By Bren O'Brien
Miss Fabulass (Frankel {GB}) might not only be the best bred 3-year-old filly in Australia, she might also be the most talented.
She created her own piece of history on Saturday becoming the first stakeswinner for Frankel in Australia, while also winning the race her dam Samantha Miss (Redoute's Choice) won ten years ago, the G2 Darley Tea Rose S.
In 2008, Samantha Miss went on a five-race winning spree, taking the G1 Champagne S. as a late 2-year-old before sweeping through the Princess Series, culminating in a 2.5L romp in the G1 Flight S. After running third in the Cox Plate, she would go on to win the G1 VRC Oaks.
Trainer Kris Lees doesn’t know if Miss Fabulass can take him to those heights this spring, but there is more than just a little sense of déjà vu, especially the way she put away her rivals at Randwick on Saturday.
"I'm deeply honoured that John Singleton gave me the opportunity to train her being by Frankel out of my favourite horse and we are slowly repaying him,” he said.
"She has the brilliance of her mum. She just hasn’t got the race sense but it’s coming.”
"She has the brilliance of her mum. She just hasn’t got the race sense but it’s coming.” - Kris Lees, trainer
Samantha Miss winning the G2 Tea Rose S. in 2008
Just four starts in to what likes a very promising career, Lees is looking to the Flight S. on September 29 and jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who gave her the perfect run, anticipates she should step up to the mile with no concerns.
"I’d say she will go to the Flight. She’s a nice filly, obviously untried at the mile, but if we can just get her to switch off she is going to run it out really strong and be really hard to beat in that race," he said.
“She’s very well bred. The best is yet to come still. She is only going to improve. Dare to say that she is going to be even better next prep. She’s an exciting filly to be a part of for sure.”
Having only had one start as a 2-year-old, Miss Fabulass may be given the chance to do something her dam didn’t, and that's head towards feature races in the autumn and beyond.
Samantha Miss injured a tendon after only having one run in her 3-year-old autumn campaign and was subsequently retired after being sold for $3.85m to John Singleton.
"Dare to say that she is going to be even better next prep. She’s an exciting filly to be a part of for sure.” - Kris Lees
Miss Fabulass emulates her dam, winning the G2 Tea Rose S. ten years later
Pedigree Notes:
Miss Fabulass could be the filly to repay that investment for Singleton, who sent Samantha Miss to Frankel in the United Kingdom in 2014.
Samantha Miss' first foal Sammy's Girl (More Than Ready {USA}) only had seven starts for a win at Wyong, while her second foal Sun Force (More Than Ready {USA}) won a race at Newcastle before moving to Singapore where he has won just once more in 17 starts.
Her third foal The Greatest (Street Cry {Ire}) is now plying his trade in Queensland, while there is a 2-year-old by Medaglio D'Oro (USA) who Lees is training,
There have been fewer than ten Australian-born Frankel progeny hit the track and Miss Fabulass will be forever the first to break through at stakes level.
