Gai Waterhouse has confirmed she has a perfect spot reserved on her mantelpiece for a Cox Plate trophy, which would be a crowning achievement alongside her victories in the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, and Golden Slipper.

The training powerhouse of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will send Sir Delius to Flemington for the Cox Plate (2040m) this Saturday, with the race shifted from the usual Moonee Valley track due to ongoing reconstruction.

“Over 30 years I’ve had a lot of good chances, including Alligator Blood, but it’s a hard race to win,” Waterhouse stated.

“I don’t think about the past, I think of the future and that’s what I’m training the horse to do, but it would be very nice to have.

“I’ve got a spot on the mantlepiece ready for it.”

Sir Delius was controversially scratched from last year’s Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup after CT scans indicated an elevated risk of injury. The imported entire returned in the autumn to claim the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick third-up from a spell, and enters Saturday’s Cox Plate at a similar stage of his campaign.

In his two starts this preparation, Sir Delius has finished fourth at Flemington, appearing somewhat below his best. However, Waterhouse is optimistic that her charge will rediscover peak form on Saturday.

“He’s not working quite the same as he was last year, but he’s a year older and he’s more mature, but he’s very fit and a happy horse going into the race,” Waterhouse said.

“He’s only had the two starts for the spring and his second start in the Turnbull, the track was a little bit affected, the speed was on, which it could be again on Saturday, but he came out of it very well.

“I think it’s a very tough race, a race of a lot of depth and every one of the horses deserve to be there.

“It’s a serious race.”

Waterhouse will defer finalising race tactics until race morning, pending any potential scratchings from the field.

The trainer is hoping the predicted rain does not impact the track too early on Saturday.

“I always wait until the morning of the race, see if there are any scratchings before deciding on tactics,” Waterhouse commented.

“I like to have the speed maps, I like to talk to Adrian and the jockeys.

“I always talk to the jockeys before the race, to get in my mind, and their mind, what we’re hoping is going to happen, and then everything is taken to chance, the speed, whether it rains, you just don’t know.

“Being in the right place at the right time, it’s all a part of it, and that’s why you hope to have the best jockey and we have with Craig Williams.

“We had rain in the Turnbull and that didn’t go our way.”

Get the best racing odds from your preferred betting sites.