The unflappable Gai Waterhouse had to change plans for Stratofortress in the middle of the parade yard at Broadmeadow after he scored a dominant win in the Group Three Newcastle Gold Cup.Waterhouse had declared that Stratofortress would go on to The Metropolitan at Randwick."And he will win it too," Waterhouse said.Minutes later she discovered that Stratofortress had not been nominated for the Metropolitan and with weights already out cannot be declared a late entry.Waterhouse took it all in her

The unflappable Gai Waterhouse had to change plans for Stratofortress in the middle of the parade yard at Broadmeadow after he scored a dominant win in the Group Three Newcastle Gold Cup.

Waterhouse had declared that Stratofortress would go on to The Metropolitan at Randwick.

"And he will win it too," Waterhouse said.

Minutes later she discovered that Stratofortress had not been nominated for the Metropolitan and with weights already out cannot be declared a late entry.

Waterhouse took it all in her stride.

"Oh well, we'll have to find another race for him in the next two weeks," she said.

And that was that.

Off she went to the committee room to soak up the congratulations on winning her fourth Newcastle Cup following on from Emerald Cut (1997), Agincourt Express (2001) and Bianca (2008).

It was a mighty training effort considering that this time last year Stratofortress was racing on country tracks in southern NSW with his greatest claim to fame a win in last year's Cootamundra Cup (1600m), a race worth $15,000.

Waterhouse originally trained Stratofortress and won a Randwick maiden with him before he broke down.

The horse's owners, believing his racing days were over, asked Waterhouse to find a good home for Stratofortress and she sent him to long-time friend Joe Manning at Cootamundra.

"I used to go to Joe's farm as a 14-year-old and muster cattle on his farm," Waterhouse said.

Manning gave the horse plenty of time to recover then put him into work with Trevor Sutherland at Wagga Wagga.

He won three races for Sutherland before Manning rang Waterhouse and asked if she would take the horse back.

"He was 30kg over his racing weight so I poured the slow work into him," Waterhouse said.

"We were riding him every afternoon and leading another off him like a pony and he thrived.

"He might be the oldest horse in the stable but he is also the most improved."

Stratofortress has now won three races for Waterhouse since returning but the $185,000 Newcastle Cup (2300m) is easily the most important.

It was also an important win for Peter Robl who is working to develop a link with the stable.

"I invited Peter to come and ride work for me," Waterhouse said.

"I like his work ethic and I like his style.

"Peter has ridden the horse in work and rode him when he ran third at Rosehill last month.

"I wanted someone on the horse who knew him.

"Peter rode a great race, I am very proud of him."

Robl allowed Stratofortress ($5) to settle in fifth position on the fence then went to the lead early in the straight and held off Snow Alert ($5) to win by 2-1/2 lengths with Scottish Border ($14) a further 2-1/2 lengths away third.