2020 News

April 5, 2020

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Matured Lucky Lilac Finishes Strongly to Win Osaka Hai
Osaka Hai (G1)

Second favorite Lucky Lilac improved on her runner-up effort in the Nakayama Kinen (G2, 1,800m) last month to captured her third G1 title in this year’s Osaka Hai which was held without the usual cheering crowd due to precautionary measures against COVID-19 taken by the JRA. The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1,600m) victor and 2017 Best Two-Year-Old Filly landed her second G1 victory last November in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2,200m) and concluded her four-year-old campaign with a runner-up effort in the Hong Kong Vase (G1, 2,400m). Trainer Mikio Matsunaga claimed his fifth career G1 title (steeplechases included)—the last being the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with the same horse. Jockey Mirco Demuro landed his 31st JRA-G1 title, the first since the 2019 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Loves Only You. He also won the 2018 edition of the Osaka Hai with Suave Richard, a year after the race was upgraded to G1 status.

Lucky Lilac broke sharply from a good draw but allowed race favorite Danon Kingly to pass and dictate a moderated pace and eased to third along the rails, a few lengths behind the pace setter and Jinambo who stalked the leader in second. While keeping an eye on Chrono Genesis who made her move towards the outside route turning for home, Mirco Demuro kept the Orfevre mare to the inside, and did not miss the chance as Jinambo began to tire with 200 meters to go and slipped through to the outside of Danon Kingly, increasing her strides impressively to out-win both Chrono Genesis and Danon Kingly for a neck victory.

“I really miss the fans that were unable to come and watch the race, but it’s always a great feeling to be able to win a G1 race. Lucky Lilac was well prepared for coming into this race after a prep at Nakayama where she found the uphill still a little tough at the finish—she was definitely very strong and fit this time. She was really sharp coming out of the gate and we were a little forwardly positioned than expected but the race went perfectly for us and she was really concentrating and taking the bit after the third corner—we were lucky to find a nice opening at the stretch. She’s a mare but a not timid and has the strength to face the top males in the future,” commented Mirco Demuro.

Chrono Genesis broke smoothly from an outside draw and gradually moved up to settle in fourth position, outside and half a length behind the eventual winner. The Bago filly made her move approaching the fourth corner, overtaking Lucky Lilac and shifting to the outside for the stretch run, and while she was able to pin down Danon Kingly who gave a good fight to maintain his lead, she was a neck short in second at the wire after having to cover more ground than the winner who came from the inside.

Race favorite Danon Kingly was looking to capture his first G1 title in this race and turned in a strong performance in defeat. Breaking sharply and allowed to dictate a moderate pace with Jinambo close in second on his outside, the Deep Impact colt held on gamely while threatened by the first two finishers in the last furlong and crossed the wire a neck-neck third.

Other Horses:
4th: (11) Cadenas—sat in 11th, met traffic at early stretch, showed terrific late kick after 300m pole, fastest over last 3 furlongs
5th: (4) Wagnerian—took economic trip around 5th, found little room between last 2 corners, accelerated in last 200m
6th: (10) Jinambo—tracked leader in 2nd, ran gamely until 200m pole, outrun thereafter
7th: (3) Blast Onepiece—sat 3-wide around 9th early, made headway after 3rd corner, lacked needed kick
8th: (6) Red Genial—settled around 5th, turned last 2 corners outside winner, unable to reach contention
9th: (7) Stay Foolish—race 3-wide around 5th, outrun after final corner
10th: (2) Satono Saltus—hugged rails around 9th, switched outside for stretch run, even paced
11th: (9) Makahiki—traveled around 8th, circled wide, showed little at stretch
12th: (1) Lord My Way—trailed in rear, gradually advanced, faded at stretch

THE 64TH OSAKA HAI (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 5, 2020           Hanshin Racecourse        11th Race         Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 291,600,000 (about US$ 2,700,000 <US$1=¥108>)
4-y-o & up: 57kg (about 126 lbs),
2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares, 1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2016
Course Record: 1:57.2         Race Record: 1:58.2 [Suave Richard (JPN, by Heart’s Cry), 2018]
Safety factor: 16 runners     Going: Firm           Weather: Fine

