The first lady of the Australian turf, Gai Waterhouse is chasing her fifth win in the 2018  Group 1 $750,000 Heineken 3 Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday with tough staying mare Sedanzer.

Waterhouse won the premier Sydney staying race of the Sydney Spring Carnival with Coco Cobanna (2000), Dress Circle (2001), Herculian Prince (2010) and Glencadam Gold (2012) and this year will team up with co-trainer Adrian Bott with Sedanzer.

Sedanzer has drawn barrier five in the capacity eighteen horse field plus one emergency and will be ridden again by regular partner Tim Clark who rode the mare to victory in the Group 2 $300,000 Pages Hire Brisbane Cup (2200m) at Doomben during the Brisbane Winter Carnival.

The five year old mare has had two runs back from a short ease up for a first up fourth to Unforgotten in the Group 2 $250,000 Bisley Workwear Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 1 followed by an eleventh to Avilius in the Group 3 $160,000 The Agency Real Estate Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Randwick a fortnight later.

Co-trainer Adrian Bott said that he was willing to forgive Sedanzer her last start unplaced effort, blaming a wide barrier for the poor effort.

The Sebring mare has drawn a lot better this week and Bott said that he could se her getting a better run in transit than she was able to obtain in the Kingston Town Stakes.

“She has got a much favourable draw. Last start from the wide alley we just had to go back, a bit further back than we would like to and was forced to make a long sustained run which didn’t suit her,” Bott said.

“With that kind of draw today she is going to be a lot closer than we were last start.”

“She is probably one of the most genuine mares we have got in the stable. She gives it all every time.”

“Second up she probably just raced a little bit flat from that first up run which I thought was an enormous run.”

“Stretching out in trip now I think she is really looking for it.”

The top weight Auvray will have to carry 57kg with Tye Angland sticking with the eight year old after he ran a courageous race with 59.5kg on his back when second to Carzoff in the Group 3 $200,000 Sharp Electronics Group Newcastle Gold Cup (2300m) at Newcastle on September 14.

Premiership winning trained Chris Waller will saddle up eight of the eighteen runners in the Metropolitan with several international imports among his contingent.

Waller’s runners are Libran (barrier 16), Patrick Erin (4), Alward (1), Brimham Rocks (15), The Lord Mayor (7), High Bridge (3), Opposition (19) and Jake’s Hill (11).

Final field for the 2018 Metropolitan (2400m)

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp Rating
1	7x56164x52	AUVRAY (FR)	Richard Freedman	Tye Angland	2	57kg	109
2	021443×005	BIG DUKE (IRE)	Darren Weir	Brenton Avdulla	8	56.5kg	107
3	28x420x837	LIBRAN (IRE)	Chris Waller	Hugh Bowman	16	56kg	107
4	x6248x220x	WALL OF FIRE (IRE)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	James McDonald	10	54.5kg	104
5	22x9131x40	SEDANZER	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Tim Clark	5	53kg	104
6	3114656×64	PATRICK ERIN (NZ)	Chris Waller	Corey Brown	4	51kg	97
7	36164x0x02	MIDTERM (GB)	Liam Howley	Michael Dee	17	50.5kg	96
8	4x32267x39	ALWARD (IRE)	Chris Waller	Kathy O’Hara	1	50.5kg	95
9	419337×351	MISS ADMIRATION	Mick Price	Dean Holland	9	50kg	92
10	021x22x332	BRIMHAM ROCKS (GB)	Chris Waller	Kerrin McEvoy	15	50kg	100
11	43462L1x33	SIN TO WIN (NZ)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Dean Yendall	12	50kg	93
12	416400×011	THE LORD MAYOR (NZ)	Chris Waller	Jay Ford	7	50kg	85
13	7433923×39	NETTOYER	Wendy Roche	–	14	50kg	88
14	111×512703	JUST SHINE (NZ)	Clare Cunningham	Alysha Collett	13	50kg	87
15	3x7x521134	SIKANDARABAD (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Jye McNeil	6	50kg	86
16	19x31x0x11	HIGH BRIDGE (GB)	Chris Waller	Craig Williams	3	50kg	72
17	424x02x675	OPPOSITION (GB)	Chris Waller	Andrew Adkins	19	50kg	74
18	134x74x978	JAKE’S HILL (GB)	Chris Waller	Yusuke Ichikawa	11	50kg	74
19e	32230×0259	ROMANESQUE (IRE)	Jarrod McLean	Fred W Kersley (a)	18	50kg	73