Nash Rawiller can sense another big season coming up for Gai Waterhouse’s latest team of two-year-olds after the jockey and trainer were to the fore at Monday’s official trial session.
Waterhouse and Rawiller combined to win four of the 11 heats at Warwick Farm while impeccably-bred youngsters Most Joyful and Sammy’s Girl ran encouraging seconds in their first public outings.
Most Joyful is a full-sister to champion mare More Joyous while Sammy’s Girl is the first foal of the outstanding Samantha Miss.
Rawiller is looking forward to the future with both fillies along with a number of other youngsters from the stable.
“She’s a beautiful horse,” Rawiller said of Most Joyful who hit the line nicely for second to the Marc Conners-trained Fiftyshadesofgrey.
“We’ll just have to see how she comes through today whether we go on to the Gimcrack Stakes or just give her a bit more time. We’ll know in the next week,” Rawiller said.
“She’s a really lovely filly. Same as Sammy’s Girl.
“She (Sammy’s Girl) actually got speared off the track getting around the first bend and it probably cost her three lengths and I’ve just had to drag back to last. She worked home really nicely for second. I thought her trial was exceptional.”
Two Waterhouse-trained fillies – Sugar Rush, who was having her second trial, and Shahad, a daughter of Fastnet Rock out of Shamekha – won their heats while colts War, from the family of More Joyous, and Rockford were also successful.
“I think Sugar Rush and War were probably the most precocious,” Rawiller said.
“I think War will be a good chance (in the Breeders’ Plate).”
Waterhouse is likely to be well-represented in the Listed Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) for fillies and Listed Breeders’ Plate (1000m) for colts and geldings at Randwick on Saturday week – the first two-year-old races of the season in Sydney.
Another Golden Slipper-winning trainer, Peter Snowden, is looking to the Gimcrack with Guelph while stablemate Champollion will go to the Breeders’ Plate.
“The ones that go to the races will race well,” Snowden said.
Guelph is a daughter of Exceed And Excel out of Group One winner Camarilla and led in her trial to win by 2-1/4-lengths while Champollion was second to the Conners-trained Raise No Doubt.
The Jason Coyle-trained Va Pensiero clocked the fastest time on the morning in his narrow win over the fast-finishing Whittington from the Waterhouse stable.
