Yuji Hasegawa's Perriere captured the listed Hyacinth Stakes, a stop on Japan's Road to the Kentucky Derby, Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse, winning by 1 1/2 lengths from Z Lien.
The Hyacinth is a Kentucky Derby qualifying race and awarded points on a 30-12-9-6-3 basis to the top five finishers. Several of the runners in the 14 field are nominated to the U.S. Triple Crown series, including Perriere.
The Japan-bred Henny Hughes colt, the race favorite guided by Yuichi Fukunaga for trainer Yoichi Kuroiwa, covered the 1,600-meter (about one-mile) event in 1:37.2 on the dirt track rated as standard.
Z Lien was 3 1/2 lengths in front of third-place finisher Eclogite, the latter also a Triple Crown nominee. Great Sand Sea checked in fourth, and Goraiko, a Triple Crown nominee, was fifth.
Making his 2023 debut, Perriere improved his record to 2-0-1 from three career starts, all on dirt. Winner of his career bow Nov. 12 at Tokyo, he was subsequently third in a listed one-mile race at Kawaskai Dec. 14 to close his juvenile campaign but was ready for a winning effort Sunday in his stakes breakthrough.
Perriere was bred by Champions Farm from the Fuji Kiseki mare Soft Rime.
Japan's path to the Kentucky Derby continues with Fukuryo March 25 at Nakayama with qualifying points of 40-16-12-8-4 to the top five finishers.
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