The highly regarded Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), favoured at 5-2 in his stakes debut, ran to the money and earned his first black-type rosette in the G3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai S. at Tokyo on Saturday. The grandson of American champion 2-year-old filly Folklore (Tiznow) closed from fifth in the 1800-metre contest and drew off to win by five lengths in a new course record of 1:44.50 over the firm ground. He defeated paternal half-brothers Al Jannah (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), with Rhinebeck (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in third another four lengths behind.
Allowed plenty of time to settle once the gates flew, the bay was unhurried early in midpack as Meiner Destello (Jpn) (Eishin Flash {Jpn}) hustled out to a one-length lead on his rivals. That foe enjoyed his advantage until coming under pressure three furlongs from home, while Contrail was cruising ominously into contention under his own power. Asked to go by Ryan Moore leaving the bend, he accelerated impressively out in the middle of the course, seized command 400 metres from the line and dominated from there, crossing the wire with ears pricked.
Pedigree Notes
He is one of 144 black-type winners for his late sire. The Sept. 15 Hanshin newcomers' scorer is the third winner and third foal out of his dam, the placed Rhodochrosite. Folklore, a winner of both the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the GI Matron S., is a half-sister to SW & GSP Divided Attention (A.P. Indy), as well GSP Delightful Quality (Elusive Quality).
Saturday, Tokyo, Japan
TOKYO SPORTS HAI NISAI S.-G3, ¥63,030,000 (US$579,339/£448,957/€524,136), Tokyo, 11-16, 2yo, 1800mT, 1:44.50 (NCR), fm.
1–CONTRAIL (JPN), 121, c, 2, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Rhodochrosite, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Folklore, by Tiznow
3rd Dam: Contrive, by Storm Cat
*1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. O-Shinji Maeda;
B-North Hills (Jpn); T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Ryan Moore.
¥33,301,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, ¥40,301,000. Werk
Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Al Jannah (Jpn), 121, c, 2, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Condo
Commando, by Tiz Wonderful. (¥170,000,000 Wlg '17
JRHAJUL). O-Katsumi Yoshida; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥13,086,000.
3–Rhinebeck (Jpn), 121, c, 2, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Apapane (Jpn),
by King Kamehameha (Jpn). O-Makoto Kaneko Holdings;
B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥8,343,000.
Margins: 5, 4, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.50, 2.00, 3.60.
Also Ran: Aurora Flash (Ire), Liguge (Jpn), Meiner Destello (Jpn), Zenno Justa (Jpn), Soul Train (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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