Waterhouse being interviewed, 1997, Bradley Photographers [17833 (4)]
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