Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was Group 1-placed over 10 furlongs as a juvenile, but did not make a serious impact in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, finishing ninth in the Guineas and in the Derby. Given a four-month break, the half-brother to the GI Belmont S. hero Palace Malice (Curlin) made a smashing return to action in the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai Sept. 25, defeating Yaminin Zest (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S) by a resounding 3 1/2 lengths, with Boldog Hos (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) another half-length back in third.

#9 is 3c JUSTIN PALACE (Deep Impact x Palace Rumor (Royal Anthem)) final fast ahead of the G1 3000m Kikuka Sho (St Leger) (no geldings) Sunday

1/2 bro to the great PALACE MALICE

Impressive LS G2 2400m winner

Right in the classic on Sunday#JRA pic.twitter.com/XgSPTjWdEz

— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) October 19, 2022

“They did a good job with him at the farm before the Kobe Shimbun Hai,” said trainer Haruki Sugiyama, who will also saddle the well-fancied Gaia Force (Jpn), a son of 2015 Kikuka Sho hero Kitasan Black (Jpn). “The jockey also had some good contact with the horse before the race. In his last run, he easily got into a good position, and getting a good start does seem to be one of the keys with him.”

A ¥190 million (about $1.77 million) purchase out of the 2020 JRHA Select Yearling Sale, Justin Palace will need to be on his best gate behaviour from barrier 17.

Gaia Force is one of the fresh faces in the Kikuka Sho and is drawn at the other end of the stalls. Narrowly second to the Derby winner on debut last September, the gray has since won three of his last four, a track record-setting conditions success at Kokura (2000m in 1:56.80 July 3) and a head defeat of Ask Victor More (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in one of the Leger trials, the G2 Asahi Hai St Lite Kinen (2200m) at Nakayama Sept. 19.

Stunner 3c GAIA FORCE (Kitasan Black x Natale (Kurofune)) attacking the Ritto slope ahead of the classic G1 3000m Kikuka Sho (St Leger) (no geldings) on Sunday

His sire won it, and on this work his son is the one to beat on Sunday!#JRA #KitasanBlack pic.twitter.com/tLNWkCAT6T

— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) October 19, 2022

“After winning in record time at Kokura, the switch to Nakayama with the extra distance and strong opposition was never going to be easy, but he ran above my expectations,” Sugiyama said. “We gave him a break at the farm afterwards, as it must have taken a lot out of him, but he seems fine on his return to the stable.”

Ask Victor More got the better of Do Deuce in the G2 Deep Impact Kinen in March before finishing a respectable fifth in the Satsuki Sho and third in the Tokyo Yushun. He was just held by Gaia Force last time, but can certainly improve for that first-up run.

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Breaking sharply, the third betting choice settled behind pacesetters Bright on Base (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) and Sound Vivace (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) in a two-wide fourth down the backstretch. Meanwhile, race favorite Stars of Earth missed a beat at the start and was pinched back, forcing her to work out a trip from near the back of the field in the early going. Enjoying a much smooth time of it, Stunning Rose made headway about 600 meters out, shifting out slightly for the stretch drive. Gradually overtaking the late-leading duo of Art House (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}) and Sound Vivace in early stretch, she collared them midstretch, edged clear and had enough in reserve to fend off the fast-charging duo of Namur (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) and the finally unencumbered Stars on Earth enroute to a 1/2-length victory.

“I am grateful to have been given the chance to ride this filly and want to thank the connections for that and having her ready for today,” said winning jockey Ryusei Sakai. “I was able to assess the filly's style the last timed I rode her and I was able to position her near [stalking] Art House during the trip. Her response at the straight was way much better than her last start and although I was aware of the horses coming strongly from

behind, I felt her power under me would carry us to the wire in front.”

Fifth in her sole start at two at Hanshin, the bay returned a winner in the Kobushi Sho in February before making it two straight in the G3 Flower Cup at Nakayama in March. Second best to Stars on Earth in May 22 Yushun Himba, she rebounded to take the G3 Shion S. Sept. 10.

Pedigree Notes
The Shuka Sho heroine is one of five winners for her dam Rosa Blanca, a half-sister to Japanese champion juvenile colt and G1 Japan Cup hero Rose Kingdom (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}). The Shuka Sho win gives Stunning Rose's sire, King Kamehameha, his 15 Group 1 winner.

