Orfevre Gains Second Group Winner

Dual G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe runner-up and Shadai Stallion Station resident Orfevre (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) celebrated his second group winner with his first crop of juveniles, when his Lucky Lilac (Jpn) saluted by three-quarters of a length in the 1600m G3 Artemis S. at Tokyo Saturday to remain undefeated. She follows on the heels of fellow unbeaten filly  Rock This Town (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), who won the 1800-metre G3 Sapporo Nisai S. in early September.

Second-choice on the board at 4-1, the chestnut was away alertly and raced in a slightly rank fourth well off the fence and several lengths behind frontrunner Sayakachan (Jpn) (Reach the Crown {Jpn}) through 600 metres in :35.4. Fanned three deep turning into the stretch, Lucky Lilac was given some right-handers by Syu Ishibashi to produce her best effort and promptly let down in determined fashion while taking dead aim on the leader. She edged past that rival in the final 100 metres en route to victory, but the latter held firm for second place honours, a length to the good of Lathyros (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who had stalked against the fence in third for much of the running.

Pedigree Notes…

Lucky Lilac graduated on debut in a Niigata 1600-metre newcomer race on Aug. 20 and is out of GI Ashland S. heroine Lilacs and Lace, herself one of four Grade I winners by Flower Alley. She has a yearling colt by Deep Impact (Jpn) and was purchased privately and sent to Japan after her run in the 2011 GI Kentucky Oaks. Lilacs and Lace is not the first of her female line to make her mark in Japan as a broodmare, as her dam was a Seattle Slew half-sister to Japanese champion older mare Diamond Biko (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), as well as MGSW & G1SP Isle de France (Nureyev). The latter counts Japanese champion sprinter/miler and MG1SW Mikki Isle (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) among her descendants. Lucky Lilac's third dam is MG1SW Stella Madrid (Alydar), herself out of champion U.S. sprinter My Juliet (Gallant Romeo). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

Saturday, Tokyo, Japan
ARTEMIS S.-G3, ¥56,360,000 (US$495,784/£377,636/€427,055), Tokyo, 10-28, 2yo, f, 1600mT, 1:34.90, fm.
1–LUCKY LILAC (JPN), 119, f, 2, by Orfevre (Jpn)
                1st Dam: Lilacs and Lace (GISW-US, $350,300), by Flower Alley
                2nd Dam: Refinement, by Seattle Slew
                3rd Dam: Stella Madrid, by Alydar
FIRST BLACK-TYPE WIN. FIRST GROUP WIN. O-Sunday Racing;
B-Northern Farm (Jpn); T-Mikio Matsunaga; J-Syu Ishibashi;
¥29,532,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0. Werk Nick Rating: C+.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. *2nd SW & 2nd
GSW for her freshman sire (by Stay Gold {Jpn}).
2–Sayakachan (Jpn), 119, f, 2, Reach the Crown (Jpn)–Apple
Tosho (Jpn), by Amber Shadai (Jpn). O-Takao Seya; B-Mitsuo
Tanagawa (Jpn); ¥12,152,000.
3–Lathyros (Jpn), 119, f, 2, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Sweet Hearth, by
Touch Gold. O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shiraoi Farm (Jpn);
¥7,376,000.
Margins: 3/4, 1, 3/4; Odds: 3.40, 108.00, 10.40.
Also Ran: Trois Etoiles (Jpn), Scarlet Color (Jpn), Tosen Bless (Jpn), High Heel (Jpn), Danon Grace (Jpn), Miss Mamma Mia (Jpn), Uranus Charm (Jpn), Tide Over (Jpn), Sister Flag (Jpn), Grande Pirouette (Jpn), Cinderella Make (Jpn), Passe (Jpn).
Click for the Racing Post chart. JRA Video.