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Chrono Genesis on Time in Arima Kinen

The fans’ selection proved spot on in Sunday’s G1 Arima Kinen at Nakayama, with 3-2 favourite Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) snapping up her third Group 1 by a neck. The field is selected by fan poll, and Sunday Racing’s mare defeated Salacia (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), with that foe a neck in front of Fierement (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), second on the morning line. MG1SW Lucky Lilac (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) ran fourth, another 2 1/2 lengths back.

Well back in midpack passing the winning post for the first time as Babbitt (Jpn) (Nakayama Festa {Jpn}) led, the grey filly started to advance during the backstretch run. Still well off the fence, Chrono Genesis continued to make inroads towards the vanguard and was within a length of new leader Fierement close home, before matching strides with that foe and asserting for a narrow victory. Salacia also showed good late dash to nip Fierement for second. In her final race, Lucky Lilac plugged on to take fourth. Blast Onepiece (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) went amiss on the backstretch and did not finish the race.

“All I wanted was her to be relaxed and her break wasn’t that bad, she was in hand and ran in the same rhythm as before,” said pilot Yuichi Kitamura. “Yesterday and today, I was in 2500-metre races here at Nakayama which enabled me to get warmed up with a good idea of how I wanted her to run. We haven’t faced the two Triple Crown winners yet, but I hope she performs well and stays in the spotlight next season.”

Added trainer Takashi Saito, “She was in good form and gave us a great impression before the race. I was worried that Yuichi might have made a too early bid, but he was confident and rode her beautifully, holding off the others. This is a dream come true and I have a feeling there will be many more.”

Runner-up in the 2018 G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies after two unbeaten runs including the Listed Ivy S., Chrono Genesis captured the G3 Daily Hai Queen Cup last term and was third in both the G1 Japanese 1000 Guineas and G1 Japanese Oaks before a win in the G1 Shuka Sho. Unplaced in her 3-year-old finale in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup last November, she returned at four with a win in the G2 Kyoto Kinen and played bridesmaid in Lucky Lilac’s Osaka Hai in April. Back on top in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen on June 28, she went missing until a third in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) behind Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) on Nov. 1 last out.

Pedigree Notes

One of two Group 1 winners for her sire after Big Week (Jpn), the winner is among Bago’s 11 black-type winners, seven at the group level. The eighth foal and eighth winner out of the winning Chronologist, Chrono Genesis is also her dam’s second offspring to win at least two Group 1s after the grey mare Normcore (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}). At the beginning of December, the grey Normcore padded her resume with a win at Sha Tin in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup after saluting in the G1 Victoria Mile earlier in her career. The duo are followed by the unplaced 3-year-old filly Clotho Nona (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}), an unnamed juvenile colt by Maurice (Jpn), a yearling by Drefong and a weanling filly by Maurice. Chronologist visited the court of 2017 G1 Japanese Derby/Tenno Sho (Autumn) hero Rey de Oro (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) this spring.

