Deep Impact | Horse Racing Free Tips

Classic Laurels For Kurofune’s Sodashi

The undefeated white filly Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune), once again defeated arch-rival Satono Reinas (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), in the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) at Hanshin on Sunday. The order of finish had been the same in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last December and both fillies were making their 3-year-old bows. It was also a new course record of 1:31.10 for the 1600 metres, breaking the mark set by Black Moon (Jpn) (Admire Moon {Jpn}) in 2017.

Second choice in the wagering at 5-2 versus Satono Reinas's 2-1 favouritism, the striking white filly jumped well and found an ideal position tracking Stutti (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) from the fence in second. Passed by several foes to sit fourth entering the far turn, Sodashi split horses in upper stretch, took command from distance relation and new leader Meikei Yell (Jpn) (Mikki Isle {Jpn}) at the 200-metre mark and flashed home to win by a neck.

Satono Reinas broke a step slowly from the widest gate in 18, and was trapped very wide near the rear of the field for the backstretch run. She started to weave up in between horses by the 300-metre mark, and let down strongly out in the centre of the course to just miss. Fine Rouge (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) also rallied well from midfield to take third, a half-length back. Akaitorino Musume (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was another neck back in fourth.

“It's a great feeling,” said pilot Hayato Yoshida, who was celebrating his first Classic win and third Group 1 win. “There was a lot of pressure with many doubting how strong a white filly could be, so I'm thrilled we were able to prove them wrong. I was a bit worried that the fast track would be a disadvantage, but she responded beautifully and ran well holding off the others closing in on us which I saw and made me driver her to the wire. Her potential is limitless and I look forward to her future starts.”

Sodashi won on debut at Hakodate going 1800 metres on July 12 and stepped up to take the G3 Sapporo Nisai S. on Sept. 5. She added yet another win in the G3 Artemis S. at Tokyo on Halloween cutting back to 1600 metres for the first time and sealed her championship season with a victory over her rival Satono Reinas in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on Dec. 13.

Pedigree Notes

The first foal out of the four-time winner and popular painted wonder Buchiko, Sodashi has a 2-year-old full-sister. Her dam is a half-sister to Japanese MSW Yukichan (Jpn) (Kurofune), the granddam of G2 Tulip Sho, G3 Kokura Nisai S. and G3 Fantasy S. heroine Meikei Yell (Jpn) (Mikki Isle {Jpn}), who ran last in the Japanese 1000 Guineas behind Sodashi on Sunday. Buchiko was barren to the cover of Maurice (Jpn) for 2020, but returned to that stallion last spring.

Fourth dam Storm and Sunshine (Star de Naskra), who struck in the 1986 GII Test S. and GIII Post-Deb S., foaled GII Bel Air H. hero Smile Again (Wild Again), SW & MGSP Halo Sunshine (Halo) and SW & MGSP Montecito (Seeking the Gold). The last-named threw SW and G3 Give Thanks S. and G3 Athasi S. runner-up Bunairgead (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}).

