Tag: Deep Impact

Danon Kingly Wins Yasuda Kinen, Qualifies For Breeders’ Cup Mile

Danox Co's 5-year-old Danon Kingly (JPN), at 47-1, defeated 5-year-old mare and odds-on favorite Gran Alegria (JPN) by a head in Sunday's 1-mile, $2.68 million Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen on turf at Tokyo Racecourse. With this victory, Danon Kingly gained an automatic berth into the $2 million, Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.  

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at the Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California, Nov. 5-6, 2021. 

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for Danon Kingly, a son of Deep Impact (JPN), trained by Kiyoshi Hagiwara and ridden by Yuga Kawada, to start in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile, which will be run at 1 mile over the Del Mar turf course. Breeders' Cup also will provide a travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.  

Danon Kingly, making his first start of the year, improved his record to six wins in 12 starts. In registering his first Group 1 victory, Danon Kingly completed the mile in 1:31.7 over a course listed as good to firm. 

In the 71st Yasuda Kinen, Danon Kingly crushed defending champion Gran Alegria's high hopes of a consecutive Yasuda Kinen title. Breaking from stall 11 in a field of 14 runners, Danon Kingly traveled two-wide in mid-pack a couple of lengths in front of the favorite while Daiwa Cagney (JPN) led the field. Still near the rear at the final bend, Danon Kingly took a center-lane path and unleashed a determined stretch run climbing the Tokyo course hill to finally draw even with 2019 Yasuda Kinen winner and second-choice, Indy Champ (JPN), and Schnell Meister (GER) at the front. The only female in the field, Gran Alegria, ridden by Christophe Lemaire, was far back but finally loomed up inside 100 meters.  While Indy Champ and Schnell Meister weakened after a brief rally in the final strides, Danon Kingly narrowly held off the strong challenge from Gran Alegria by a head margin. 

‟He felt a bit tense first entering the track but he had good rhythm during the trip and had plenty of horse left,” commented winning rider Kawada. “He responded just as I hoped turning the last corner and ran well after that. Although he hasn't been able to put in his best results in the past, he has definitely demonstrated his true strength today and I'm happy to have been a part of it in my first time in the saddle.”  

On target to notch her second Yasuda Kinen title, Gran Alegria was reserved fourth from the rear and found herself trapped behind a wall of horses in the straight. She finally weaved through horses to reach contention in the last half-furlong and dug in fiercely, but was too late. Three-year-old and fourth pick Schnell Meister took a wide trip down the backstretch sitting outside of Indy Champ while gradually making headway up to fifth before hitting the top of the stretch. With the eventual winner on his outside and runner-up behind him, this year's Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup winner ran strongly to reach the front 100 meters out and joined a brief rally with three older foes but lacked the final kick. Schnell Meister finished a half-length behind Gran Alegria in third. 

Danon Kingly kicked off his career with three wins, including the Grade 3 Kyodo News Hai before finishing third in the Satsuki Sho (Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas, 2,000m) and a second in the Tokyo Yushun (Grade 1 Japanese Derby, 2,400m) in 2019. He won the Grade 2 Nakayama Kinen in February 2020, was third in the Grade 3 Osaka Hai, and seventh in last year's Yasuda Kinen. He was given long break after running a disappointing 12th in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Autumn, 2,000m) last November. 

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A ‘Commanding’ Tokyo Debut For Deep Impact Colt

His passing in the summer of 2019 leaves an immense void in the worldwide breeding industry, but even posthumously, the legendary Deep Impact (Jpn) just keeps churning out the results.

On May 21, his 2-year-old son out of American listed winner and European multiple group-placed Premier Stars (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) fetched an astonishing ¥517 million (£3.33 million) at a breeze-up sale and just nine days later, Shahryar (Jpn) provided the stallion with a seventh winner of the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and fourth in succession. At Epsom Friday, Snowfall (Jpn) turned the G1 Cazoo Oaks into an absolute procession, scoring by a record 16-length margin, and Saturday afternoon at Tokyo, Command Line (Jpn) lived up to advance billing with a 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut.

