8th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 4:44 p.m. ET.
Hammering down for $1.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, juvenile STOP THE PRESS (Uncle Mo) makes his debut for the ownership group led by West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. After a sharp work for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey at the Belmont Park training track (Oct. 20, 4f, :48.34, 1/55), the bay colt comes to Keeneland primed for his debut.
Out of Secret Sigh (Tapit), Stop the Press is a half-brother to Summer Wind Equine's horse-in-training Pippi Longstocking (Frankel {GB}), who debuted a well-beaten sixth over the turf Sept. 16 at the Belmont at the Big A meet.
Second dam MGSW India (Hennessy) is also responsible for Japanese G1 Yasuda Kinen S. and G1 February S. superstar Mozu Ascot (Frankel {GB}). This is an extended female family which includes full-sibs GI Woodward S. hero To Honor and Serve (Bernardini) and GI Chandelier S. heroine Angela Renee, plus their half-brother GISP Elnaawi (Street Sense). TJCIS PPS
Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.'s 4-year-old filly Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) bested Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}), also owned by Sunday Racing, by a neck to win the G1 Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo Racecourse Sunday. With this victory, Songline earned an automatic berth, including fees paid, to the $2-million GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile.
In an 18-horse field, Songline settled behind Salios (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and in front of Schnell Meister in midpack as the field cruised down the backstretch at a leisurely pace. Making headway while shifting to the outside before the final turn, the 7-1 chance picked up the tempo, catching Salios in deep stretch before fending off Schnell Meister by a neck at the wire. In their previous meeting, the filly finished a nose behind Schnell Meister in last season's G1 NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo.
“I'm just relieved and happy that I was able to live up to the team's expectations,” said winning rider Kenichi Ikezoe. “It was a tight schedule for the filly, but the staff at the stables prepared her remarkably. She broke well and I decided to settle her behind Salios, who rushed up in front of us. Trying not to make the same mistake as last time, we made an early bid before the last corner and she responded well and stretched all the way for a strong finish.”
In her two previous starts this year, Songline won the G3 1351 Turf Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Saudi Arabia Feb. 26, before closing late to finish fifth in the May 15 G1 Victoria Mile, a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race for the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Pedigree Notes:
Already the sire of 18 stakes winners with his oldest foals just 5-year-olds, Kizuna has 11 group winners, including G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup heroine Akai Ito (Jpn), who is also out of a Symboli Kris S mare. Songline, who is the second Group 1 scorer for her young sire, is the first foal out of her four-time winning dam who specialized at 1200-1400 metres. Her dam, a half-sister to dual Japanese group winner Jeune Ecole (Jpn) (Kurofune), did not produce a foal to the cover of Real Steel (Jpn) in 2020. Luminous Parade has a yearling colt by Real Impact (Jpn) and visited Songline's sire Kizuna in 2021.
Under the unraced third dam are group winners Renforcer (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S), Northern River (Jpn) (Agnes Tachyon {Jpn}) and the G1 Shuka Sho/G1 Nassau S. heroine Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}). The Classic-winning French champion 3-yearold filly Sonic Lady (Nureyev) is the fourth dam and boasts the Classic-placed Furner's Green (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) and Lady Lupus (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), both group winners.
Sunday, Tokyo, Japan YASUDA KINEN-G1, ¥347,460,000, Tokyo, 6-5, 3yo/up, 1600mT, 1:32.30, fm.
1–SONGLINE (JPN), 123, f, 4, Kizuna (Jpn) 1st Dam: Luminous Parade (Jpn), by Symboli Kris S 2nd Dam: Luminous Point (Jpn), by Agnes Tachyon (Jpn) 3rd Dam: Soninke (GB), by Machiavellian 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm;
T-Toru Hayashi; J-Kenichi Ikezoe; ¥183,822,000. Lifetime
Record: 11-5-2-1. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Schnell Meister (Ger), 128, c, 4, Kingman (GB)–
Serienholde (Ger), by Soldier Hollow (GB). O-Sunday Racing;
B-Northern Farm; ¥73,092,000.
3–Salios (Jpn), 128, h, 5, Heart's Cry (Jpn)–Salomina (Ger), by
Lomitas (GB). O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm; ¥45,546,000.
Margins: NK, HD, HF; Odds: 7.20, 3.90, 14.7.
Also Ran: Serifos (Jpn), Fine Rouge (Jpn), Danon the Kid (Jpn),
Air Lolonois (Jpn), Elusive Panther (Jpn), Naran Huleg (Jpn), Lotus Land, Resistencia (Jpn), Ho O Amazon (Jpn), Soul Rush (Jpn), Diatonic (Jpn), Vin de Garde (Jpn), Karate (Jpn), Cafe Pharoah, Catedral (Jpn). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Click for the JRA chart and video.
Danox Inc.'s Danon Kingly (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) dethroned MG1SW Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in her bid to win back-to-back G1 Yasuda Kinens, with a narrow victory at Tokyo on Sunday. It was the 5-year-old entire's first win at the highest level after he had been placed in a pair of Classics in 2019 and the race is a “Win And You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile this fall.