Sunday, Kyoto, Japan
SHUKA SHO-G1, ¥214,800,000, Kyoto, 10-16, 3yo, f, 2000mT, 1:58.60, fm.
1–STUNNING ROSE (JPN), 121, f, 3, King Kamehameha (Jpn)
1st Dam: Rosa Blanca (Jpn), by Kurofune
2nd Dam: Rosebud (Jpn), by Sunday Silence
3rd Dam: Rose Colour (Jpn), by Shirley Heights (GB)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm;
T-Tomokazu Takano; J-Ryusei Sakai; ¥113,360,000.
Lifetime Record: 10-5-2-1. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Namur (Jpn), 121, f, 3, by Harbinger (GB)–Sambre et Meuse
(Jpn), by Daiwa Major (Jpn). O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm;
¥44,960,000.
3–Stars on Earth (Jpn), 121, f, 3, Duramente (Jpn)–Southern
Stars (GB), by Smart Strike. O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shadai
Farm; ¥28,840,000.
Margins: 1/2, 1/2, 1 1/2; Odds: 7.90, 4.60, 6.30.
Also Ran: Memory Raison (Jpn), Art House (Jpn), Eglantyne (Jpn), Sound Vivace (Jpn), Storia (Jpn), Presage Lift (Jpn), Lilac (Jpn), Win Eclair (Jpn), Water Navillera (Jpn), Erika Vita (Jpn), Love Pyro (Jpn), Tagano Finale (Jpn), Bright on Base (Jpn).
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Click for the JRA chart and video.

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Can lightning strike twice?
LNJ's Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast)'s Group 1 exploits in Australia have been well documented, and she's set to be offered through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May. The same connections have sent Ivy League (Medaglia d'Oro), formerly with Richard Mandella, to the Ciaron Maher/David Eustace stable trying to repeat the magic formula.

All Purpose. All Places. All Power…
It's not just a marketing slogan, as Speightstown has amassed 23 Northern Hemisphere G1SWs. Here's the breakdown by distance/surface (note: Charlatan won G1s at two different trips, Rock Fall was a 2x G1 winner at 6f)

6fD-6, 6fT-1, 7fD-5, 8fD-2, 8fT-4, 9fD-1, 10fD-2, 10fT-3.

Thanks to Alan Carasso for the research.

22 And Counting…
Less than 24 hours after 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight became the newest top-level scorer, see above, for WinStar's Speightstown in Friday's Maker's Mark Mile, the nursery's homebred son Under Oath followed suit with an eye-catching Keeneland maiden victory to become the 22nd 'Rising Star' for the son of Gone West. He's still going strong at 24 years of age.

There's Something About Mary…
Mary's Follies (More Than Ready), a MGSW who sold at the 2021 Keeneland January sale for $500,000 to BBA Ireland for the Coolmore connections, is not only the dam of GI Jenny Wiley S. winner Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), but also of Japanese sensation Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah). Sadly, Mary's Follies was reported as having aborted her Curlin foal at the time of her sale, but has the 2-year-old colt Ready to Connect (Connect), who sold at OBS March for $180,000 to Chad Schumer after working a furlong.

Remember Me?
Sunday Racing's Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong) closed from off the pace to win Sunday's G1 Satsuki Sho, the first leg in Japan's Triple Crown. This marked the first Group 1 scorer for U.S. Sprint Champion Drefong (Gio Ponti), winner of a trio of Grade I races for Bob Baffert, including the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Drefong's fee is ¥7,000,000 ($55,000) at Shadai Stallion Station in 2022.

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Breaking well from the second most inner stall, Contrail was settled under Fukunaga in mid-pack and two-wide, while Kiseki made rapid headway in the backstretch from the rear, taking over the front at the third corner, extending his lead by six to seven lengths. By the time the field hit the top of the straight, the brown colt had shifted to the outside with clear running room in front of him and displayed his trademark explosive kick, shaking off Shahryar after a brief rally at the furlong pole then turned up an extra gear to easily put away Authority 100 meters out for a convincing two-length win.

“All I have now is mixed feelings of relief and lonesomeness,” said trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “In the colt's latest start (Tenno Sho (Autumn)), he broke poorly so I told him, while he was walking in the paddock earlier, to stay calm at the start. It worried me a bit since the pace was slow and he wasn't in that good a position, but we had tuned him up to perfection and the colt gave us all he had in the straight. I have to admit I was under a lot of pressure during the two years he was at my stable, but I think it has helped me in becoming more mature, and I can't thank him enough. Wouldn't it be wonderful to win the Arc with an offspring of his someday?”

“The colt had issues before his debut, so there were always concerns about his form, but I am so proud of how he proved himself today—I'm overwhelmed,” commented jockey Yuichi Fukunaga after the race. “All I did today was believe in him. He broke well and everything went just perfectly. He has given me every jockey's dream and I am utterly grateful. The colt shone a bright light over a gloomy year due to the pandemic last season. I'm relieved that we can send him off to his next career with this victory.”

Posted third favorite, 4-year-old Authority sat in fourth behind Shadow Diva, turned wide into the lane while passing Wagnerian and ran strongly, inheriting the lead from the tiredpacesetter300 meters out, but was gunned down in the last half furlong by the eventual winner for second.

