Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) conquered all her rivals in the G2 Kyoto Kinen on Valentine's Day at Hanshin.
Wearing a full hood, the 4-5 crowd's pick found a good spot in a tracking fourth one off the fence as Happy Grin (Jpn) (Lohengrin {Jpn}) threw down splits of :23.10 for the quarter and :47.20 for the half-mile. The field was well strung out due to the demanding pace, but pilot Yuga Kawada was calm aboard the 2019 G1 Japanese Oaks winner. After seven panels in 1:23.20, Happy Grin relinquished the lead to the stalking Stay Foolish (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) and Loves Only You was poised three deep to pounce. Asked at the head of the lane, she rallied in tandem with Danburite (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) to her inside before making her own way to the front and winning by 1 1/4 lengths with ears pricked. Stay Foolish was a half-length to the good of Danburite at the line.
Loves Only You was undefeated in her first four starts culminating in her Oaks tally, and was third in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in November of 2019.Winless in 2020 from five appearances, she was third two back in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup again last fall and was 10th in the G1 Arima Kinen on Dec. 27. Her next intended start is the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Mar. 27.
Pedigree Notes
The much missed Deep Impact has 47 Group 1 winners, Loves Only You among them. In addition, his total number of group winners is 135 and his mark of overall black-type winners stands at 169 worldwide. Storm Cat has sired the dams of 291 black-type winners, 143 at group level, with 43 Group 1 winners. Loves Only Me is one of eight top-level winners by Deep Impact out of a Storm Cat mare.
Loves Only You is one of three black-type winners and the second Group 1 winner after UAE highweight and G1 Dubai Turf hero Real Steel (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) from her unraced dam. She is also a full-sister to SW & MGSP Prodigal Son (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and the SP Langley (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Since foaling the winner, Loves Only Me has the winning 4-year-old filly Love You Live (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), a 2-year-old colt by Deep Impact (Jpn) and a yearling colt by Duramente (Jpn). She was covered by Heart's Cry (Jpn) last spring.
Loves Only Me, a half-sister to European highweighted juvenile filly Rumplestiltskin (Ire) (Danehill) and Group 3 winner I Am Beautiful (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), was covered by Heart's Cry (Jpn) last spring. Loves Only You's third dam is the outstanding runner and blue hen Miesque (Nureyev).
Sunday, Hanshin, Japan
KYOTO KINEN-G2, ¥119,620,000 (US$1,139,690/£823,274/€940,306), Hanshin, 2-14, 4yo/up, 2200mT, 2:10.40, fm.
1–LOVES ONLY YOU (JPN), 119, m, 5, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Loves Only Me, by Storm Cat
2nd Dam: Monevassia, by Mr. Prospector
3rd Dam: Miesque, by Nureyev
(¥160,000,000 Ylg '17 JRHAJUL). O-DMM Dream Club;
B-Northern Farm (Jpn); T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Yuga Kawada.
¥62,784,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Jpn, 11-5-1-2. *Full to
Langley (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), SP-Jpn, $1,173,360; Real
Steel (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Hwt. Older Horse-UAE at 7-9
1/2f, G1SW-UAE, MGSW & MG1SP-Jpn, $7,508,769; and
Prodigal Son (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), SW & MGSP-Jpn,
$1,564,219. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: B+.
2–Stay Foolish (Jpn), 123, h, 6, Stay Gold (Jpn)–Kauai Lane
(Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn). O-Shadai Race Horse;
B-Shiraoi Farm (Jpn); ¥25,224,000.
3–Danburite (Jpn), 123, g, 7, Rulership (Jpn)–Tanzanite (Jpn), by
Sunday Silence. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥16,112,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, 3/4. Odds: 0.80, 6.00, 10.10.
Also Ran: Jinambo (Jpn), Wagnerian (Jpn), Dance Delight (Jpn), Satono Lux (Jpn), Mozu Bello (Jpn), Leyenda (Jpn), Best Approach (GB), Happy Grin (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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