Gai Waterhouse, the first lady of Australian racing, is a chance to win her first Wellington Boot since 1995 after nominating Adagirl for this weekend $150,000 feature.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The nominations for Sunday’s bumper eight-race showcase meeting were released on Tuesday with Adagirl being one of a massive 199 received by Wellington Race Club.
Of those 199, 25 nominations were received for the Boot, the famed two-year-old event.
While Waterhouse is the biggest name, the nominations also include horses from the stables of leading city-based trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, Gary Portelli, Gregory Hickman and Bjorn Baker.
If Adagirl earns a start on Sunday it will be her first, with the filly having previously had two trials.
Both were impressive, with a second-placed finish at Rosehill on March 8 followed up by a win at the same track on March 20.
Waterhouse last had a horse competing in the Wellington Boot in 2014. That day Vonetta jumped a $3 favourite but went unplaced after a poor start.
She won the Boot in 1995 with Iron Horse, her first galloper to race at Wellington.
Dubbo trainers Clint Lundholm and Frank Hayes have nominated Dusky Damsel and Kambala Rose respectively while Mudgee’s Cameron Crockett put forward Are You Dreaming and Dobe Super was nominated by Paul Theobald of Bathurst.
The annual Boot carnival begins on Saturday with a six-race TAB meeting which received 104 nominations. That meeting is headlined by the epic 2400m Iron Horse.