Sent off at 47-1, Danon Kingly perched three deep in midfield as Daiwa Cagney (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) rattled off fractions of :23.30 for the opening quarter and :46.40 for the half-mile over the firm turf. Winding up for his bid on the far turn, the bay fanned widest of all bar two at the 400-metre mark. He was soon in touch with the leaders, but inside the final furlong, anyone of four were in with a shot.
Favoured at 50 cents on the dollar, Gran Alegria, who had arrived on the scene from farther back than Danon Kingly, thrust her head in front in the shadow of the wire towards the inside, but the winner was flashing home even more strongly and got his head down first at the line. It was only a half-length back to Group 1 winner Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) in third to the inside of Danon Kingly, while only a neck separated him from fourth-place Indy Champ (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}), who'd won this affair in 2019, and was sandwiched between the second and third home.
“He felt a bit tense first entering the track but he had good rhythm during the trip and had plenty of horse left,” said jockey Yuga 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 the 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.”
Unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile and in his 3-year-old bow, the 2019 G3 Kyodo News Hai, Danon Kingly ran third in the G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas and went one better in the G1 Japanese Derby in May of that year. Given some time off, he returned with a win in the G2 Mainichi Okan that October and, after an unplaced run in the G1 Mile Championship, returned at four to take the G2 Nakayama Kinen first up over 1800 metres last March. Third in the G1 Osaka Hai last April, he ran unplaced in both the 2020 Yasuda Kinen and in the Nov. 1 G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn). This was his first start at five.
Pedigree Notes
Danon Kingly is the 51st Group 1 winner for his late sire, who celebrated another Classic winner in the past few days with record 16-length G1 Cazoo Oaks heroine Snowfall (Jpn). Of the former Shadai stallion's 175 black-type winners and 142 group winners, 16 are out of Storm Cat mares. Group 1 winners A Shin Hikari (Jpn), Loves Only You (Jpn), Kizuna (Jpn), Satono Aladdin (Jpn), Real Steel (Jpn), Study Of Man (Ire), Lachesis (Jpn) and Ayusan (Jpn) are bred on this cross. Of these nine, four won Classics in Japan and France.
A winner at three, My Goodness's first foal is G3 Capella S. victor Danon Legend (Macho Uno), who was purchased for $385,000 out of the Barretts March sale in 2012 and sent to Japan. Her 2012 produce was the Japanese listed winner Danon Good (Jpn) (Elusive Quality). Danon Kingly is the most decorated of her nine offspring, while he is also a half-brother to the 3-year-old colt Danon Velocity (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), a 2-year-old full-brother to Danon Velocity and a yearling filly by Heart's Cry (Jpn) yet to come. My Goodness, a half-sister to American Champion 3-Year-Old Colt West Coast (Flatter), a winner of the GI Travers S. and GI Pennsylvania Derby, visited the court of Epiphaneia (Jpn) last spring.
The duo are out of U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Caressing (Honour and Glory), whose biggest claim to fame was a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, but who also struck twice at Grade III level Stateside. She, in turn, was a half-sister to Listed Natalma S. heroine Platinum Blonde (Silver Hawk). This is the extended family of GI Donn H., GI Meadowlands Cup H. and GI Gulfstream Park H. hero Sea Cadet (Bolger), as well as GII Del Mar Futurity victor and GI Champagne S. third On Target (Forty Niner), both later sires.
Sunday, Tokyo, Japan YASUDA KINEN-G1, ¥252,260,000, Tokyo, 6-6, 3yo & up, 1600mT, 1:31.70, firm
1–DANON KINGLY (JPN), 128, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn) 1st Dam: My Goodness, by Storm Cat 2nd Dam: Caressing, by Honour and Glory 3rd Dam: Lovin Touch, by Majestic Prince 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Danox Inc.; B-Mishima Bokujo (Jpn);
T-Kiyoshi Hagiwara; J-Yuga Kawada. ¥132,982,000. Lifetime
Record: 12-6-1-2. *1/2 to Danon Legend (Macho Uno), GSW
-Jpn, $3,324,208; and Danon Good (Jpn) (Elusive Quality), SW-J
pn, $1,161,123. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Gran Alegria (Jpn), 123, m, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Tapitsfly, by Tapit. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥52,876,000.
3–Schnell Meister (Ger), 119, c, 3, Kingman (GB)–Serienholde
(Ger), by Soldier Hollow (GB). O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern
Farm (Ger); ¥33,438,000.
Margins: HD, HF, NK. Odds: 46.60, 0.50, 9.20.
Also Ran: Indy Champ (Jpn), Taurus Gemini (Jpn), Cadenas (Jpn), Danon Premium (Jpn), Salios (Jpn), Gibeon (Jpn), Cadens Call (Jpn), Daiwa Cagney (Jpn), Catedral (Jpn), Karate (Jpn), Lauda Sion (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
