Successful when unveiled at Chukyo in a newcomers' heat in June, Serifos (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) made it two on the bounce with a first black-type and group score in the G3 Niigata Nisai S. on Sunday.
Sent off as the 7-2 third choice, the Oiwake Farm-bred took advantage of his rail draw and saved every inch of ground against the fence in midpack through the early going as Otaru Ever (Jpn) (Leontes {Jpn}) showed the way. After a half in :48.50, he was sitting sixth as that rival continued to lead.
Dashing up the rail with three furlongs remaining down the long Niigata straight, he gradually subdued Otaru Ever, and appeared to be home free. The 9-5 favourite, Arrival (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), made a late run, but finished 1 1/4 lengths back on the line. It was three-quarters of a length back to Otaru Ever in third.
Pedigree Notes
By one of the increasingly rare active sire sons of Sunday Silence, Serifos is the 38th black-type winner and 18th group winner for the 2004 Japanese 2000 Guineas hero Daiwa Major, who stood at Shadai Stallion Station this season for a private fee. Serifos's broodmare sire Le Havre already has a pair of black-type winners in that sphere, this season's progressive G1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) and Des Ailes (Jpn), a Japanese Group 2 victress who is by the late Deep Impact (Jpn) (Sunday Silence).
The winner is the second foal and scorer for his dam, who won the Listed Prix Maurice Zilber at four and placed in the G3 Prix Bertrand du Breuil Longines at five. Serifos is the last reported foal for Sea Front, who was purchased for €135,000 out of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale in 2016 and sent to Japan.
Although Sea Front is the only black-type winner for her unraced dam, Freedom Herself (Fr) (Freedom Cry {GB}), the latter's half-sister Mediation (Ire) (Caerleon) won at the listed level in Ireland and placed at the group level there and Stateside. As a broodmare, Mediation has foaled GI Pacific Classic S. hero Go Between (Point Given), stakes winner Go Around (Medaglia d'Oro), the G2 Cherry Hinton S. third Extreme Beauty (Rahy) and the winning dam of GI Chandelier S. and GI Starlet S. third K P Dreamin (Union Rags).
Sunday, Niigata, Japan
NIIGATA NISAI S.-G3, ¥59,220,000, Niigata, 8-29, 2yo, 1600mT, 1:33.80, fm.
1–SERIFOS (JPN), 119, c, 2, Daiwa Major (Jpn)
1st Dam: Sea Front (Fr) (SW & GSP-Fr, $217,499),
by Le Havre (Ire)
2nd Dam: Freedom Herself (Fr), by Freedom Cry (GB)
3rd Dam: Redeem Herself (Ire), by General Assembly
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. O-G1 Racing;
B-Oiwake Farm (Jpn); T-Mitsumasa Nakauchida; J-Yuga
Kawada. ¥31,434,000. Lifetime: 2-2-0-0. Werk Nick Rating:
D+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Arrival (Jpn), 119, c, 2, Harbinger (GB)–Culminar (Jpn), by
Deep Impact (Jpn). O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥12,124,000.
3–Otaru Ever (Jpn), 119, c, 2, Leontes (Jpn)–Rouge Coeur (Aus),
by Redoute's Choice (Aus). (¥41,000,000 Ylg '20 JRHAJUL).
O-Ikuko Sumitani; B-Lake Villa Farm (Jpn); ¥7,862,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 3/4, NK. Odds: 3.50, 1.90, 3.00.
Also Ran: Comstock Lode (Jpn), Stunning Rose (Jpn), Kimiwa Queen (Jpn), Tagano Finale (Jpn), Grand Line (Jpn), Win Pyxis (Jpn), Crowned Magic (Jpn), Cradle (Jpn), Said (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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