Sunday, Hanshin, Japan
OKA SHO (JAPANESE 1000 GUINEAS)-G1, ¥237,870,000, Hanshin, 4-11, 3yo, f, 1600mT, 1:31.10 (NCR), fm.
1–SODASHI (JPN), 121, f, 3, by Kurofune
           1st Dam: Buchiko (Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn)
           2nd Dam: Shirayukihime (Jpn), by Sunday Silence
           3rd Dam: Wave Wind, by Topsider
O-Makoto Kaneko Holdings; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); T-Naosuke
Sugai; J-Hayato Yoshida. ¥131,859,000. Lifetime Record: Ch.
2yo Filly-Jpn, 5-5-0-0. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Satono Reinas (Jpn), 121, f, 3, Deep Impact (Jpn)
           1st Dam: Balada Sale (Arg), by Not For Sale (Arg)
           2nd Dam: La Balada (Arg), by Confidential Talk
           3rd Dam: La Baraca (Arg), by Mariache II (Arg)
(¥100,000,000 Wlg '18 JRHAJUL). O-Satomi Horse Company;
B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥49,170,000.
3–Fine Rouge (Jpn), 121, f, 3, Kizuna (Jpn)
           1st Dam: Passion Rouge (Jpn), by Boston Harbor
           2nd Dam: Sexy Coconuts (Jpn), by Dance in the Dark (Jpn)
           3rd Dam: Coco Passion (Fr), by Groom Dancer
(¥33,000,000 Wlg '18 JRHAJUL). O-Genichi Mutsui; B-Northern
Farm (Jpn); ¥29,595,000.
Margins: NK, HF, NK. Odds: 2.60, 2.30, 14.30.
Also Ran: Akaitorino Musume (Jpn), Art de Vivre (Jpn), Kukuna (Jpn), Stutti (Jpn), Enthusiasm (Jpn), Ho O Ixelles (Jpn), Minnie Isle (Jpn), Ginestra (Jpn), Dtripe (Jpn), Elizabeth Tower (GB), Blue Bird (Jpn), Songline (Jpn), Shigeru Pink Dia (Jpn), Yoka Yoka (Jpn), Meikei Yell (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

The post Classic Laurels For Kurofune’s Sodashi appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Japan: 2-Year-Olds Tackle Classic Distance In Saturday’s Hopeful Stakes

The year 2020 goes out with a bang this coming weekend, which will be a 'double' Grade 1 weekend at Nakayama Racecourse, kicking off with the Hopeful Stakes on Saturday (Dec. 26). The race for 2-year-olds (excluding geldings) was made a Grade 1 contest in 2017, and gives the young colts a chance to test their ability over 2,000 meters (1 1/4 miles), with a view to running in next year's Classics, the first of which for colts is run over the same course and distance as the Hopeful Stakes, on the inner turf track at Nakayama.

There have been 18 nominations for a maximum 18 runner field, as the competition heats up to follow in the footsteps of some big-name winners of the race that have included the likes of Victoire Pisa (2009), Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia (2012), Rey de Oro (2016), and just last year Contrail, to name but a few.

Here's a look at some of the colts expected to make the starting line-up:

Danon the Kid: The unbeaten colt by Just a Way ran out a good winner of the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes last time, when he was sent off favorite. He won his only other race on his debut at Hanshin in June over 1,800 meters. Trainer Takayuki Yasuda, who made headlines in Hong Kong recently with Danon Smash, might have another big race success here. He was pleased with Danon the Kid's recent work at Ritto Training Center.

“The jockey said the horse was relaxed, and I thought he was moving well during that piece of training,” said the trainer.

Yoho Lake: Another colt who lays his unbeaten record on the line here is the Northern Farm bred Yoho Lake. By Deep Impact, he's been favorite in both his races so far, and his latest win came in the Shigiku Sho over 2,000 meters at Kyoto in October, when the soft ground wasn't an issue for him. Jockey Yutaka Take will ride him in this next race.

Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi commented: “He worked well recently on the woodchip course at Ritto, and picked up well from the third and fourth corners. I think he'll be well suited by the 2,000 meters at Nakayama.”

Orthoclase: The well bred colt by Epiphaneia out of Marialite would certainly please trainer Takashi Kubota if he can continue winning in the style of his dam, who has provided the trainer with his two Grade 1 victories to date. Coming off a win in the Listed Ivy Stakes over 1,800 meters at Tokyo in October, Orthoclase will be ridden by the jockey that won on him in his debut race at Sapporo in August, this year's champion rider Christophe Lemaire.

Land of Liberty: An easy winner last time in the Fuyo Stakes over the Hopeful Stakes course and distance in October, the Deep Impact colt bred at Shadai Farm will endeavor to give jockey Kosei Miura a well deserved first JRA G1 victory. He's ridden the horse in his two career wins from the same number of starts, and connections will be hoping the winning streak can continue.

