By Alan Carasso
Woman (Aus) (Frankel {GB}), the first foal produced by John Singleton's champion eight-time Group 1 winner More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready), gave a strong account of herself in a 741m barrier trial Monday morning at Randwick, running on with good energy to finish fourth.
Drawn inside in a field of six that included three other fillies from the barn of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Woman settled one from the rear and crept up one spot while down on the inside on the turn. Angled out in upper stretch by Kerrin McEvoy, she quickened up nicely and finished well, then galloped out alongside the top three (video). The time for the day's third trial, contested over a track rated a soft 5, was :44 flat. The heat was won by the Waterhouse-trained Mystic Empire (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}).
“Woman is a beautiful filly. She has size, scope and good bone for her massive frame,” Waterhouse told Racing and Sports. “I believe Frankel is sure to make an impact in the Southern Hemisphere.”
“We thought she was well behind the other two-year-olds we had, and we weren't expecting anything spectacular, but that's what we got.” Singleton added on radio station RSN 927's Racing Ahead program.
Australia's champion older horse in 2012, More Joyous was trained by Waterhouse for Singleton to victories in 21 of 33 career appearances and earnings of better than A$4.5 million, including her biggest payday in the A$2-million G1 Doncaster H. during her championship season.
Woman is one of three Frankels owned by Singleton and being prepared by Waterhouse. She is the second member of her sire's first crop to appear at the trials in Australia. McEvoy was also in the saddle atop Merovee (Aus), a Chris Waller-trained son of MGSW & MG1SP More Strawberries (Aus) (More Than Ready), who was a quiet fourth at Rosehill Dec. 30.
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