Woman’s Heart races to victory at Niigata Nisai Stakes

Exciting two-year-old filly Woman’s Heart took the step up to G3 level in her stride with a swooping victory in the Niigata Nisai Stakes over a mile at Niigata, Japan, on Sunday.

The Katsuichi Nishiura-trained daughter of Heart’s Cry, taking on colts for the first time following a debut success over the course and distance on Aug.3, was soon settled in mid-field of the 16 runners by Kota Fujioka.

She was angled out to deliver her challenge with two furlongs to race and started to make good progress, despite wandering around.

Woman’s Heart was still fifth approaching the final half-furlong but showed a tremendous turn of foot to hit the front near the line and beat Pale Ale by half a length in 1m 35.0s on firm ground.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “Woman’s Heart has confirmed her status as one of Japan’s very best juvenile fillies.

“She was very impressive on debut and not surprisingly started as favourite today but was up against 15 other good horses, all of who were talented enough to win on debut.

“She was well back with two furlongs to run and showed plenty of class and courage to grab the victory close home.

“She will now be aimed at the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (1m, Hanshin) in early December. She will go for a spell straight away and may run once again in the interim.

“Woman’s Heart showed greenness again today and tended to hang inwards and away from the whip in the final furlong –– indeed her jockey did well to correct her.

“She is a big strong filly and if she stays healthy and well, we will have plenty to look forward to in 2020.”

Meanwhile, Tower Of London and Right On Cue both ran good races to finish second and fourth in the six-furlong G3 Keeneland Cup at Sapporo, Japan, on Sunday.

Raven’s Pass colt Tower Of London (Kazuo Fujisawa/Christophe Lemaire) was slightly slow into his stride and was held up towards the rear of the 16-strong field.

The four-year-old moved up to ninth at the top of the straight and ran on strongly between horses entering the final furlong to take second with just under half a furlong to race.

Tower Of London could not go on with Danon Smash near the line and went down by three-quarters of a length.

Right On Cue (Mitsugu Kon/Yoshihiro Furukawa), a four-year-old Shamardal colt, also raced towards the back of the runners and travelled wide throughout.

He quickened well down the centre of the course in the straight to finish a never-nearer fourth, beaten just over a length in total by Danon Smash, who won in 1m 9.20s on good ground.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “Tower Of London ran another very solid race to finish second. He broke sluggishly and had plenty to do turning for home but accelerated strongly to grab second place.

“He didn’t have an absolutely clear passage in the home straight either and can probably be considered slightly unlucky. The winner, who is also a four-year-old, was carrying 1kg less and Tower Of London will have a very good chance if they meet on level weights later in the year.

“The most likely target for him now is the G1 Sprinters Stakes (6f, Nakayama) in late September, a race we won last year with Fine Needle.

“Both jockey and trainer were unanimous that they preferred this option over the G1 Mile Championship (Kyoto, November), which is the only other G1 option for him in Japan this year.

“Right On Cue, who also carried the Godolphin Silks in this race, defied his odds to take fourth and will clearly also be competitive in Group races over sprint distances. Overall, it was a good day at the office.”

Elsewhere,Veteran stayer Red Galileo produced another admirable effort when finishing second in the £1-million Ebor, Europe’s most valuable heritage handicap, at York, UK, on Saturday.

The eight-year-old son of Dubawi, trained by Saeed bin Suroor and ridden by Cieren Fallon, was covered up in mid-division of the 22 runners throughout the first mile of the 14-furlong contest.

He was switched out turning for home and started to take closer order entering the straight before staying on strongly down the stands’ rail with three furlongs to race.

Red Galileo continued to make relentless headway, taking second from Desert Skyline inside the final half-furlong, to go down by three-quarters of a length to Mustajeer, who won in a course record time of 2m 52.97s on good to firm ground.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “Red Galileo is a very tough horse, who seems to be getting better with age, and he ran a huge race today.