Admire Sage: Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi could well have two runners in the race, with Admire Sage by no means looking like his second string here. The Duramente colt posted a strong final three-furlong time (33.4 seconds) in his last race, the Kigiku Sho over 2,000 meters at Hansin in November, which he won to make it two wins from two starts.

Titleholder: Another colt by Duramente, his earnings are already about equal to his sale price at the 2018 Select Sale. Jockey Keita Tosaki has ridden him in both his races so far, winning on the horse's debut over 1,800 meters at Nakayama in October, and finishing second to Danon the Kid in the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes.

Chevalier Rose: It's three starts two wins for Chevalier Rose, a colt by Deep Impact. He won his last race, the Listed Hagi Stakes over 1,800 meters at Kyoto in October, as well as winning on his debut at Hanshin in June. He's trained by Hisashi Shimizu, who enjoyed seven Grade 1 successes with Kitasan Black. Chevalier Rose worked under jockey Yuichi Kitamura at Ritto on the 16th, and posted a six-furlong time of 81.2 seconds, finishing off the final furlong in 12.0 seconds.

“He moved well in that piece of work and his times were good. The jockey also reported him to be in good condition,” said the trainer.

The post Japan: 2-Year-Olds Tackle Classic Distance In Saturday’s Hopeful Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Contrail Takes Kikuka Sho, Becoming’s Japan’s Third Undefeated Triple Crown Winner

Odds-on favorite Contrail joined his sire, the Sunday Silence stallion Deep Impact, as one of three undefeated Japanese Triple Crown winners by capturing the Grade 1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) over 1 7/8-miles at Kyoto Race Course on Sunday in Kyoto, Japan.

Ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga and trained by Yoshito Yahagi, Contrail was all out to beat Aristoteles and Christophe Lemaire by a neck in the final leg of a series that began April 19 with the 1 1/4-mile Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and continued one month later with the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), contested at 1 1/2 miles. All three races are on turf.

Another son of Deep Impact, Satono Flag, finished third of the 18 runners, all but one of which – Godolphin's Irish-bred Turkish Palace (14th place) – were bred in Japan.

Contrail is Japan's eighth Triple Crown winner and the first to be sired by a previous Triple Crown winner. Deep Impact won his crown in 2005. The third horse to exit the series undefeated was Symboli Rudolf in 1984.

Contrail broke smoothly and settled between horses in mid-pack as Chimera Verite set a moderate pace. Fukunaga allowed Contrail to gradually move toward the front and took the lead after entering the stretch. But he could not shake Aristoteles, a 22-1 longshot, who raced alongside Contrail the length of the stretch, falling just a neck short at the finish.

“This may not have been his best performance, but I kept my faith in Contrail and he certainly showed how strong he is to have maintained his position up to the end of the 3,000-meter trip,” Fukunaga said.

Final time was 3:05.5 on firm turf, well off the course and race record of 3:01.0 set by Toho Jackal in 2014.

Contrail, who is now 7-for-7, paid 110 yen on a 100 yen bet for the win. Owned by Shinji Maeda and bred by North Hills Co. Ltd., he was produced from the Kentucky-bred Unbridled's Song mare Rhodochrosite, who was bred by the Robert and Beverly Lewis Trust and sold for $385,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The Lewises bred and raced Rhodochrosite's dam, the Tiznow filly Folklore, Eclipse Award winner as outstanding 2-year-old filly in 2005 when she won the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

While on-track attendance was limited to just over 1,000 people, wagering on the Kikuka Sho day program from Kyoto totaled $286.9 million, a 27.3% increase from 2019 when a Triple Crown was not on the line. Wagering on the Kikuka Sho race itself was $202.8 million, up 30% from 2019.

The post Contrail Takes Kikuka Sho, Becoming’s Japan’s Third Undefeated Triple Crown Winner appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Contrail Aims To Be Third Undefeated Colt To Capture Japan’s Triple Crown In Sunday’s Kikuka Sho

Contrail, a son of the late Triple Crown champion Deep Impact, stands to become only the third colt to capture Japan's classic treble while unbeaten, this Sunday (Oct. 25) at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan. His sire did it before him in 2005, and 21 years before that, Symboli Rudolf had been the first to claim the classic three with a pristine record.

