Pixie Knight | Horse Racing Free Tips

Pixie Knight First Group 1 Winner For Maurice

Pixie Knight (Jpn) became the first Group 1 winner for Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice (Jpn) when coming home a smooth winner of Sunday's G1 Sprinters S. at Nakayama Racecourse. He likewise became the first 3-year-old since 2007 to take the coveted six-furlong prize, and just the sixth since the race was promoted to Group 1 status in 1990.

A debut winner going seven furlongs last September, Pixie Knight finished third in allowance company before being put away for the winter. Stepping up to pattern company to take the one-mile G3 Shinzan Kinen on seasonal debut on Jan. 10, Pixie Knight slipped to fourth in the G3 Arlington Cup and was soundly beaten in eighth in the G1 NHK Mile Cup on May 9. Dropping back to this trip thereafter, Pixie Knight was second after a summer holiday in the G3 CBC Sho on the fourth of July and filled the same position in the G2 Centaur S. at Chukyo on Sept. 12.

Traveling just off the pace on the rail, Pixie Knight was in tight at the top of the stretch but soon found daylight in the two path. Put to a drive two furlongs out, he soon found the lead and was a comfortable two-length winner. Former champion juvenile filly Resistencia (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) was second, while race favourite Danon Smash, winner of the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen and G1 Hong Kong Sprint, was sixth.

Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
SPRINTERS S.-G1, ¥252,860,000, Nakayama, 10-3, 3yo/up, 1200mT, 1:07.10, fm.
1–PIXIE KNIGHT (JPN), 121, c, 3, by Maurice (Jpn)
                1st Dam: Pixie Hollow (Jpn), by King Halo (Jpn)
                2nd Dam: Rhein Regina (Jpn), by Sakura Bakushin-Oh (Jpn)
                3rd Dam: Shinko Angel, by Ogygian
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm;
T-Hidetaka Otonashi; J-Yuichi Fukunaga; ¥133,402,000.
Lifetime Record: 8-3-2-1. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Resistencia (Jpn), 121, f, 4, Daiwa Major (Jpn)–
Malacostumbrada (Arg), by Lizard Island. O-Carrot Farm;
B-Northern Farm; ¥52,972,000.
3–Shivaji, 126, h, 6, First Samurai–Indian Bay, by Indian Charlie.
O-Kanayama Holdings; B-Hinkle Farms; ¥33,486,000.
Margins: 2, HD, 2HF. Odds: 4.30, 2.40, 46.50.
Also Ran: Mikki Yell (Jpn), Mozu Superflare, Danon Smash (Jpn), Bien Fait (Jpn), Kurino Gaydi (Jpn), Miki Brillante (Jpn), Loving Answer (Jpn), Gendarme, Taisei Vision (Jpn), Eighteen Girl (Jpn), A Will a Way (Jpn), First Force (Jpn), Lord Aqua (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart and video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Gendarme Set For Arresting Performance in Sprinters’

A diverse field of 16 short-track specialists converges on Nakayama Racecourse Sunday as Japanese Group 1 racing emerges from a three-month hiatus in the 1200-metre Sprinters' S.

Koji Maeda's Gendarme (Kitten's Joy) was a Group 2 winner over a mile and Group 1-placed going 10 furlongs at two, but has gone through a renaissance of sorts since being cut back to distances between six and seven panels about this time last year. A listed winner at Niigata at seven-eighths last October, the homebred son of 2002 Sprinters' heroine Believe (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) was third to Resistencia (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) in the G3 Hankyu Hai (1400m) this past February before landing the Listed Shunrai S. in his first try over 1200 metres in April. Seventh and running on in the G2 Kitakyushu Kinen Aug. 22, he bombed the start of the G2 Centaur S. Sept. 12, setting himself a near-impossible task, but finished his final 600 metres in a race-quickest :32.6. They should fly early and Gendarme can be a late threat.

Danon Smash (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), third in this event in 2019 and runner-up last term, tries to complete Japan's Group 1 sprint double, having just defeated Resistencia in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March. Prior to that effort, the son of Spinning Wildcat (Hard Spun) caused a 21-1 upset of the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint, but he was a flat sixth to the progressive Wellington (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) when most recently returned to Sha Tin for the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize Apr. 25.

Though Resistencia made the running in the Hankyu Hai and was part of the pace in the Centaur S., she has shown the ability to take a trail and come with a late run, as she did in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. Hold-up tactics might be the flavour of the day, with the likes of the speedy 2019 runner-up Mozu Superflare (Speightstown) and Bien Fait (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) guaranteed to set a breakneck tempo.

Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) was a Group 3 winner over a mile earlier this year, but has run well at this trip in his last two appearances, finishing runner-up to First Force (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in the July 4 G3 CBC Sho and to Resistencia last time. He typically settles midfield and will be run off his feet early, but can get first run on those coming from farther behind.

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Frankel’s Grenadier Guards Looks to Bounce Back in NHK Mile Cup

Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.'s Grenadier Guards (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), a son of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington), will look to return to winning ways as one of the top couple of betting choices in Sunday's G1 NHK Mile Cup at Toyko Racecourse.

The bay colt graduated at third asking over 1400 metres at Hanshin last November, then belied odds of 16-1 to upset future G1 Satsuki Sho third Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity going this distance in mid-December. He has one run under his belt this year, a runner-up effort to pacesetting Rooks Nest (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) in the G3 Falcon S. at the metric seven furlongs Mar. 20 for which he may have had a bit of an excuse.

“It was rough ground in the Falcon S. and I had the feeling he was very tensed,” trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida commented. “That surely affected the finish, but he did give it his all. That race sharpened him up and he's much improved from last year.

Rooks Nest had the benefit of race fitness over Grenadier Guards in the Falcon, having finished second to Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) from well off the speed in the G3 Shinzan Kinen at Chukyo Jan. 10. A return to patient tactics could be in the offing given what is expected to be a cracking pace.

Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) will be well-backed to become his successful young sire's second winner at group level in Japan (Elizabeth Tower {GB}, G2 Tulip Sho). A debut winner going 1500 metres at Sapporo last September, this first foal out of 2016 G1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) showed a devastating turn of foot when taking out a one-mile conditions test at Nakayama in December. The bay was a latest on-pace second in the G2 Yayoi Sho (2000mT) Mar. 7, the form of which was franked when the victorious Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) filled the second spot in the Satsuki Sho.

Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), third in the Shinzan Kinen, has won his last two in wire-to-wire fashion, a Hanshin conditions Mar. 13 ahead of a five-length success in the Apr. 10 G2 New Zealand Trophy in which the runner-up Time to Heaven (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) raced brutally wide throughout.

Rickenbacker (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) required six tries to break his maiden, but was held up at a crucial stage of the Apr. 17 G3 Arlington Cup and charged home once into the clear to finish a very good second to Ho O Amazon (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) at odds of 42-1. A similar price is expected Sunday, but he could appeal to each-way bettors.

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