Second favored 3-year-old colt Shahryar ran in fifth down the backstretch, entered the straight right behind Authority and in front of Contrail, ran willingly up the hill but was checked when rallying with the closing winner and had nothing left to tag the runner-up, finishing 1-1/2-lengths behind Authority in third.

French raider Grand Glory was the top finisher among the three foreign contingents. Unhurried after the break, the Olympic Glory mare saved ground along the rails in mid-division in ninth or tenth position. Angling out off the rails coming into the final turn, Grand Glory exerted an impressive turn of speed going up the long uphill stretch and geared up further from the 200-meter marker to make ground and finish fifth, five-lengths from the winner.

“I am very satisfied with her performance and her result at fifth-place. She appeared to lose a bit of balance and lean to the inside but thankfully Cristian got her back on her feet by the stretch. She's mentally very strong and the experience to run in the Japan Cup was fantastic for us. It's a great race and we would love to come back with another horse,” commented trainer Gianluca Bietolini.

“We couldn't have asked for a better result—having finished fifth in this competition is almost like winning for us. She was in super form, almost as good as when I rode her in the Prix Jean Romanet—which we won. The pace was very fast for this mare, but she handled it remarkably,” commented Cristian Demuro.

Japan broke sharply from an outside stall but was eased back to mid-field, choosing to move to the inside to save ground behind Grand Glory. Angled out at early stretch for a clear run, the Galileo horse attempted to make his bid with the eventual winner in view but was unable to cause a serious threat but held on for eighth.

“The track may have been a bit too fast for this horse. He was able to secure a good spot but wasn't able to keep up with the pace,” commented Patrick Keating.

Broome was slow out of the gate and gradually worked his way up to mid-division along the backstretch outside Grand Glory, but struggled to find another gear with 400 meters to go and even paced to finish 11th.

“He missed his break and that cost him,” said Patrick Keating. “He missed his break. The pace was slow but he wasn't able to pick up speed in the end,” added Ryan Moore.

Other Horses:
4th: (12) Sanrei Pocket—sat in front of winner, angled out, showed effort although unable to threaten top finishers while besting the rest
6th: (14) Uberleben—raced near winner, struggled to find clear path at early stretch, showed 2nd fastest late speed, belatedly
7th: (11) Shadow Diva—chased leaders in third, remained in contention until 100m out, weakened
9th: (9) Aristoteles—disputed lead and made pace, opening gap to 4 to 5 lengths, gave way to Kiseki while keeping second position, unable to sustain bid and overtaken
10th: (5) Kiseki—held back after break, headway along backstretch, led rounding 3rd corner and pulled away to open gap to 6 lengths, soon used up and outrun by foes at furlong pole
12th: (16) You Can Smile—further back than mid-division early, weakened after uphill stretch
13th: (13) Mozu Bello—near rear, raced wide throughout and unable to make up ground
14h: (15) Makahiki—raced second from last, unable to reach contention
15h: (10) Lord My Way—broke a fraction slow and raced behind, unable to make ground from wide turn
16th: (1) Muito Obrigado—trailed in rear, never a factor
17th: (8) Windjammer—mid-division early, even paced and outrun in last furlong
18h: (17) Wagnerian—broke sharply and tracked leader in 2nd, tired and faded

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Just weeks after getting his first Grade 1 stakes winner with Harvey's Lil Goil in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, America's Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah (by Pioneerof the Nile), picked up a second Group 1 winner, this time with the juvenile colt Van Gogh, who won the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud racecourse in France.

Van Gogh was winning for the second time in seven starts, after finishing second in the G2 Juvenile Stakes and G3 Tyros Stakes, both at Leopardstown, as well as another second in the G3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket. All along, the bay son of American Pharoah has given the impression of wanting to race farther, and he was moved up to a mile in the Autumn Stakes and the Criterium International.

The latter race, however, was raced over heavy going that placed a further premium on strength and stamina. In a display that earned the colt his highest rating yet, he won by six lengths, and the race commentary indicated that the colt extended his lead well in the last furlong and won comfortably.

In winning the race at Saint-Cloud, Van Gogh became the 11th stakes winner for his sire. Nine have shown their form by winning stakes this year at three, and seven have won stakes on turf.

Coolmore's Adrian Wallace said that “I think it's only a matter of time before American Pharoah's record on dirt matches or excels his record on turf. But, that said, Bob Baffert did tell us that he thought the horse would have thrived on turf and would have loved to have tried him on it.”

Both last year, when the sire's first crop were two, as well as in their racing of 2020, the progeny of American Pharoah have excelled on turf.

“Winning on grass does make him more internationally appealing,” Wallace said, “and the word is pretty good on his young horses in Australia, where his first crop are 2-year-olds.”

And the sire just had his third winner of a barrier trial, an important proving ground for young racehorses in Australia and New Zealand.

