Woman’s Heart impresses in G3 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, 25 August.

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 Saturday, 3 August, 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.”