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Sixth Pick Ange Desir Outruns Race Favorite in This Year's JBC Ladies' Classic

Sixth pick Ange Desir won out a fierce duel with odds on favorite Rabbit Run to claim this year’s JBC Ladies’ Classic. Marking a runner-up effort and a win in her two-year-old starts on turf, the Deep Impact filly was switched to dirt from her sixth career start in April of her three-year-old season. Her five wins out of 12 starts over dirt are all between 1,600m and 2,100m distances including the 2017 Sparking Lady Cup, the 2018 Empress Hai and the 2018 Marine Cup. This win was the first JBC Ladies' Classic title for both trainer Mitsugu Kon and jockey Norihiro Yokoyama, while Yokoyama has won the JBC Sprint with Nishiken Mononofu in 2017.

Quick out of gate 16, Ange Desir hugged the rails in fifth inside race favorite Rabbit Run along the backstretch. The two fillies, still racing side by side, advanced forward turning the final corners wide, took the front entering the homestretch and launched a fierce rally down the lane with Ange Desir passing the wire a head in front.

“We were able to race in good position and the filly ran really well right up to the end. I’m glad we were able to win out the duel. She was in good form coming into the race and she felt comfortable from the beginning. She’s a great horse and is improving with every race,” commented Norihiro Yokoyama.

Other Horses:
4th: (3) Queen Mambo—eased back to 9th, made headway approaching last corners, chased top two, overtaken in final strides for fourth
5th: (13) Andes Queen—raced wide in mid-division, kicked into gear rounding final turn, finished willingly
6th: (8) Viscaria—was off slow, sat near rear, shifted out at 4th corner, 2nd fastest in last 3 furlongs
7th: (2) Fontana Liri—raced on rails in mid-pack, mustered mild bid, even paced
8th: (1) Iron Tailor—broke sharply, set pace, surrendered lead before final turn, was used up
9th: (6) Jewel Queen—took ground-saving trip in mid-pack, stayed on rails, mild response in stretch
10th: (10) Princia Cometa—prominent behind pace early, met traffic into straight, lost momentum
11th: (12) Blanche Coeur—raced 3-wide 9th from front, dropped back to 2nd from last through last corners, improved position in lane
12th: (9) Salsa Dione—disputed lead from a sharp break, chased pace in third, second rounding final turn, came up empty
13th: (11) Rieno Tesoro—raced lower mid-field, checked approaching final turn failed to rally
14th: (5) Rinehart—hugged rails in mid-pack, never fired at stretch
15th: (14) Dear Maruko—trailed in rear, no factor throughout
16th: (7) Kawakita Enka—chased leader in 2nd, outrun early

THE 8TH JBC LADIES’ CLASSIC
3-year-old & up, Fillies & Mares, 1,800 meters (about 9 furlongs), dirt, right-handed
Sunday, November 4, 2018    Kyoto Racecourse       12th Race        Post time: 16:25
Total prize money: ¥ 108,500,000 (about US$ 987,000 <US$1=¥110>)
3-y-o: 53kg (about 117 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 55kg (about 121 lbs),
2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2015
Safety factor: 16 runners

1. 1.Ange Desir (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 4-year-old
   Deep Impact / Tickle Pink (French Deputy)
   

   Owner: Koji Yasuhara	Breeder: Tsuji Bokujo
   Trainer: Mitsugu Kon	Jockey: Norihiro Yokoyama
   17 Starts, 6 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 53,402,000	Career earnings: ¥ 191,522,000

   
   
2. 2.Rabbit Run (USA), chestnut, filly, 4-year-old
   Tapit / Amelia (Dixieland Band)
   

   Owner: Kazuko Yoshida	Breeder: Alexander Groves Matz, LLC
   Trainer: Kazuya Nakatake	Jockey: Mirco Demuro

   
   
3. 3.Fashionista (JPN), bay, filly, 4-year-old
   Street Sense / Aquarist (Coronado’s Quest)
   

   Owner: Godolphin	Breeder: Darley Japan K. K
   Trainer: Takayuki Yasuda	Jockey: Takuya Ono

* JBC LADIES’ CLASSIC (L)
The JBC Ladies’ Classic is the only distaff championship on dirt in Japan since there is no graded dirt race limited to fillies and mares held by the JRA. 2014 champion Sambista subsequently won the Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m) the following year and became the first mare to win JRA’s dirt G1 title. Other past winners are:

This year’s runners coming off the trial Ladies’ Prelude (dirt, 1,800m; Oct.11) were winner Princia Cometa who claimed her second major title following the 2017 Queen Sho (dirt, 1,600m), Ange Desir (4th) who won three major titles including this year’s Empress Hai (dirt, 2,100m), Queen Mambo (7th) who registered wins in the Kanto Oaks (dirt, 2,100m) and the Ladies’ Prelude last year and Rieno Tesoro (9th), the 2016 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun (dirt, 1,600m) winner and the 2017 NHK Mile Cup (G1, 1,600m) runner-up while Blanche Coeur (2nd), Jewel Queen (6th), Dear Maruko (8th) and Rinehart (12th) were among the field as well. The race also included the Breeders’ Gold Cup (dirt, 2,000m; Aug.16) victor and the 2017 Rose Stakes (G2, 1,800m) Rabbit Run, Salsa Dione who came off a win in the BSN Sho (dirt, 1,800m; Aug.25) and this year’s Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1,800m) winner Kawakita Enka.