Saturday's G3 Falcon S. at Chukyo featured the return of last year's Japanese champion 2-year-old colt Grenadier Guards (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), a son of American champion sprinting mare Wavell Avenue (Harlington), but it was the mild longshot Rooks Nest (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) who led nearly gate to wire to post a mild upset when winning by a head over Grenadier Guards.
Hustled from the rail draw, Rooks Nest grabbed the lead exiting the first furlong and led a three-deep flight of runners, including Grenadier Guards in the middle, by a length and a half down the backstretch. Grenadier Guards pulled his way up to race off Rooks Nest's shoulder rounding the bend, but Rooks Nest stole a length upon straightening as Yuga Kawada wound up Grenadier Guards. Rooks Nest became briefly disorganized after jockey Hideaki Miyuki dropped his outside rein, but the pair regrouped in time to hold off Grenadier Guards's rally. A winner at third asking going a mile at Hanshin on Nov. 15, Rooks Nest resumed with a second to a fellow son of Maurice, Pixie Knight (Jpn), in the G3 Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen over that trip on Jan. 10.
Pedigree Notes
Rooks Nest is the third group winner from the first crop of the Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice, himself the winner of six Group 1s in Japan and Hong Kong over a mile and 2000 metres. Rooks Nest is out of a placed daughter of the G3 May Hill S. winner and G1 Sun Chariot S. third Summitville (GB) (Grand Lodge). The G2 Goldene Peitsche winner Raffelberger (Ger) (Auenadler {Ger}) appears under the fourth dam.
Saturday, Chukyo, Japan
CHUNICHI SPORTS SHO FALCON S.-G3, ¥72,790,000, Chukyo, 3-20, 3yo, 1400mT, 1:20.10, fm.
1–ROOKS NEST (JPN), 123, c, 3, by Maurice (Jpn)
1st Dam: Villa (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Summitville (GB), by Grand Lodge
3rd Dam: Tina Heights (GB), by Shirley Heights (GB)
1ST STAKES WIN. O-Yoshiro Kubota; B-Northern Farm;
T-Tamio Hamada; J-Hideaki Miyuki; ¥38,553,000. Lifetime
Record: 5-2-2-0. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Grenadier Guards (Jpn), 126, c, 3, Frankel (GB)–Wavell
Avenue, by Harlington. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm;
¥15,158,000.
3–Mondreise (Jpn), 126, c, 3, Daiwa Major (Jpn)–Moonglow
(GB), by Nayef. O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm; ¥9,579,000.
Margins: HD, 2HF, HD. Odds: 6.60, 0.80, 3.40.
Click for the JRA chart and video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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