Gai Waterhouse has trained her seventh Canterbury Stakes winner as Cosmic Endeavour posted track-record figures in the Group One weight-for-age sprint at Randwick.
Backing up after finishing runner-up at Warwick Farm last week, Cosmic Endeavour, the $3.30 favourite, led all the way to beat Catkins ($4.40) by a half length.
Cosmic Endeavour – Canterbury Stakes 2015
ATC Australian Derby winner Criterion ($12) made a promising return to racing in finishing three-quarters of a length away third.
Waterhouse said it was an easy decision to ask Cosmic Endeavour to take on the weight-for-age sprinters.
“This week, just every single day she kept improving,” Waterhouse said.
“She’s beaten the boys before and I knew she was cherry ripe and this was the time to run.”
The win gave leading jockey James McDonald an overdue Group One success for Waterhouse’s Tulloch Lodge.
“Gai’s been a big supporter of me in these big races,” McDonald said.
“I ran second in the Melbourne Cup and second in the Magic Millions and it’s good to get one on the board,” McDonald said.