The G1 Kikuka Sho (3000m, or approximately 15 furlongs), or Japanese St. Leger, is second only to the spring Tenno Sho Spring as Japan's longest top-level flat race and caps the Triple Crown, which begins in the spring with the G1 Satsuki Sho (2000m, or approximately 10 furlongs) and the G1 Tokyo Yushun (2400m, or approximately 12 furlongs), or Japanese Derby.

Of the 23 horses who have claimed both spring classics, 15 went to the Kikuka Sho gate to claim that final feather in their cap, but only seven succeeded, beginning with St. Lite in 1941.

If any horse can do it again, it's Contrail. This week, his last drill before the race took the colt up the hill course at Ritto under an assistant to trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who is eager to lay claim to his 17th big-race win and first Kikuka Sho victory.

Wednesday morning (Oct. 21), the woodchip surface was heavy and the colt, eager to run, was held back over the first half before slowly being allowed to accelerate. He used his body fully with exemplary form, for top marks and a time of 52.5 seconds for a half-mile with a final 200 meters (approximately one furlong) in 12.9 seconds.

“He's switched on,” said the rider. “So I concentrated on not letting him overdo it. The ground was slow, but there were no problems with either his movement or breathing.”

Contrail's training has gone smoothly, all according to plan. Returning from his spring campaign, he kicked off the fall with a win by 2 lengths over Weltreisende in the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai at Chukyo on Sept. 27.

“He broke away from the crowd with stupendous acceleration,” said Yahagi of the race. “I was in the position of not being able to lose that race and, at the same time, not being able to push him too much, so that he'd be ready for the Kikuka Sho. It was quite a conflict and a very difficult race.”

The trainer and Contrail have overcome difficulties and look poised for success.

“Contrail seems to understand what our intentions are. He turns off after a race. He slowly revs up before one. He really is a very clever horse,” said Yahagi.

Contrail has started favorite in all six of his races (three of them Grade 1s), and this Sunday will be no different as he bids to write another page in the history books. There's plenty of confidence from the stable too.

“It was a good win last time and we were relieved by that. That race was enough to get him switched on and so we don't need to worry about anything. He's come out of it well and has been at the stable in the three-week period since,” said assistant trainer Yusaku Oka.

Jockey Yuichi Fukunaga has struck up a good partnership with the horse and will be looking to get the best out of him again here.

No matter how good the chances that Japan will see a second unbeaten youngster capture a Triple Crown in as many weeks, the search is heated for the other two to fill out the winning trio.

G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai runner-up Weltreisende, by 2009 G1 Arima Kinen champ Dream Journey, is one of the most mentioned, as is Babbitt and Satono Flag.

Weltreisende was third in the Derby and has only figured out of the money once, when finishing eighth in the G1 Satsuki Sho. The extra distance of the Kikuka Sho will be a plus for him.

A likely longshot that may be most advantaged by the distance this time out is Black Hole (ninth in the Satsuki Sho, seventh in the Derby), a Goldship colt of stayer stature (978 lb).

Satono Flag looked in fine form with a first-up second in the G2 St. Lite Kinen on Sept. 21 at Nakayama. Satono Flag and Danon Gloire are the two colts nominated for Sunday's race by super mare Almond Eye's trainer, Sakae Kunieda.

Babbitt, by Nakayama Festa (second in the 2010 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe), bypassed the Classics and, racing solely in the 1800-2200m range, has sped to his first G1 on a four-race winning streak that included the G2 St. Lite Kinen last out.

The 81st running of the Kikuka Sho is set for 2:40pm Hong Kong time this Sunday, 25 October.

The post Contrail Aims To Be Third Undefeated Colt To Capture Japan’s Triple Crown In Sunday’s Kikuka Sho appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post