The extended family of the 2020 Arima Kinen heroine features Japanese MSW Fusaichi Airedale (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), in turn the dam of Japanese Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Fusaichi Richard (Jpn) (Kurofune), MSW Lailaps (Jpn) (French Deputy), and the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies third Beach Samba (Jpn) (Kurofune). Another half-sister to Fusaichi Airedale, Bellagio (Jpn) (Mejiro Ryan {Jpn}), saluted in the Listed Topaz S., while yet another half-sister was the dam of G3 Sapporo Nisai S. victor Admire Eikan (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}).
Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
ARIMA KINEN-G1, ¥574,860,000, Nakayama, 12-27, 3yo/up, 2500mT, 2:35.00, fm.
1–CHRONO GENESIS (JPN), 121, f, 4, Bago (Fr)
                1st Dam: Chronologist (Jpn), by Kurofune
                2nd Dam: In This Unison (Jpn), by Sunday Silence
                3rd Dam: Rustic Belle, by Mr. Prospector
O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); T-Takashi Saito;
J-Yuichi Kitamura. ¥303,420,000. Lifetime Record: 13-7-2-3.
*1/2 to Normcore (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), G1SW-Jpn & HK,
$5,619,785 Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: F.
2–Salacia (Jpn), 121, m, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Salomina (Ger),
by Lomitas (GB). O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥120,972,000.
3–Fierement (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Lune d’Or (Fr),
by Green Tune. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥75,486,000.
Margins: NK, NK, 2HF. Odds: 1.50, 73.90, 2.50.
Also Ran: Lucky Lilac (Jpn), World Premiere (Jpn)*, Curren Bouquetd’or (Jpn)*, Persian Knight (Jpn), Crescendo Love (Jpn), Ocea Great (Jpn), Loves Only You (Jpn), You Can Smile (Jpn), Kiseki (Jpn), Babbitt (Jpn), Authority (Jpn), Mozu Bello (Jpn). DNF: Blast Onepiece (Jpn).
Dead Heat for 5th: World Premiere (Jpn) & Curren Bouquetd’or (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Moment of 2020: Euchen Glen

While he isn’t one of the very best horses to have raced in Great Britain during 2020, Euchen Glen (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) has to be a contender for any Horse of the Year award. The star of Jim Goldie’s Scottish stable, Euchen Glen put up one of the best handicap performances of 2018 when taking the 19-runner John Smith’s Cup H. at York by two and a quarter lengths from Thundering Blue (Exchange Rate). Thundering Blue was giving Euchen Glen 1lb that day but, while Thundering Blue returned to York to win the G2 Sky Bet York S. on his next start and then to finish third to Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) and Poet’s Word (Ire) (Poet’s Voice {GB}) in the G1 Juddmonte International S. the following month before setting off on some rewarding overseas forays, Euchen Glen didn’t run again for nearly two years as he was found to have sustained a tendon injury in the race.

When Euchen Glen resumed in June this year, exactly 23 months after his John Smith’s Cup triumph, he was had a BHA rating of 107. He finished third to Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid) in a listed race at York that day, came home sound and has now raced nine more times. Following wins in the Old Borough Cup H. at Haydock, the G3 Cumberland Lodge S. at York and the G3 St Simon S. at Newbury, he is now rated 109 and, as an improving 7-year-old, he looks like he might be able to give his owner/breeder William Johnstone even more excitement in the years to come.

The discovery of damage to a horse’s tendon always sinks the spirits of owners and trainers. Too many horses never return to racing afterwards. Of those that do, many find that the problem reappears after only a handful of races and/or that they have lost the bulk of their previous ability. It speaks volumes for the skill of Jim Goldie not only that Euchen Glen was back racing merely two years later, but has progressed to become even better than he had been before disaster struck. It is hard to think of a horse in recent years who has made a more successful comeback from tendon trouble than the one which this very popular gelding has enjoyed in 2020.

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Omega Perfume Shoots For Tokyo Daishoten Three-Peat

Omega Perfume (Jpn) (Swept Overboard), arguably the best Japanese dirt horse not named Chrysoberyl (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}), has drawn nicely in gate seven of 16 as he goes for a third consecutive victory in Tuesday’s G1 Tokyo Daishoten, the final top-level event for 2020 and the lone race at group level held on the National Association of Racing (NAR) circuit.

The 5-year-old gray defeated Nonkono Yume (Jpn) (Twining) by a length in defence of his title 12 months ago and won the G3 Keian Hai at Kyoto first off the layoff this past May. He found Chrysoberyl a touch too strong when second to the champion dirt horse in the June 24 Teio Sho and Nov. 3 JBC Classic, but in that one’s absence, he is hands down the one to beat. Mirco Demuro rides.