The $1.10 (1-10) mortal bounced without incident beneath Christophe Lemaire and took up a forward position as the well-meant Conch Pearl (American Pharoah) led at just an average tempo. The US-bred turned them into the long Fuchu straight and was past the 1200 metres in just 1:12.3, but Lemaire was sitting chilly aboard Command Line, eased him into the clear with about a furlong and a half to run and the duo whooshed home to score by three lengths. He covered his final 600 metres in :34.3.

Command Line is the latest to the races for his dam Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful), who romped by better than 13 lengths in the 2014 GI Spinaway S., the premier race for 2-year-old fillies at historic Saratoga Race Course. Condo Commando was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5 million at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and visited Deep Impact in her first year at stud. The resulting produce became Al Jannah (Jpn), a ¥170 million purchase as a foal at the 2017 JRHA Select Sale and who has since gone on to place four times at group level, including a recent runner-up effort in the G2 Yomiuri Milers Cup at Hanshin Apr. 25. Condo Commando is the dam of a yearling filly by Heart's Cry (Jpn) and a filly foal by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) that sells as lot 380 at next month's Select Sale. Four yearlings from the final crop of Deep Impact will also be on offer.

5th-Toyko, ¥13,400,000 (£86,388/€100,525/US$122,308), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT, 1:35.4, gd/fm.
COMMAND LINE (JPN), c, 2, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Condo Commando, by Tiz Wonderful
2nd Dam: Yearly Report, by General Meeting
3rd Dam: Fiscal Year, by Half a Year
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $63,892. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O-Sunday Racing Co Ltd; B-Northern Farm; T-Sakae Kunieda.

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Shahryar Packs Powerful Late Punch To Win Japanese Derby By A Nose

Shahryar, a colt by Deep Impact –  the most successful racehorse and sire son of 1989 Horse of the Year Sunday Silence – and produced from the 2010 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner and female sprint champion Dubai Majesty has won Sunday's 88th running of the Grade 1 Yokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at Tokyo Race Course.

Bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm and racing for the Yoshida family's Sunday Racing Co. Ltd., Shahryar was up in the final yards of the 2,400-meter Tokyo Yushun under Yuichi Fukunaga to defeat 7-10 favorite Efforia by a nose. The latter, a colt by Epiphaneia also bred by Northern Farm, finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher, Stella Veloce. All 17 runners seeking the winner's share of the US$4.1 million purse were bred in Japan.

Trained by Hideaki Fujiwara, Shahryar covered the about 1  1/2 miles in 2:22.50, nearly two seconds off the course record of 2:20.60. He was sent off the fourth betting choice at 10-1 odds.

Fukunaga was riding his third Tokyo Yushun winner in the last four years. This was the trainer's second victory in the race.

This was the first G1 for Shahrayi and third win overall from four starts. He came into the Tokyo Yushun off a G3 win at Hanshin in the Mainichi Hai, having previously finished third to Efforia in a G3 at Tokyo.

Shahryar saved ground much of the way, tracking behind Efforia but then ran into traffic problems rounding the far turn and into the stretch. After altering course in midstretch to find clear sailing, Shahryar flew late to win by the narrowest of margins. It was the first defeat in five starts for Efforia, who won the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) to kick off Japan's Triple Crown at Nakayama on April 18 in his most recent start.

Shahryar becomes the seventh Tokyo Yushun winner for Deep Impact, a Japanese Triple Crown winner in 2005 who retired with 12 wins from 14 starts over three racing seasons. Deep Impact has followed in the footsteps of Sunday Silence, who was Japan's leading sire for 13 consecutive years from 1995-2007. Deep Impact has been leading sire every year since 2012. He died in 2019.

