By Heather Anderson
Koji Maeda's Gendarme (Kitten's Joy) earned a new career high with a neck victory in Nakayama's 1200-metre G1 Sprinters S. on Sunday. The 7-year-old entire captured the race 20 years after his dam, Believe (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), who has thrown a trio of stakes winners including Gendarme.
Sent off at 19-1, the eighth choice in the field of 16, the dark bay argued the early pace, but drifted back to stalk from third on the backstretch as T M Spada (Jpn) (Red Spada {Jpn}) set a harried tempo under pressure from First Force (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}). Rolling up in between that pair on the corner, Gendarme cruised into contention and took up the baton shortly before the 200-metre mark. Quickly opening up two lengths, he kept finding as Win Marvel (Jpn) (I'll Have Another) and Naran Huleg (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) unleashed furious late rallies, but it was too little too late. Only three-quarters of a length separated the latter duo for second, and third, respectively.
“We had a good gate and were able to race smoothly as he handled the break smoothly, which was a challenge for him,” said Kiwamu Ogino, who was winning his first Group 1 race and second group race in his career. “The horse responded well in the stretch and I think he was able to show his strength. I was aware of the closing horses behind us but I just concentrated on letting the horse do his best. I'm really happy that I was able to win my first Group 1 title and I'm grateful for Gendarme.”
A winner at Group 2 level and second in the G1 Hopeful S. as a juvenile, Gendarme won the G3 Ocean S. three starts back over course-and-distance in March. Unplaced to Naran Huleg in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen later that month, he was 17th in the G3 Kitakyushu Kinen at Kokura on Aug. 21.
Pedigree Notes
Gendarme becomes the 16th Group 1 winner for his late sire Kitten's Joy with Sunday's victory. He is also the seventh and final foal, seventh runner, and sixth winner for the 2003 Japanese Champion Older Mare Believe. A winner of the 2002 edition of the Sprinter S. when it was run under listed conditions, she was also Group 2-placed and earned north of $3.8 million. Her first foal, the 2005 Kingmambo horse Faridat, was a dual listed winner in Japan, and he would ultimately place five times at group level, including a third in the G1 Yasuda Kinen. Believe hit black-type pay dirt once again with her fifth foal, the 2012 Medaglia d'Oro filly Fiducia, who won the Listed Shunrai S. and was second in the G3 Ibis Summer Dash.
From the family of 1986 U.S. Horse of the Year Lady's Secret (Secretariat), Gendarme is not the only descendant of third dam and multiple stakes winner Great Lady M. (Icecapade) to thrive in the Land of the Rising Sun, with no less than eight others earning a black-type win. Anchoring that octet is Japanese Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Circle Of Life (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}), who won the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. American champion Shamrock Rose (First Dude), a winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, is also related to Gendarme.
Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
SPRINTERS S.-G1, ¥328,800,000, Nakayama, 10-2, 3yo/up, 1200mT, 1:07.80, fm.
1–GENDARME, 126, h, 7, by Kitten's Joy
1st Dam: Believe (Jpn) (Ch. Older Mare-Jpn, MSW &
GSP-Jpn, $3,836,758), by Sunday Silence
2nd Dam: Great Christine, by Danzig
3rd Dam: Great Lady M., by Icecapade
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Koji Maeda; B-North Hills Co. Limited
(KY); T-Yasutoshi Ikee; J-Kiwamu Ogino. ¥173,360,000.
Lifetime Record: 29-7-1-3. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Win Marvel (Jpn), 121, c, 3, I'll Have Another–Cosmo
Marvelous (Jpn), by Fuji Kiseki (Jpn). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK
TYPE. O-Win Inc.; B-Cosmo View Farm (Jpn); ¥68,960,000.
3–Naran Huleg (Jpn), 126, h, 6, Gold Allure (Jpn)–Kelley's
Beauty (Jpn), by Brian's Time. O-Katsushige Muraki; B-Setsuko
Sakato (Jpn); ¥43,480,000.
Margins: NK, 3/4, NK. Odds: 19.30, 19.00, 17.60.
Also Ran: Diatonic (Jpn), Namura Clair (Jpn), Eighteen Girl (Jpn), Travesura (Jpn), Maria's Heart, Schnell Meister (Ger), First Force (Jpn), Vento Voce (Jpn), Meisho Mimosa (Jpn), Taisei Vision (Jpn), Mikki Yell (Jpn), T M Spada (Jpn), Loving Answer (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video.
G1 1200m Sprinters Stakes won by 7h 2. GENDARME 🇺🇸 (Kitten's Joy x Believe (Sunday Silence)) under Kiwamu Ogino in 1.07.8
GENDARME's first G1 win, prev G2, G3 + 3x Listed winner
2nd 3c 7. WIN MARVEL
3rd 6h 6. NARAN HULEG#JRApic.twitter.com/RWo2Ag70WD— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) October 2, 2022
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