Omega Perfume’s first Daishoten came as a 3-year-old and the sophomore set looks well represented here as well. The American-conceived Danon Pharaoh (Jpn) (American Pharoah) won the Japan Dirt Derby over this course and distance in July and bounced back from a fifth in the JBC Classic to take out the Listed Urawa Kinen (2000m) Nov. 25. T O Keynes (Jpn) (Sinister Minister) has won half of his six starts this season and exits a near-miss second in listed company at Hanshin Dec. 20. He should enjoy the run of the race from gate one.

Mutually (Jpn) (Pyro) has missed the top three only once from seven runs at Ohi and came from well back to finish a respectable fourth when last seen in the JBC Classic.

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Big Books and Breaking Records

The setting of new sire records in the modern era tends more than not to be a direct consequence of ever-greater book sizes. But they must still be acknowledged as legitimate breeding benchmarks as they will inevitably feature some outstanding performances. Just look at Mehmas (Ire)‘s tally of first-crop 2-year-old winners this term. Currently on 56 winners, he is already 17 clear of Iffraaj’s old record and in normal circumstances we might be entitled to expect his record to stand for many years. It may well do, but his strike rate of 53% winners to runners, achieved by quite a few other freshman sires down the years, suggests that the big total of winners is just as much a function of a big crop of runners. So, we cannot rule out another Mehmas-like total in the near future.

We could say the same about black-type records. Larger numbers of runners tend to be the reason why these records fall, but it’s not always so. Take the case of Frankel (GB), the sire who has posted the highest number of stakes winners (56) and group winners (41) of any European sire in the first five years of his career. Frankel has already eclipsed the previous records set by Dubawi after his first five years, which stood at 53 stakes winners and 35 group winners. Dubawi, in turn, took the record away from Galileo (Ire), who had amassed 51 stakes winners and 30 group winners after his first five years.

No one could accuse Frankel of relying on sheer numbers of runners to outpace Dubawi and Galileo. In fact, he has set the new standards with fewer runners than either of his major rivals. Hence he has posted superior strike rates–14.2% stakes and 10.4% group winners–than Dubawi and Galileo had at the same point in their careers. But Frankel really did get a head start on all his rivals by covering Europe’s best mares from the outset of his career, unlike either Galileo or Dubawi. As many as 62% of the mares that have produced Frankel’s runners so far can be classed as elite, which is in stark contrast to the corresponding percentages for the early runners by Dubawi (30%) and Galileo (35%). What’s certain is that Frankel will need to have very long innings at his current strike rate to overhaul Dubawi’s current mark of 171 stakes winners and, by my calculations, another 20-plus years to reach his sire’s tally of 298. It’s a sure sign of the times that Frankel not only has more group winners than Galileo after five years but also has nearly double the number of his grandsire Sadler’s Wells and has over three times what the great Northern Dancer had in their first five years.

Remarkably, there is yet another sire that can boast an even higher number of group winners in his first five years. Shadai’s Deep Impact (Jpn), the very definition of a big fish in a small pond, sired 47 group winners in his first five years with runners. The lack of serious competition among Japan’s stallion ranks possibly casts a shadow over such an achievement, as does the fact that Deep Impact’s percentage of group winners (7.4%) is not quite as good as the percentages posted by Frankel, Galileo or Dubawi all of whom average above 10% group winners to runners. To counter that argument, though, it must also be recognized that Japan has far fewer group races per head of population than Europe does. So, 47 group winners in five years is still a formidable achievement.

Not surprisingly, North America’s records for stakes winners and graded winners at the end of five years have also fallen quite recently. The phenomenal Uncle Mo set new standards at the end of 2019 with his 48 stakes winners and 26 graded winners. It’s hard to believe that there are now 19 sires with more stakes winners in their first five years than the great Danzig, but none will ever get close to his 21% strike rate.

Among sires who stood exclusively in America, few would have guessed that it wasn’t Speightstown, nor Distorted Humor, nor Scat Daddy that held the record prior to Uncle Mo, but the one and only Kitten’s Joy, a sire that perhaps still struggles for due recognition.

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