John Singleton’s multiple Group 1 winning race mare More Joyous has been retired and will have a date with England’s super stallion Frankel in September.
More Joyous winning the 2012 Doncaster Mile at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
More Joyous will travel to England with Singleton’s other well performed mare More Strawberries and both will be mated with Frankel in September to coincide with the Australian breeding season.
Singleton’s racing manger Duncan Grimley made the announcement last night stating that the eight time Group 1 winner has nothing more to prove on the racetrack.
“The decision has been made on More Joyous,” Grimley said.
“She has nothing left to prove on the track. She has been a great mare for us and we don’t want to go over the top with her.”
“More Joyous will be covered by Frankel in September.”
“The plan is then to bring More Joyous and More Strawberries home around January or February so they can have their foals at Strawberry Hills Stud later next year.”
More Joyous is a winner of twenty-one races from thirty-three starts, earning just over $4.5 million in prizemoney for Singleton.
Included in her eight Group 1 wins are two Queen Of The Turf Stakes, several weight for age races as well as the 2012 BMW Doncaster Mile at Randwick with 57.5kg before winning her last Group 1 race, the weight for age Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2000m.
The later part of her career has been shrouded with controversy, with Singleton very unhappy with trainer Gai Waterhouse’s selection of barrier eleven for More Joyous in last year’s Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.
And that boiled over into their very public falling out before and after the running of the Group 1 $400,000 Yarraman Park All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on April 27 which was More Joyous’ last racetrack appearance and also saw Singleton remove all of his horses from Waterhouse’s stables.
Singleton confronted Waterhouse regarding the fitness of More Joyous leading up to the All Aged Stakes, claiming other people knew the mare was under a cloud before he was informed.
The matter ended up in the stewards’ room with Singleton being fined $15,000 for conduct prejudicial to racing while Waterhouse was fined $5,500 for two charges relating to not reporting the pre-race treatment of More Joyous.
Grimley added that the Strawberry Hill Stud team would have their fingers crossed hoping for fillies from the matings with Frankel, who was the highest rated racehorse when he retired from the track in England, undefeated from fourteen starts with ten Group 1 wins amongst them.
“It would be ideal if both mares can produce fillies by Frankel. More Joyous is special to John because not only did he breed her to win eight Group 1 races and 20 stakes races, which is phenomenal, but he also raced her mother, Sunday Joy,” Grimley said..
“We have everything else in the family and when you start breeding horses you dream of getting one as good as More Joyous.”
