She didn't win, but the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Woman did enough to instill some optimism about the future.
A homebred for John Singleton's Strawberry Hill Stud, she jumped from the
inside gate for Kerrin McEvoy and settled second last in the field of six. Eased off the fence on straightening and switched wider around the leaders, Woman found the line nicely under a hold with the last 50 metres of the 741 metre trial easily her best.
Woman finished in fourth place, a length from the winner Mystic Empire, who was also trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and is a daughter of All Too Hard.
Clocking 44 seconds, Mystic Empire was the fastest of four juvenile trial winners and is back for her second preparation having finished a luckless sixth to Jorda in the Listed ATC Gimcrack Stakes back in the spring on debut.
A $140,000 Magic Millions purchase from the Riversdale draft, Mystic Empire carries the Darby Racing colours and is from Empress Wu, a half-sister to Group I winner and $2.7 million earner Royal Descent.
Other 2YO trials were won by Hualalai (Street Cry (IRE), Velaro (Bullet Train (GB) and Kristensen (Sebring) – click here to see all the trial results.
