G1 Mile Championship

The 41st running of the G1 Mile Championship was a salty one, and when the dust settled, it was Soul Rush (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) who came out on top to claim his first victory at the highest level in the autumn highlight at Kyoto on Sunday. The fourth betting choice faced a line up which included defending champion Namur (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), who had last been seen in a runner-up effort in the G1 Yasuda Kinen, as well as European multiple Group 1 winner Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Soul...

In 2023, Namur (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) parlayed a victory in the G2 Fuji Stakes en route to a neck defeat of Soul Rush (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) in the G1 Mile Championship. This term, the top Japanese pair face a tougher ask, as Europe's Champion Miler elect Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) attempts to become the first international winner of the race since it was opened to worldwide participation in 1998. Trained by Tomokazu Takano, Namur will have pilot Cristian Demuro at the controls and they will break from stall four....

G1 Racing's Serifos (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) steamed home impressively from near the back of the pack to take the G1 Mile Championship at Hanshin on Sunday. Sent off at 8-1, he is the first 3-year-old colt to defeat his elders in the race since Stelvio (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in 2018. Caught in midfield Serifos relaxed beautifully under Damian Lane as Piece Of Eight (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) raced hard on the steel while shadowed by Falconia (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), with that duo swapping positions in the backstretch....

Japanese champion Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) signed off her career with her second consecutive G1 Mile Championship victory, her sixth top-level score, at Hanshin on Sunday. She is the first horse to win back-to-back Mile Championships since Daiwa Major (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) in 2006/07. Tabbed the heavy favourite at 70 cents on the dollar, the 5-year-old mare was content to race near the rear of the field as Ho O Amazon (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) sped through fractions of :23.70 and :47.60. Jockey Christophe Lemaire had a ton...

Although she left it until late, Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) displayed a scintillating turn of foot once she found running room to rush by her rivals and claim the G1 Mile Championship at Hanshin on Sunday. It was the fourth Group 1 win for the daughter of Breeders' Cup heroine Tapitsfly and she is the eighth horse-after the runner-up Indy Champ (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn})--to claim both mile events in Japan having earlier scored in the G1 Yasuda Kinen. The first filly or mare to claim the Mile...

A diverse group of 17 runners Sunday in Hanshin's G1 Mile Championship, the second leg of the Japan Autumn International Series. Headlining the 1,600-meter test, Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) accounted for a pair of Goup 1 wins in her two latest starts--the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo in June followed by Nakayama's Sprinters S. Oct. 4. The daughter of Grade I-winning Tapitsfly (Tapit) won last season's G1 Oka Sho over the same course and distance of this weekend's Mile. "She was in great condition for the Sprinters S., and...