Shahryar's dam, Dubai Majesty, is a 2005 foal by Essence of Dubai, a son of Pulpit. Bred in Florida by Harold J. Plumley, Dubai Majesty was a $7,000 buy-back at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale who began her racing career for Plumley and was sold privately after the 10th of her 34 career starts. Bret Calhoun campaigned Dubai Majesty for the remainder of her racing days for Martin Racing Stable LLC and Dan Morgan, and she won four graded stakes: two renewals of the G3 Winning Colors, the G2 Thoroughbred Club of America, and in her final start the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Dubai Majesty retired with 12 wins from 34 starts and earnings of $1,509,243.

Immediately after her final victory, she was entered in the Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale where Katsumi Yoshida bought her for $1.1 million from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

Shahryar is the second Japanese classic winner produced from the Deep Impact–Dubai Majesty mating. Al Ain won the 2017 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) before finishing fifth in that year's Tokyo Yushun.

With on-track attendance limited at Japan Racing Association tracks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance was just 4,944 at the cavernous Tokyo Racecourse. Wagering on the Tokyo Yushun was US$228 million, with US$356 million wagered on the 12-race program.

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Gran Alegria Earns Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Berth With VIctoria Mile Score

Sunday Racing's 5-year-old mare Gran Alegria (JPN) dominated Sunday's 1-mile, US$2.1 million Victoria Mile (G1) on turf at Tokyo Racecourse, surging to the front in the final furlong to post a 4four-length win over longshot Rambling Alley (JPN). With this victory, Gran Alegria earned an automatic starting position into the US$2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California on Nov. 5-6.

Trained by Kazuo Fujisawa and ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Gran Alegria, a bay daughter of Deep Impact (JPN) out of the Tapit mare Tapitsfly, won her fifth career Group 1 race. The odds-on favorite in the 18-horse field, Gran Alegria completed the mile in 1:31 over a course listed as good to firm.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for Gran Alegria to start in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Breeders' Cup also will provide a minimum travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.

Tapitsfly, Gran Alegria's dam, won the 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.

Breaking from stall six, Gran Alegria settled in mid-division around 10th place from the front-runner Christie (JPN). Taking an outer route turning the corners, Gran Alegria made a bid from around the 400-meter pole and promptly took the lead over 7-1 second-choice Resistencia (JPN) 200 meters from the finish. Gran Alegria further accelerated with a powerful drive to the wire.

“She was very strong as we had all expected,” commented Lemaire, who won his 38th JRA Group 1 race and his 1,400th overall victory in Japan. “She's not a very good starter so we settled in mid-division, but she raced in good rhythm. After I took her to the outside entering the lane, she showed a remarkable response and geared up on her own. She showed that she's at a different level than her competitors and will probably win more G1 titles going forward.”

Tenth pick Rambling Alley hugged the rail in 11th eying Gran Alegria on the outside. The 5-year-old dark bay swung to the outside entering the lane and chased the race favorite persistently until the wire, nailing Magic Castle (JPN) in her last stride for a runner-up effort. Fifth choice Magic Castle saved ground, around ninth, inside Gran Alegria, met traffic at the top of the stretch but showed sustaining speed and passed the tenacious Resistencia 100 meters out. Although overtaken by fast-closing Rambling Alley just before the wire, Magic Castle held off the rest of the field to complete a 1-2-3 finish by filly and mares sired by Deep Impact.

Gran Alegria, the 2020 Best Sprinter or Miler in Japan, became the first horse to win all three of the JRA's G1 mile titles for 4-year-olds and up, which included her Yasuda Kinen and Mile Championship titles last year. Her other two G1 victories were the 2019 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, 1,600m) and last year's Sprinters Stakes (1,200m).

Now 8 of 12 lifetime, Gran Alegria, bred by Northern Farm, came into Sunday's race off a fourth-place finish in the 1 ¼-mile Osaka Ha (G1) at Hanshin on April 4 over a yielding course.

Lemaire won his third Victoria Mile. He captured the 2017 race on Admire Lead (JPN) and aboard the brilliant champion Almond Eye (JPN) last year.

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