Control is what Waterhouse is really fighting for Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton before the More Joyous saga. The difference between a good and great trainer is often how they manage "problems" with their horses. Gai Waterhouse is a master of getting it right. As she pointed out during the inquiry in which she was fined $5000 for not reporting the heat in More Joyous' neck before her inglorious failure in last month's All Aged Stakes, Waterhouse is "a horse person from my tip to my toes." The penalty was probably less than the fee her legal team would usually charge. Disclosure was what this inquiry was about in the end. Who knows what, and when? And who needs to know what, when? Stewards would argue that in an era when punters have never been better informed, they should have known about a neck problem in the lead-up to the race. Some did, as we learnt in the inquiry. Trainers would say they are constantly managing niggles with horses and especially at the highest level, where the stakes are so high; they need the ability to make decisions based on their knowledge and judgment. More Joyous is a case where the judgment by Waterhouse, based on the result, was wrong. However, go back 10 years nearly to the day and the Singleton-Waterhouse combination had one of its greatest triumphs when Sunday Joy won the AJC Oaks. "She had a stone [bruise] injury this week and then a nail in it [a hoof]," John Singleton's then wife, Julie Singleton, said after Sunday Joy won the Oaks. It was seeping with pus. She was almost going to be scratched. As of yesterday she was only a 98 per cent chance [of running] but Gai said unless she was 100 per cent right she wouldn't run. Confronting comments, and on that occasion chief steward Ray Murrihy reminded Waterhouse it would be desirable for such problems to be reported. It is not as if Waterhouse and her stable haven't scratched horses from group 1 races before. For example, Platinum Scissors was taken out of the 2002 Victoria Derby and Swift Alliance was withdrawn from the 2010 Stradbroke. Both came under the stewards gaze with Waterhouse fined $3000 for a false statement to stewards in the Platinum Scissors case. There have been numerous other cases that have never made it to the public arena. Unfortunately for Waterhouse the fact her husband and son are bookmakers leads to innuendo about her stable. It was also at this inquiry where son Tom was cleared by stewards of "inside knowledge" about More Joyous. However the reason Waterhouse has 130 horses in work at Randwick is because their owners trust her integrity, ability and judgment. It is no accident that she is one of a handful of trainers to have prepared more than 100 group 1 winners. At the inquiry Waterhouse said the final decision has to be made by someone and in her stable and that is her. She takes advice from vets and staff but takes responsibility for a horse going to the race. Under the rules the buck stops with the trainer and in the More Joyous case the stewards judged that she should have told them of the neck problem. Waterhouse doesn't see it that way, and when asked what sort of problem she would advise stewards about there was no clear answer. This is because it is a judgment call and once a trainer tells stewards of a problem the decision is taken out of their hands. Training horses is about controlling and harnessing ability, the management of problems and skill. It is hours of hard work for a minute or two of performance, which defines careers. That is why trainers want to keep control and not hand a decision to someone else.