Bond Girl (Jpn)

Cervinia (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) produced a dominant performance to justify favouritism in Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho at Kyoto Racecourse, the final leg of the fillies' Triple Crown in Japan. She became the fifth winner of the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) to follow up in this race in the last decade, with the others including the same owner's Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) when she won all three legs of the fillies' Triple Crown last year. Trained by Tetsuya Kimura for Sunday Racing, Cervinia's hopes of emulating Liberty Island fell...

As autumn tightens its grip on racing nations in the Northern Hemisphere, one of the year's final Classics takes place, Kyoto's G1 Shuka Sho (Japanese Fillies' St Leger) over 2000 metres. Handed ante-post favouritism is Sunday Racing's G1 Yushun Himba heroine Cervinia (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}). The 2023 G3 Artemis Stakes heroine finished well back in the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) field to rival Stellenbosch (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) in April, and the last time she was seen on a racecourse was in the May 19 Oaks, defeating that aforementioned...

A valiant second in the G1 Oka Sho last month, 2023 Japanese Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Ascoli Piceno (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) is looking for redemption in Tokyo's G1 NHK Mile Cup on Sunday having lost her unbeaten record. However, the 18-strong field boasts two champions and plenty of up-and-comers and her task is not straightforward. The mount of crack French reinsman Christophe Lemaire, the granddaughter of the high class G1 Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile heroine Listen (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) won both the G3 Niigata Nisai S. and the G1...

A fully subscribed field of 18 lines up for Sunday's G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies over 1600 metres, and the unbeaten Ascoli Piceno (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) carries the burden of favouritism for trainer Yoichi Kuroiwa in the ¥125,160,000 contest. Normally based at the Miho Training Centre, her trainer is taking every precaution to give his Sunday Racing-owned filly an edge and shipped the G3 Niigata Nisai S. victress to Ritto in the middle of November to reduce her stress from travel. "Thanks to moving her early, her appetite has stabilized...