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Deep Impact Colt, Deep Brillante Scores a Close Win to Achieve Father-and-Son Derby Title

Third pick Deep Brillante, who finished third in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m), managed to cross the wire a nose ahead of Fenomeno to a photo-finish victory in this year's Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and claimed his first G1 win (second grade-race win following his victory in the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3) last year) to become the seventh father-and-son Derby title holder (his sire, Deep Impact is the Triple Crown winner in 2005). This victory made his jockey Yasunari Iwata cry with joy over his first Derby title and made him the Triple Crown-winning jockey-he has won the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m) in 2004 with Delta Blues and the Satsuki Sho in 2009 and 2010 with Unrivaled and Victoire Pisa, respectively. He is currently ranked second in the jockey's standing with already three G1 titles this year and 15 overall. This win also gave his trainer Yoshito Yahagi his first Derby and classic title, and third G1 victory following two wins with Grand Prix Boss.

Runner-up was Fenomeno, winner of the Aoba Sho (G2, 2,400m), followed by seventh pick Tosen Homareboshi who won the Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m).

Deep Brillante, breaking smoothly from stall 10, settled by the rail in fourth, behind Zelos who rushed out to set the pace and Tosen Homareboshi who pressed the pace in second, followed by Clarente in third. Fifth pick Fenomeno traveled in mid-division around seventh position. Race favorite World Ace settled well off the pace in 11th with second pick and Satsuki Sho winner Gold Ship tagging right behind, as the frontrunner Zelos and Tosen Homareboshi accelerated through the backstretch, leaving the remaining field over 10 lengths behind.

With the field spreading out wide to make their bids after the last turn, Tosen Homareboshi inherited the lead with 400 meters to go, while Yasunari Iwata unleashed Deep Brillante for a late charge. Responding willingly to the jockey's urging, Deep Brillante overtook Tosen Homareboshi before the 200-meter pole and accelerated powerfully, barely managing to fend off the strong challenge by Fenomeno who closed in with a tenacious late charge from the outside route. Tosen Homareboshi, who pursued the winner persistently after being overtaken, was caught up by Fenomeno right before the wire and finished 3/4 length behind in third. The top two favorites, World Ace and Gold Ship exerted impressive late charges-both running the last three furlongs the fastest at 33.8 seconds-from further out, but was too late to reach the top three horses, finishing a neck and another neck behind Tosen Homareboshi in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Other Horses:
6th: (7) Cosmo Ozora-traveled in mid-pack, showed effort but lacked final kick.
7th: (12) Trip- tracked behind Deep Brillante, maintained effort, but fell back in final strides.
8th: (9) Etendard-raced inside World Ace, mild rally while unable to reach leaders.
9th: (5) Veiled Impact-hugged rail in latter half of field, showed good effort but belatedly.
10th: (17) Grandezza-ran 5th, weakened after a furlong pole.
11th: (4) Just a Way-near rear, gradually advanced, improved position at stretch.
12th: (16) Monstre-settled behind mid-field, even pace at stretch.
13th: (18) Alfredo-sat towards rear in mid-pack, circled out, lacked needed kick.
14th: (1) Spielberg-slow break, trailed in very rear, unable to reach contention.
15th: (13) Clarente-raced near Deep Brillante, no response at stretch.
16th: (3) Zelos-set pace, used up 400m out.
17th: (15) Brightline-traveled in mid-division, never a threat.
18th: (2) Historical-ran second from last, no factor.

THE 79TH TOKYO YUSHUN (Japanese Derby, G1)
3-year-old colts and fillies, 2,400 meters (about 12 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 27, 2012   Tokyo Racecourse   10th Race   Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money:¥ 313,000,000(about US$ 3,912,000 <US$1 = ¥80>)
3-y-o: 57 kg (about 126 lbs), 2 kg allowance for Fillies, 3 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2009
Safety Factor: 18 runners

1. Deep Brillante (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Love and Bubbles (Loup Sauvage)

   Breeder: Love and Bubbles Partnership	Owner: Sunday Racing Co.,Ltd.
   Trainer: Yoshito Yahagi	Jockey: Yasunari Iwata
   6 Starts, 3 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 187,310,000	Career earnings: ¥ 292,056,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’11 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3)	1st
   	’12 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1)	3rd

   
   
2. Fenomeno (JPN), dark bay or brown, colt, 3-year-old
   Stay Gold / De Laroche (Danehill)

   Breeder: Oiwake Farm	Owner: Sunday Racing Co.,Ltd.
   Trainer: Hirofumi Toda	Jockey: Masayoshi Ebina

   
   
3. Tosen Homareboshi (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Every Whisper (Northern Taste)

   Breeder: Northern Farm	Owner: Takaya Shimakawa
   Trainer: Yasutoshi Ikee	Jockey: Craig Williams

* Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (G1)
With the aim of establishing a systemized program that emulates the Triple Crown race held in Britain, and enhancing the quality of thoroughbreds in Japan, a 2,400-meter race for three-year-old thoroughbreds was established at the Tokyo Racecourse (then situated in Meguro ward) in 1932. While maintaining its status as one of the most popular JRA events with a record crowd of 196,517 in 1990, the race has evolved during its long history, offering high prize money exceeding 100 million yen for the winner since 1989, and opening its door to runners from regional public racing (NAR) since 1995 and foreign-bred participants since 2001. In 2010, the race entered a new phase as JRA reached the final stage of its internationalization project allowing foreign contestants in all its graded events.

Recent winners include Deep Impact (JPN, by Sunday Silence) who won all three of the Triple Crown for three-year-olds during 2005 and concluded his glorious racing career with 12 wins out of 14 starts including seven G1 titles. Vodka (JPN, by Tanino Gimlet), who became the first filly in 64 years to claim the derby title in 2007, retired early in 2010 with seven G1 wins and two Horse of the Year titles to her name. Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) followed Deep Impact as the seventh Triple Crown winner in JRA history and also bested the older G1 winners in the year-end Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m). His accomplishments last year earned him JRA's Horse of the Year title of 2011.

This year, Gold Ship, who captured the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m) by a convincing 2-1/2 margin, aimed to score another victory in this race for his chance of becoming a Triple Crown winner. Meanwhile, World Ace and Deep Brillante, who finished second and third in the first leg of the triple, respectively, also challenged to become the first among the Deep Impact colts to claim a classic G1 title for three-year-old colts.

Fenomeno and Spielberg came off victories in their respective derby trials, the Aoba Sho (G2, 2,400m) and the Principal Stakes (2,000m), while Historical, another Deep Impact colt, skipped the Satsuki Sho to ready himself for the prestigious classic race after winning the Mainichi Hai (G3, 1,800m) in March. Tosen Homareboshi who won the Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m) in record time and Alfredo, JRA's champion two-year-old of 2011 and runner-up in the NHK Mile Cup (G1, 1,600m) three weeks back, were also featured in the race.

The race record was set by King Kamehameha(JPN, by Kingmambo) in 2004 after covering the 2,400 meters in 2:23.3.