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Kitasan Black Captures Tenno Sho (Spring) Title in Nail-Biting Duel

Kitasan Black under Yutaka Take, dominated this year’s Tenno Sho (Spring) by four centimeters in a photo-finish to notch the title from last year’s third-place finisher Curren Mirotic. After his first G1 triumph in the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, 3,000m) last year, the Black Tide colt turned in a good third in the year-end Arima Kinen against top-graded older horses and also demonstrated a promising runner-up finish in his kick-off start of the season, the Sankei Osaka Hai (G2, 2,000m) last month. This becomes trainer Hisashi Shimizu’s second G1 title since claiming the Kikuka Sho with the colt last year. Yutaka Take celebrates his seventh Tenno Sho (Spring) title, the last with Deep Impact in 2006, and has reached a milestone of 70 JRA-G1 wins with this victory extending the extraordinary record he himself holds. His most previous G1 win was in the 2015 February Stakes with Copano Rickey.

Breaking from the inner-most stall, Kitasan Black sprinted well to dash to the front with Yamanin Voielactee pressing the pace from his outside and 13th favorite Curren Mirotic in close pursuit right behind the leader in third. The three front runners maintained their positions and steady pace in front of the stands and in the backstretch while the others sat tight waiting to make their bids. As the field approached the last turn and with Yamanin Voielactee fading from his early efforts, Yutaka Take drove his mount down the stretch and narrowly held off a determined challenge from the eight-year-old gelding of Heart’s Cry in a result of a 150m classic head-to-head duel, just by a whisker at the wire, for the bay colt’s second G1 victory.

“I was intending to settle him in a good position after the start. He ran an ideal race—he responded beautifully. He’s not the type with an enormous burst of speed, so we made an early bid. It was so close but I’m glad he never gave up and stretched the way he did,” commented Yutaka Take.

Settled right in the middle of the field and on the rails, third favorite Cheval Grand found a clear inner path at the final corner as the others fanned out and dug in strongly picking off Toho Jackal in the last 100 meters but was a far 1-1/4-length third behind the dueling two.

Sent off favorite from a wide stall and with hopes to extend his five-race winning streak, last year’s Arima Kinen winner Gold Actor traveled wide in seventh to eighth and, although making headway rounding the last turns improving position at one point to second, came up empty in the stretch and faded to 12th.

Other Horses:
4th: (11) Tanta Alegria—sat in mid-group, timed fastest over last 3 furlongs, 1/2 length short for 3rd
5th: (9) Toho Jackal—raced in mid-pack, advanced position after 3rd corner, sustained bid, weakened in last 100m
6th: (10) Albert—saved ground in mid-division, accelerated between horses but was too late
7th: (7) Fata Morgana—ran 3-wide in mid-pack, lacked needed kick at stretch
8th: (5) Fame Game—hugged rails near rear, angled wide, showed belated charge
9th: (6) Admire Deus—traveled along rails in 6th, ran gamely until 100m out, outrun thereafter
10th: (18) Reve Mistral—trailed in rear, passed tired rivals at stretch
11th: (14) Satono Noblesse—raced in mid-group, even paced
13th: (2) Twinkle—settled 2nd from rear, made headway at backstretch, never fired at stretch
14th: (16) Phantom Light—sat 3-wide toward rear, unable to reach contention
15th: (15) Sounds of Earth—stalked leaders in 4-5th, driven after 3rd corner but nothing left at stretch
16th: (13) Meiner Medalist—traveled 3-wide in 4-5th, dropped back before last corner
17th: (12) Yamanin Voielactee—chased winner in 2nd, ran out of steam around last corner
18th: (4) Tosen Reve—raced in mid-division, faded after turning last corner

THE 153RD TENNO SHO (SPRING) (G1)
4-year-old & up, 3,200 meters (about 16 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, May 1, 2016   Kyoto Racecourse   11th Race   Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 325,000,000 (about US$ 2,708,000 <US$1=¥120>)
4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2012
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. Kitasan Black (JPN), bay, colt, 4-year-old
   Black Tide / Sugar Heart (Sakura Bakushin O)

   Owner: Ono Shoji	Breeder: Yanagawa Bokujo
   Trainer: Hisashi Shimizu	Jockey: Yutaka Take
   10 Starts, 6 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 153,780,000	Career earnings: ¥ 536,577,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’15 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m)	1st
   	’15 St. Lite Kinen (G2, 2,200m)	1st
   	’15 Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m)	1st

   
   
2. Curren Mirotic (JPN), chestnut, gelding, 8-year-old
   Heart's Cry / Star Mie (A. P. Indy)

   Owner: Takashi Suzuki	Breeder: Northern Racing
   Trainer: Osamu Hirata	Jockey: Kenichi Ikezoe

   
   
3. Cheval Grand (JPN), chestnut, colt, 4-year-old
   Heart's Cry / Halwa Sweet (Machiavellian)

   Owner: Kazuhiro Sasaki	Breeder: Northern Racing
   Trainer: Yasuo Tomomichi	Jockey: Yuichi Fukunaga

* Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1)
The forerunner of the Tenno Sho was established in 1905 under the name “Emperor’s Cup”, in which the winner received the silver comport bestowed by the Emperor. The race was renamed to “Teishitsu Goshoten Kyoso” the following year. The race became biannual events—held at Hanshin in spring and at Tokyo in autumn—a year after the establishment of the Japan Racing Society (the forerunner of the Japan Racing Association) in 1936, and was officially named the “Tenno Sho” since the autumn of 1947. The Tenno Sho (Spring) became the ultimate competition to determine the champion stayer, having altered its distance to 3,200 meters in 1938 while its counterpart in autumn run over 2,000 meters is one of the biggest middle-distance event contested between the proven older horses with the addition of the three-year-old hopefuls. The venue of the spring version was also moved to Kyoto Racecourse in 1948.
The Tenno Sho (Spring) was designated as an international race in 2005 and welcomed Makybe Diva (GB, by Desert King) of Australia as the first foreign contender the same year. She finished seventh to Suzuka Mambo (JPN, by Sunday Silence) and subsequently went on to make history back home by winning her third consecutive Melbourne Cup (G1, 3,200m). Red Cadeaux (GB, Cadeaux Genereux) was the latest foreign contender of this race in 2014, running for the second time after finishing third in the 2013 edition, but was unable to perform over the firm turf and finished 14th. None took part this year.
Gold Ship (JPN, by Stay Gold) registered his sixth and final G1 triumph by capturing last year’s Tenno Sho (Spring) title before concluding his successful racing career at the end of the season.
The all-male line-up this year included the March 20 Hanshin Daishoten (G2, 3,000m) runners; winner Cheval Grand, marking his first grade-race win, runner-up by 2-1/2 lengths Tanta Alegria and 2014 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m) victor Toho Jackal who was seventh. Year-end Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m) winner and runner-up Gold Actor and Sounds of Earth, respectively, had both come off the March 26 Nikkei Sho (G2, 2,500m) finishing in the same order, where Albert, winner of the Stayers Stakes (G2, 3,600m) last December was fourth. Others major contenders at the gate were; last year’s Kikuka Sho champion Kitasan Black who was entered off the April 3 Sankei Osaka Hai (G2, 2,000m) where he finished a neck-second; the February 20 Diamond Stakes (G3, 3,400m) winner Twinkle and runner-up Fame Game who also showed a runner-up effort in last year’s Tenno Sho (Spring), and January 17 Nikkei Shinshun Hai (G2, 2,400m) victor Reve Mistral.
The race record holder, Deep Impact (JPN, by Sunday Silence), marked 3:13.4 in 2006.