Few two-year-olds in recent memory have had a juvenile season as busy as Away Game did six years ago, so it’s not surprising the now-broodmare’s daughter, Lady Catalina, has had a much more sedate start to her career.
Away Game raced eight times at two for four wins, including the 2020 Magic Millions Classic (1200m) and Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m), while also finishing runner-up to Farnan in the Golden Slipper (1200m) and – in something almost unheard of in the modern day – fifth against the older mares in the Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m).
In contrast, her first foal to race, Written Tycoon filly Lady Catalina, will line up for just the second time in the HMAS Sydney Handicap (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Trainer Ciaron Maher’s Sydney foreman, Johann Gerard-Dubord, had just begun working for the champion horseman during Away Game’s two-year-old season and said while Lady Catalina had been slower to develop, she was a talent in her own right.
“She is a very different horse to Away Game. Away Game was very natural, very early,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“By this time of year, she’d had plenty of racing already.
“We’ve taken our time with Lady Catalina. She is a beautiful filly. She has changed a lot physically, she has grown. She has been in work a long time because we wanted to take her to the trials and the races when she was ready for it.”
Lady Catalina made her debut in a 900m maiden at Newcastle on March 31 and after camping off the leader, eventually got the better of that horse in the straight to post a convincing win.
However, she was out of her comfort zone for much of the race, and is expected to appreciate a distance rise at Randwick.
“Funnily enough, even though she had been showing us a lot of speed, she was actually at her top for most of the way there and late she was good, so stepping up to 1100 will be no issue,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“We gave her a tick over trial last week where I thought she was very good. She was just there to have a good day out and trialled very nicely.”
If Lady Catalina performs to expectations, she is likely to be given a black-type opportunity in the Listed Woodlands Stakes (1100m) at Scone three weeks from Saturday.
The filly is owned by John Stewart’s Resolute Racing and was Maher’s first runner for the American businessman when successful at Newcastle.