The “Pharoahs” have excelled on turf, except in Japan. There, American Pharoah has the two top colts racing on dirt in Café Pharoah and Danon Pharoah.

Café Pharoah has won four of his five starts, including the G3 Sirius Stakes and Unicorn Stakes, and his only loss was the Japan Dirt Derby, which was won by Danon Pharoah.

Worldwide, the American Pharoah racers have shown their form on a variety of surfaces, from conventional dirt to the varieties of turf, mud, and heavy ground. They have shown speed, as well as stamina, as we saw with both Pista and this weekend with Van Gogh.

An emphasis on stamina came into play in the highlight of the Triple Crown in Japan as Contrail (Deep Impact) won the Kikuka Sho (St. Leger equivalent) by a long head (officially a neck) to become the third unbeaten winner of the Japan Triple Crown. The colt's sire, Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), was the second, and the first racer in Japan to have this distinction was Symboli Rudolf.

Contrail had been an impressive, even cozy-looking, winner of the Tokyo Yushun (Derby) over 2,400 meters, and the chief question about the dark brown colt was not his high class but whether he would be suited by the distance, as the Kikuka Sho is raced over 3,000 meters (about 1 mile and 7 furlongs).

Away well, Contrail raced in the first third of the field of 18 until midway of the bend leading into the stretch. At the 400-meter mark at the top of the stretch, Contrail drifted a bit wide for the run to the wire, and he was shadowed by the 23-to-1 Aristoteles (Epiphaneia) all the way to the wire. Contrail held onto the advantage over Aristoteles, with Satono Flag (Deep Impact) another 3 1/2 lengths back in third.

From the results of this race, Contrail is better suited to races at 1,800 to 2,400 meters, where his turn of foot is more decisive, and that may be where his connections choose to campaign him in the future.

Those are important decisions to make in placing horses where they can perform most effectively, and such decisions apply also to the offspring of American Pharoah.

Typically, they are big-framed horses, and several of them appear to have grown into substantial individuals, especially the colts. This is a blessing that cuts both ways. They improve at two, then continue to add muscle and potential strength at three. Mass is important to an athlete because it is an expression of muscle strength, but the extra muscle can be a challenge for trainers to manage because it adds more weight.

And that may be one important reason that the American Pharoah stock have shown their form on turf, which is a more forgiving surface for strongly made horses.

Another consideration is that many sound judges, when evaluating the American Pharoah stock, have seen them as animals that should prosper with time and be better as they got old, as we have seen with the G1 winner at Keeneland and also with Pista, the winner of the G2 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster on Sept. 10.

If the colts' improvement matches those fillies, then we sporting enthusiasts should really have something to anticipate, with American Theorem, who was second in the G1 American Pharoah of 2019, and Monarch of Egypt, second to subsequent classic winner Siskin in the G1 Phoenix Stakes in Ireland last fall, set to continue racing next season at four.

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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.

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Confidence is emanating from Contrail’s stable, with Assistant Trainer Yusaku Oka saying, “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.”

On paper it seems that either Contrail will need to regress or any of his 17 rivals will need to take a step forward to dethrone him over this 3000 metre trip. Among those looking to play the spoiler are Weltreisende (Jpn) (Dream Journey), who was eighth behind Contrail in the Satsuki Sho but third and second, respectively, in the Tokyo Yushun and Kobe Shimbun Hai. Weltreisende, however, has not won since taking a listed stake at Kyoto last October.

Another coming into this race off a win streak is Babbitt (Jpn) (Nakayama Festa {Jpn}), who has won all four starts at three. Babbitt didn’t break his maiden until after the Satsuki Sho had been contested, and has since progressed up the ranks, most recently winning the G2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen over 2200 metres on Sept. 21 from Satono Flag (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), a Group 2 winner earlier this year who was putting in an improved effort after faltering in the earlier Classics.

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The Canadian Triple Crown requires versatility, going from the synthetic Tapeta track at Woodbine, to dirt at Fort Erie, then returning to Woodbine for the mile and one-half Breeders' Stakes on the E.P. Taylor turf course. Mighty Heart, trained by Josie Carroll, won the first leg with a 13-1 wire-to-wire upset, then scored as the favorite from off the pace at Fort Erie.

Contrail tries to follow in the Triple Crown-winning footsteps of his sire, the Sunday Silence stallion Deep Impact. He won the Oka Sho at a mile in April, cruised in the 1 1/2-mile Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at 1 1/2  miles this summer and now stretches out for the 1 7/8-mile Kikuka Sho, referred to as the Japanese St. Leger.

In this week's Friday Show, publisher Ray Paulick and editor in chief Natalie Voss discuss the merits of these two horses and other Triple Crown challenges from around the racing world.

Watch this week's Friday Show below.

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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.

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