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Unbeaten Race Favorite Saturnalia Claims This Year’s Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) Title

Overwhelming race favorite Saturnalia won this year’s Satsuki Sho to register two consecutive G1 victories following the year-end Hopeful Stakes. Unbeaten in all his for starts since his debut last year, the son of Lord Kanaloa and out of Cesario became the 17th unbeaten colt to claim the Satsuki Sho since Deep Impact in 2005. Trainer Katsuhiko Sumii claimed his 25th JRA-G1 title following his win in the 2017 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Kiseki and his second Satsuki Sho victory following his win with Victoire Pisa in 2010. This win marked jockey Christophe Lemaire’s 24th JRA-G1 win following the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) title with Gran Alegria just last week. He became the ninth jockey in JRA history to have won all five classic titles for three-year-old colts and fillies.

Breaking smoothly from stall 12, Saturnalia settled in mid-division, around ninth from Lance of Puraana who set a moderate pace. Traveling wide behind Velox, the son of Lord Kanaloa closed the gap between the frontrunners turning the last two corners and surged out behind Velox after entering the lane. With four horses rallying to take the front at the 200-meter pole, Saturnalia, Velox and Danon Kingly continued to maintain strong speed in the last 100 meters to launch a fierce rally up to the wire with Saturnalia managing to come home a head in front.

“I rode him for the first time in the race but I had confidence in him. He seemed a bit nervous and drifted towards the inside when we took command before the crowd. His condition was not 100% as it was his first start this year but he should be in top condition going into the Japanese Derby,” commented Christophe Lemaire.

Fourth choice Velox traveled two wide in striking position, around 5-6th from the front. The son of Just a Way was the first to enter the lane and while falling back to third in the three-horse rally, found another gear in his last strides to beat Danon Kingly by a nose for second place.

Other Horses:
4th: (1) Admire Mars—raced towards front, switched to outside for clear path, no match for top 3 finishers
5th: (6) Courageux Guerrier—traveled inside winner, quickened in last 200m, belatedly
6th: (16) Tagano Diamante—settled 2nd from rear, advanced after 3rd corner, showed belated charge
7th: (11) Last Draft—ran behind winner, angled out, even paced at stretch
8th: (17) Admire Justa—sat 3rd from rear along rails, accelerated between horses, belatedly
9th: (14) Daddy’s Mind—stalked leader in 2nd, led briefly at early stretch, weakened in last 200m
10th: (18) Naimama—positioned towards rear, circled wide, passed tired rivals
11th: (13) Breaking Dawn—saved ground in mid-group, met traffic 200m out, lost momentum
12th: (10) Schwarz Riese—took economic trip in mid-division, lacked needed kick
13th: (3) Fantasist—hugged rails in mid-pack, never fired at stretch
14th: (2) Satono Lux—raced 3-wide in mid-group, found little room at early stretch, never threatened
15th: (9) Meisho Tengen—trailed in rear, unable to reach contention
16th: (15) Kurino Gaudi—chased leaders in 3rd, ran out of steam at stretch
17th: (8) Nishino Daisy—traveled 3-wide in mid-division, outrun after 3rd corner
18th: (5) Lance of Puraana—set pace, faded after final corner

THE 79TH SATSUKI SHO (JAPANESE 2000 GUINEAS, G1)
3-year-old Colts & Fillies, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 14, 2019      Nakayama Racecourse       11th Race      Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 238,600,000 (about US$ 2,074,800 <US$1=¥115>)
3-y-o: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2016
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. 1.Saturnalia (JPN), dark bay or brown, colt, 3-year-old
   Lord Kanaloa / Cesario (Special Week)
   

   4 Starts, 4 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 133,016,000	Career earnings: ¥ 227,157,000
   Owner: U. Carrot Farm	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Katsuhiko Sumii	Jockey: Christophe Lemaire

   
   
2. 2.Velox (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Just a Way / Selkis (Monsun)
   

   Owner: Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Mitsumasa Nakauchida	Jockey: Yuga Kawada

   
   
3. 3.Danon Kingly (JPN), dark bay or brown, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / My Goodness (Storm Cat)
   

   Owner: Danox Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Mishima Bokujo
   Trainer: Kiyoshi Hagiwara	Jockey: Keita Tosaki

* Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (G1)

The Satsuki Sho, which is the first of the three legs of JRA’s Triple Crown Classics for three-year-olds including the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m), is comparable to British Two Thousand Guineas. The “Yokohama Norinsho Shoten Yonsai Yobiuma”, the precursor of the Satsuki Sho, was first run over 1,850 meters at Yokohama Racecourse in 1939 then moved its venue to Tokyo Racecourse four years later before given its current name and shifted again to Nakayama Racecourse in 1949—the distance was also altered to 2,000 meters in the following year.
Seven of the past Satsuki Sho champions since 2005 subsequently received the JRA Best Three-Year-Old Colt Award, in recognition of their outstanding performances throughout the year—Deep Impact (JPN, Sunday Silence) in 2005, Meisho Samson (JPN, by Opera House) in 2006, Victoire Pisa (JPN, by Neo Universe) in 2010, Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) in 2011, Gold Ship (JPN, by Stay Gold) in 2012, Isla Bonita (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki) in 2014 and Duramente (JPN, by King Kamehameha) in 2015. Triple Crown winners Deep Impact and Orfevre were also named the Horse of the Year.
This year’s key runners that came off three trial races were: from the Yayoi Sho (G2, 2,000m; Mar.3), Meisho Tengen (1st), Schwarz Riese (2nd), Breaking Dawn (3rd), two-time graded winner Nishino Daisy and Keisei Hai (G3, 2,000m) victor Last Draft who finished fourth and seventh, respectively; from the Wakaba Stakes (Listed, 2,000m; Mar.16), Velox (1st); and from the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m; Mar.17), 2018 Keio Hai Nisai Stakes (G2, 1,400m) victor Fantasist (2nd) and 2018 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, 1,600m) runner-up Kurino Gaudi (6th). The field also included Danon Kingly, 2018 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes winner and Best Two-Year-Old Colt Admire Mars and 2018 Kyoto Nisai Stakes (G3, 2,000m) winner Courageux Guerrier who came off a win, a second and a third, respectively, in the Kyodo News Service Hai (G3, 1,800m; Feb.10), Saturnalia and Lance of Puraana, winners of the Hopeful Stakes (G1, 2,000m; Dec.28) and the Mainichi Hai (G3, 1,800m; Mar.23), respectively, and Satono Lux and Admire Justa, top two finishers of the Sumire Stakes (L, 2,200m; Feb.24).
Al Ain (JPN, by Deep Impact) renewed the race record to 1:57.8 in 2017.