Singo and Gai in another blow-up

Gai Waterhouse (L) and John Singleton (R) have been involved in another spectacular race-day blow-up. Source: The Daily Telegraph

A SECOND showdown is looming between some of Australian racing's biggest names after the volatile relationship between John Singleton and Gai Waterhouse boiled over in the most sensational way at Royal Randwick yesterday.

Owner-breeder Singleton, trainer Waterhouse, bookmaking son Tom Waterhouse, bookmaking husband Robbie Waterhouse and jockey Nash Rawiller will all front stewards on Friday in the wake of Singleton's stunning decision to sack Waterhouse as trainer of More Joyous.

The champion mare Singleton bred and owns produced one of the worst races of her career when finishing seventh to All Too Hard in the All Aged Stakes (1400m).

Singleton made the sensational claim that Gai's bookmaker son, Tom Waterhouse, had told "good friends of mine for 20 years" last Friday night that More Joyous couldn't win.

"Why (did she run)? Her son Tom Waterhouse is the biggest bookmaker in Australia ... who told mates of mine who I trust and have known for 20 years (she wouldn't win). This is the third time it's happened."

Tom Waterhouse vigorously denied the allegation both to The Sunday Telegraph and to his mother, Gai, who relayed her conversation to stewards.

"I rang him after the race with John Singleton's assertions," Waterhouse explained to chief racing steward Ray Murrihy.

"I said, 'What did you say?', and he said, 'Nothing was said, mum. If anything, I backed the horse, and it was a $300,000 difference to me. I was on More Joyous to win the race'."

An angry John Singleton threatens to remove his horses from the stables of trainer Gai Waterhouse after alleged conflict of interest. Vision: 7TWO/TVN

Singleton then told the media he would be taking his horses off Waterhouse and transferring them to new trainers today - including More Joyous. It was a claim he repeated in a stewards inquiry,

Waterhouse told stewards that although More Joyous had a slight problem with her neck after a brilliant track gallop on Thursday, she maintained the mare was fit to race.

Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy was clearly unhappy that Waterhouse had not informed stewards of More Joyous' neck problem but the trainer told Murrihy repeatedly it was not an issue.

As the drama unfolded, the body language between Singleton and Waterhouse told a revealing story.

Singleton, arms folded and clearly upset, refused to look at Waterhouse and also refused a stewards' request to reveal the names of those who had told him of More Joyous' plight two days ago.

Waterhouse is always confident and ebullient, but she was clearly rattled by Singleton's outburst and the course of the stewards inquiry.

The whole sorry, sad saga was being played out before a shocked national television audience.

Owner John Singleton and trainer Gai Waterhouse leave the stewards inquiry at Randwick after More Joyous' was unplaced in the All Aged Stakes Picture: Jermey Piper

Stewards adjourned their inquiry until Friday, while Singleton and Waterhouse remained well apart as they left the inquiry, their lifelong friendship and professional relationship fractured - and possibly forever.

Two of Sydney's most famous people have been friends for 35 years and Waterhouse has trained 26 Group 1 winners for Singleton.

But none have meant more to him than More Joyous. He bred and raced her dam, Sunday Joy, who delivered him Group 1 glory in the 2003 AJC Australian Oaks. He also bred Sunday Joy's half-sister Tuesday Joy, who went on to win four more Group 1s for Singleton - the Coolmore Classic, Ranvet Stakes, The BMW and the Chipping Norton.

But then came More Joyous. The best horse he has bred and raced. The daughter of his beloved Sunday Joy.

Every owner-breeder wishes to have a horse like More Joyous. She's almost like part of the family. She has lived her life under Singleton's watchful eye at his boutique Strawberry Hills farm at Mt White on the Central Coast. She even spells there whenever she's not in work with Waterhouse at Tulloch Lodge.

The filly showed immediate potential, winning on debut by five lengths. She has gone on to win eight Group 1 races.

This was always the horse Singleton thought could win him the elusive Cox Plate, only for those dreams to go horribly awry last spring.

That's when the first cracks appeared in the Singleton and Waterhouse relationship, when the trainer drew barrier 11 for More Joyous in the 2012 weight-for-age classic.

Singleton rang this writer soon after the barrier draw to vent his feelings - and they were on the record.

"I love Gai but this is bloody madness," Singleton said at the time. "If this was a normal race and not the Cox Plate, the horse would be scratched and the trainer sacked!

"I instructed my racing manager Duncan Grimley to tell Gai to get barrier 4-6 if possible.

"Gai didn't need to pick that barrier. It's absolutely ridiculous, no one in the world thinks this is a good barrier."

Singleton was only just warming up.

"This isn't death, it is suicide," Singleton said. "It will be almost impossible for her to win now.

"The bookies aren't idiots, she is out to $13 and will probably end up $20 on race-day.

"I'm absolutely gutted."

Waterhouse maintained at the time the barrier would suit More Joyous, giving jockey Nash Rawiller "options" and ensuring the mare did not get snookered on the inside rail.

More Joyous ran only 11th and Singleton left Moonee Valley fuming.

Over summer, Singleton cooled down but the tension between them remained bubbling under the surface until boiling over yesterday at Royal Randwick.

Stewards have their adjourned their inquiry until 2pm on Friday.

It will be standing room only at Racing NSW's Druitt Street headquarters when Singleton and Waterhouse front each other again.

The only certainty out of all this that the headline writers will be busy again.

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