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Race Favorite Sinhalite Powers to Victory in Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)

Race favorite Sinhalite showed her strength in dominating the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), claiming her first G1 title and second grade-race victory. After three wins in a row from her two-year-old debut in October, she was denied the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1) title by a mere 2-centimeter margin but proved herself as an elite runner of her generation. Tranier Sei Ishizaka won his 14th career JRA-G1 title—the last victory at this level was the 2016 February Stakes with Moanin—and it was his second Yushun Himba title after winning the race with Gentildonna in 2012. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe, whose recent G1 victory was with Shonan Pandora in the 2015 Japan Cup, registered his 22nd career JRA-G1 victory with his second Yushun Himba title after partnering Tall Poppy to victory in this race in 2008.

Sinhalite was allowed to settle well off the pace near the rails, traveling fifth from last along the far stretch behind a moderate pace set by Dantsu Pendant. Slightly shifted out coming into the homestretch, Sinhalite had to be patient while being surrounded by horses up to the top of the hill but did not fail to seize the moment to split horses from where she quickly gained on the leaders then overtaking Biche for a neck victory.

“We missed a beat coming out of the gate and had to race further back than intended in the early stages, but we were able to recover some ground along the way. I was instructed by the trainer to save as much ground as possible since we had a good chance in the race from a good inside draw, so I didn’t attempt to go wide, squeezing our way between horses instead. Once escaping the crowd, she responded really well and switched into gear,” commented Kenichi Ikezoe.

Second pick Cecchino raced well off the pace in mid-field, swung wide into the straight and came with impressive speed to join Sinhalite in their bid for the lead but had more ground to cover along the outside route and was a neck short for second.

Other Horses:
4th: (16) Jealousy—trailed in rear, swung wide, quickened and timed 3rd fastest over last 3 furlongs
5th: (5) Peptide Supple—raced in mid-division, wide into stretch, showed effort
6th: (12) Frontier Queen—hugged rails 3rd from rear, accelerated between horses, weakened in final strides
7th: (15) Red Avancer—traveled 3-wide in mid-pack, quickened until 100m out, then weakened
8th: (18) Daiwa Dresser—settled toward rear, circled wide, showed belated charge at stretch
9th: (8) Denko Ange—positioned in mid-group, angled wide, bumped at 200m marker, lost momentum
10th: (11) Angel Face—chased leader in 2nd, led at top of stretch, weakened in last 100m
11th: (4) At the Seaside—ran along rails in mid-division, met traffic 300m out, even paced thereafter
12th: (2) Awake—saved ground around 7th, lacked needed kick at stretch
13th: (17) Rottenmeier—traveled near pace in 4th, sustained bid until furlong pole, dropped back
14th: (9) Win Fabulous—raced in 6th, ran willingly but met traffic 300m out, lost momentum
15th: (6) Admire Lead—sat 2nd from rear, unable to reach contention
16th: (1) From My Heart—hugged rails in 5th, failed to respond at stretch
17th: (7) Gekkako—chased leaders in 3rd, ran out of steam after final turn
18th: (10) Dantsu Pendant—set moderate pace, faded after 400m pole

THE 77TH YUSHUN HIMBA (JAPANESE OAKS, G1)
3-year-old Fillies, 2,400 meters (about 12 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 22, 2016      Tokyo Racecourse        11th Race           Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 216,000,000 (about US$ 1,800,000 <US$1=¥120>)
3-y-o: 55 kg (about 121 lbs), 3 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2013
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. Sinhalite (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Singhalese (Singspiel)

   Owner: U. Carrot Farm	Breeder: Northern Racing
   Trainer: Sei Ishizaka	Jockey: Kenichi Ikezoe
   5 Starts, 4 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 126,796,000	Career earnings: ¥ 233,334,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’16 Tulip Sho (G3, 1,600m)	1st
   	’16 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m)	2nd

   
   
2. Cecchino (JPN), chestnut, filly, 3-year-old
   King Kamehameha / Happy Path (Sunday Silence)

   Owner: Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Kazuo Fujisawa	Jockey: Keita Tosaki

   
   
3. Biche (JPN), bay, filly, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Barancella (Acatenango)

   Owner: Yasushi Kubota	Breeder: Northern Racing
   Trainer: Yuichi Shikato	Jockey: Mirco Demuro

* Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)(G1)
The Japanese version of the prestigious British Oaks, the Yushun Himba was established in 1938 and contested among runners limited to home-bred three-year-old fillies. Initially called the “Hanshin Yushun Himba” and held during the fall season at Hanshin Racecourse, the race acquired its current status as the Japanese Oaks upon changing its venue to Tokyo Racecourse in 1946. The race was also shifted to the spring season, being the richest in prize money and longest in distance among the current JRA races limited to fillies/mares. The Yushun Himba opened its door to foreign-bred runners in 2003 and acquired international G1 status in 2010.
While the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m) serves in gauging the speed potentials in the future broodmares, the Yushun Himba is a championship race in which to discover the added quality of stamina as well as speed, and winners of this race are highly rated as broodmares upon retirement to stud. Recent winners included fillies/mares that became high profile G1 winners. 2009 Oaks winner, Buena Vista (JPN, by Special Week) captured a total of six G1 titles and JRA’s Horse of the Year of 2010 before her retirement in the end of 2011, while 2012 winner Gentildonna (JPN, by Deep Impact), who holds the race record of 2:23.6, went on to capture the Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m) that autumn to become the fourth filly to sweep the Triple Crown for fillies. The star filly later went on to claim four G1 titles and was crowned Horse of the Year twice in 2012 and 2014. Last year’s victor Mikki Queen (JPN, by Deep Impact) subsequently won the Shuka Sho and named Best Three-Year-Old Filly of the 2015 season.
Jeweler (JPN, by Victoire Pisa), who claimed a narrow victory in the Oka Sho on April 10, was ruled out of her Oaks bid with a minor fracture in her near-fore pastern, leaving runner-up Sinhalite and third-place finisher At the Seaside the chance to aim for the second leg of the G1 triple for fillies. 2015 Artemis Stakes (G3, 1,600m) winner Denko Ange and 2015 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1,600m) runner-up Win Fabulous also ran in the Yushun Himba, hoping to bounce back from their disappointing 10th and 12th, respectively, in the Oka Sho.
Qualifying to run from their Oaks trial starts were; Cecchino and Awake who finished first and third in the Flora Stakes (G2, 2,000m) on April 24. Jealousy and From My Heart also came off their first and second-place finishes, in the Sweet Pea Stakes (1,800m), another Yushun Himba trial, on May 1. Other notable runners included Angel Face who won the Flower Cup (G3, 1,800m) on March 21 and Rottenmeier who claimed the Wasurenagusa Sho (2,000m) on April 10.