Tokyo Yushun

While there is no Triple Crown at stake this season, Sunday's G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) over about a mile and seven furlongs (3000 metres) shapes an intriguing affair nonetheless, with the winners of the first two legs locking horns with--potentially--champion 3-year-old honours at stake. Shadai Farm's Sol Oriens (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) was late to begin his career, but was a quick study, winning his first three trips to the post and overcoming some immature habits to best Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}) by a clear margin in...

Carrot Farm's Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}), who fell victim to a stinging late rush from Sol Oriens (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in the G1 Satuski Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) Apr. 16, got first run on that favoured foe in the long Tokyo straight and found the wire a neck to the good, dashing any hope for a Triple Crown for 2023. Heart's Concerto (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) was a strong third at longshot odds, but the race was marred by the death of Carrot Farm's second betting choice Skilfing...

Equinox (Jpn) was fractionally unlucky to not reel in Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in the 2022 G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), falling just a neck short after sustaining a long rally from near the end of the field. The flashy colt got the last laugh when named Japan's Horse of the Year, and his sire Kitasan Black (Jpn) has every chance to sire the quinella in this year's renewal at the Fuchu Racecourse Sunday afternoon. The two runners may be more closely matched than it appears on paper....

We are poised midway between Japan's Oaks (Yushun Himba), which took place last Sunday, and Derby (Tokyo Yushun) this coming Sunday. What is not in doubt in the country that has led the way at so many international meetings in recent years, is that those two races over 2,400m are still very much targeted and revered by owners and breeders. In Japan, there is no shortage of horses bred specifically for that distance, or further.  In any country, it takes a special horse to win the Triple Crown. For the...

Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who bravely dead-heated for the victory with defending champion Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in this year's G1 Dubai Turf after making all the running, put on an even bolder show in Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo Racecourse. But after turning into the long straight with a double-digit advantage, he could not quite stave off favoured Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), who whistled home down the centre of the course to lead in the dying strides. It was a third Tenno Sho in...

by Alan Carasso The legendary Yutaka Take, already five times a winner of the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), gave out an uncharacteristically bullish vibe about the chances of reigning champion 2-year-old male Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) ahead of Sunday's second jewel of the Japanese Triple Crown over 2400 metres of the Fuchu course, about 20 miles due west of the city centre. And after a little less than a record-breaking 142 seconds on a warm and sunny warm afternoon and with a crowd on that looked and...

The reigning champion 2-year-old male in Japan, Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) will be out to avenge a pair of defeats this season in Sunday's middle jewel of the Japanese Triple Crown, the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) over 2400 metres. Perfect in three starts last season, including a half-length success in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. going the metric mile last December, Do Deuce just failed to reel in pace-pressing Ask Victor More (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the 10-furlong Group 2 event named in honour of...

Makoto Kaneko's Wagnerian (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}-Miss Encore {Jpn}, by King Kamehameha {Jpn}), the winner of the 2018 G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), has died age seven of organ failure, according to published reports. The winner of the G3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai S. at two at the end of a three-race, unbeaten 2-year-old campaign, Wagnerian won the Tokyo Yushun at third asking at three. He added the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai before the season was out, and though that would prove to be his last win, Wagnerian was third...

The once-beaten Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and reigning G1 Tokyo Yushun hero Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) each return to begin their autumn preps in Group 2 events Sunday in Japan. Carrot Racing's Lei Papale worked her way through the grades in under-the-radar fashion, missing the 3-year-old filly Classics while running the table in five starts, including a breakthrough success at group level as the lone female in a field of 11 in the G3 Challenge Cup at Hanshin last December. Connections could scarcely have selected a more...

Duramente (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}--Admire Groove {Jpn}, by Sunday Silence), Japan's champion 3-year-old colt of 2015 and the country's leading first-crop sire in 2020, passed away Tuesday after being struck by a case of acute colitis. He was just nine years old. Duramente, whose dam was Japan's champion older mare of 2004 and whose granddam Air Groove (Jpn) (Tony Bin {Ire}) took home Horse of the Year honours in 1997, never finished outside the top two in nine career starts, winning five of those, including the 2015 G1 Satsuki Sho...

Perfect in four career attempts to this point, including a facile success in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (2000mT) last month, Carrot Farm's Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) will jump a warm favourite to take his winning streak to five in Sunday's G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at the Fuchu Racecourse in the Japanese capitol. Blessed with excellent tactical speed, Efforia has managed to be a forward factor in each of his races to date, sitting fairly handy to the pace when besting Victipharus (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) by...

Fresh off a G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) victory Apr. 19, Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) will try to remain undefeated in the 2,400-meter G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at Tokyo Racecourse Sunday. Victorious in last season's 1,800-meter G3 Hai Nisai S. over this course in November, he punctuated his juvenile campaign with a win in the G1 Hopeful S. Dec. 28. The likely race favorite will be reunited with Yuichi Fukunaga. "He had a break at the farm after his last race and came back to the stable...