The G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies was won by fifth choice Arma Veloce (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) at Kyoto on Sunday. She defeated dual winner Vip Daisy (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}), who was stepping into stakes company for the first time, by 1 1/4 lengths.
Sent off at 9-1, the dark bay was positioned well in midfield as Mistress (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) led. Caught in between horses and well off the rail entering the final bend, the Teruo Ono silksbearer had quite a bit of work to do. Fanned out widest of all bar one rival entering the straight, she displayed agility to avoid the tiring May Day Ready (Tapit) who was bearing out to her inside.
Undeterred, Arma Veloce built up a full head of steam under Mirai Iwata, and bounded past all comers to win going away. Vip Daisy kept her company to her inside in the final furlong, but could not match strides with the winner and was 1 3/4 lengths ahead of the remainder. It was tight for third, with Telos La La (Jpn) (Siskin) defeating fourth-place finisher Shonan Xanadu (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) by a head.
“It feels great to be able to stand here as a Group 1 winner after six years of waiting,” said Iwata. “I had a feeling that the filly had a great potential ever since I started riding her, and today, she justified that with great finishing speed. I was too occupied in driving her to the finish so I didn't know until I had crossed the wire, but with no horse next to me then, I felt I had done it.”
Favoured Brown Ratchet (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) broke slowly and was farther back than was her wont. She eventually ran 16th after traffic trouble in the lane. May Day Ready, a Grade II winner and second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, ran 13th after sitting midfield early. She was the first international contender since the race was opened to foreign runners in 2010.
“Frankie [Dettori] said she was spinning her wheels trying to get a hold of the turf, so she may have wanted something
a little harder,” said trainer Joseph Lee. “It wasn't the result we wanted of course but we tried. We'll give her a little break now and then come back and hopefully run as well as she did before.”
Arma Veloce was a €30,000,000 (€189,230) foal purchase from the Northern Farm draft by Ono out of the JRHA Select Sale in 2022. A winner at first asking going 1800 metres in good ground at Sapporo on Aug. 4, the daughter of Rakuami (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) was second by a nose in soft going over that distance in the G3 Sapporo Nisai Stakes later that month. The Hanshin Juvenile fillies was her first start at 1600 metres, and her first time over firm turf.
Pedigree Notes
Shadai Stallion Station's Harbinger (GB) has now sired 29 stakes winners and 21 group winners after Arma Veloce's tally. She is his eighth winner at the highest table and is bred on the same cross as G1 Mile Championship heroine Namur (Jpn), who is also out of a Daiwa Major mare. Pensioned and rising 24 next month, that son of Sunday Silence has a dozen stakes winners to his credit. Sunday's winner is his fifth group winner and second at Group 1 level after the aforementioned Namur.
A winner at three and four, Rakuami was retired to the paddocks after 24 starts through the age of five. Arma Veloce is her fourth foal and third winner. She has a yearling colt by Rey De Oro (Jpn) as her latest progeny.
Listed-winning granddam Raise And Call (Jpn) (Sakura Bakushin O {Jpn}) foaled G2 Keio Hai Nisai Stakes hero, G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes runner-up and sire Monde Can Know (Jpn) (Kinshasa No Kiseki {Aus}), as well as the stakes-placed Lalibela (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). Third dam Morriston Belle (Herat) was a multiple stakes winner in North America and was third in the GIII Senorita Breeders' Cup Stakes and GIII Honeymoon Handicap. She sold for $85,000 to Katsumi Yoshida out of the Taylor Made draft at the 1994 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
Sunday, Kyoto, Japan
HANSHIN JUVENILE FILLIES-G1, ¥125,120,000, Kyoto, 12-8, 2yo, f, 1600mT, 1:33.40, fm.
1–ARMA VELOCE (JPN), 121, f, 2, Harbinger (GB)
1st Dam: Rakuami (Jpn), by Daiwa Major (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Raise and Call (Jpn), by Sakura Baushin O (Jpn)
3rd Dam: Morriston Belle, by Herat
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. 1ST GROUP 1 WIN.
(¥30,000,000 Wlg '22 JRHAJUL). O-Teruo Ono; B-Northern
Farm (Jpn); T-Hiroyuki Uemura; J-Mirai Iwata; ¥66,274,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, ¥85,600,000. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Vip Daisy (Jpn), 121, f, 2, Satono Diamond (Jpn)–Rose Beryl
(Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST
GROUP BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (¥52,000,000
Ylg '23 JRHAJUL). O-Kunihide Suzuki; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥26,364,000.
3–Teleos La La (Jpn), 121, f, 2, Siskin–Chant de l'Ange (Jpn), by
Manhattan Café (Jpn). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP 1
BLACK TYPE. (¥48,000,000 Ylg '23 JRHAJUL). O-Mieko Suzuki;
B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥16,182,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1 3/4. HD. Odds: 9.50, 17.30, 16.30.
Also Ran: Shonan Xanadu (Jpn), Sourire Mignon (Jpn), Caught Alliciant (Jpn), Meant to Be (Jpn), Mistress (Jpn), Mozu Nana Star (Jpn), Jardinner (Jpn), Run for Vow (Jpn), Lily Field (Jpn), May Day Lady, Kurino Mei (Jpn), June Eos, Brown Ratchet (Jpn), Dantsu Elan (Jpn), Kawakita Mana Lea (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video.
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