FP BK PP Horse
Jockey
S&A
Color
Wgt
Odds
(Fav)
Margin
(L3F)
Sire
Dam
(Dam’s Sire)
Owner
Breeder
Trainer
1 5 5 Lucky Lilac (JPN)
Mirco Demuro
M5
ch.
55.0
4.1
(2)
1:58.4
(33.9)
Orfevre
Lilacs and Lace
(Flower Alley)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Mikio Matsunaga
2 8 12 Chrono Genesis (JPN)
Yuichi Kitamura
F4
g.
55.0
5.2
(4)
Neck
(34.0)
Bago
Chronologist
(Kurofune)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Takashi Saito
3 6 8 Danon Kingly (JPN)
Norihiro Yokoyama
C4
d.b.
57.0
3.8
(1)
Neck
(34.3)
Deep Impact
My Goodness
(Storm Cat)
Danox Co., Ltd.
Mishima Bokujo
Kiyoshi Hagiwara
4 8 11 Cadenas (JPN)
Katsuma Sameshima
H6
b.
57.0
68.2
(11)
3/4
(33.5)
Deep Impact
French Riviera
(French Deputy)
Koji Maeda
Grand Stud
Kazuya Nakatake
5 4 4 Wagnerian (JPN)
Yuichi Fukunaga
H5
b.
57.0
5.2
(5)
1-1/4
(34.0)
Deep Impact
Miss Encore
(King Kamehameha)
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Inc.
Yasuo Tomomichi
6 7 10 Jinambo (JPN)
Yusuke Fujioka
H5
d.b.
57.0
54.8
(9)
3/4
(34.7)
Deep Impact
Apapane
(King Kamehameha)
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Inc.
Noriyuki Hori
7 3 3 Blast Onepiece (JPN)
Yuga Kawada
H5
b.
57.0
4.3
(3)
1/2
(34.4)
Harbinger
Tsurumaru Onepiece
(King Kamehameha)
Silk Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Masahiro Otake
8 5 6 Red Genial (JPN)
Manabu Sakai
C4
d.b.
57.0
107.8
(12)
3/4
(34.5)
King Kamehameha
Red Agate
(Manhattan Cafe)
TokyoHorseRacing Co., Ltd
Shadai Farm
Yoshitada Takahashi
9 6 7 Stay Foolish (JPN)
Yasunari Iwata
H5
b.
57.0
49.1
(8)
1-1/2
(34.9)
Stay Gold
Kauai Lane
(King Kamehameha)
Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.
Shadai Farm
Yoshito Yahagi
10 2 2
B
Satono Saltus (JPN)
Kota Fujioka
H5
g.
57.0
55.7
(10)
Nose
(34.6)
Deep Impact
Island Fashion
(Petionville)
Satomi Horse Company Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Noriyuki Hori
11 7 9 Makahiki (JPN)
Lyle Hewitson
H7
b.
57.0
39.6
(7)
3/4
(34.7)
Deep Impact
Wikiwiki
(French Deputy)
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Inc.
Yasuo Tomomichi
12 1 1 Lord My Way (JPN)
Yutaka Take
C4
b.
57.0
25.3
(6)
5
(35.5)
Just a Way
Feliz
(Jungle Pocket)
Lord Horse Club
K. I. Farm
Haruki Sugiyama
FP: Final Position / BK: Bracket Number / PP: Post Position / S&A: Sex & Age / Wgt: Weight (kg) / DH: Dead Heat / L3F: Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m)
Color: b.=bay / bl.=black / br.=brown / ch.=chestnut / d.b.=dark bay / d.ch.=dark chestnut / g.=gray / w.=white
Note1: No Foreign Contenders
Note2: Figures quoted under Odds are shown in form of decimal odds (single unit is ¥100), and Fav indicates the order of favorites.

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 12,012,697,800  Turnover for the Day: ¥ 20,783,501,200

PAY-OFF (for ¥100)
Win No.5 ¥ 410 Bracket Quinella 5-8 ¥ 1,130 Quinella 5-12 ¥ 1,110
Place No.5 ¥ 140 Quinella Place 5-12 ¥ 370 Exacta 5-12 ¥ 1,970
No.12 ¥ 160 5-8 ¥ 340 Trio 5-8-12 ¥ 1,350
No.8 ¥ 140 8-12 ¥ 390 Trifecta 5-12-8 ¥ 7,810

Winner= 15 starts, 6 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds / Added money: ¥ 137,604,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 627,264,700

Fractional time (sec./furlong): 12.9 - 11.7 - 12.3 - 11.9 - 11.6 - 12.1 - 11.7 - 11.3 - 11.2 - 11.7
Last 4 furlongs: 45.9            Last 3 furlongs: 34.2

Positions at each corner: 1st corner 8,10(5,12)(4,6,7)9(2,3)-11,1
2nd corner 8,10-(5,12)(4,6,7)(2,9)3(11,1)
3rd corner (*8,10)-(5,12)(4,6,7)3,2(9,1)11
4th corner (*8,10)(12,3)(5,7)6(4,2,9,1)11

Note1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse.
Note2: Horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more horses inside the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse numbers indicate that there is distance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.

 

* Osaka Hai (G1)

The Osaka Hai, renewing its name in 2017 from the familiarly known Sankei Osaka Hai, was established in 1957 as a handicap race open to runners of four years of age and upwards run over 1,800m at Hanshin Racecourse in March. After the distance was extended to 2,000m in 1972, the date was moved to one week earlier to the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) in 1981. The race was given G2 status in conjunction with the new grading system in 1984, opened its doors to foreign competitors in 2003 and was upgraded to G1 in 2017. The winner of the race will automatically earn a starting position in the Irish Champion Stakes (G1, 2,000m) held in September.

Attracting strong contenders by serving as a prep race for G1 spring races for older horses such as the Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, 3,200m) and the Takarazuka Kinen (G1, 2,200m), many Osaka Hai champions have gone on to achieve G1 successes; Meisho Samson (JPN, by Opera House) in 2007, Hiruno d’Amour (JPN, by Manhattan Cafe) in 2011, two-time Horse of the Year Kitasan Black (JPN, by Black Tide) in 2017, all went on to capture the Tenno Sho (Spring) that followed; and Dream Journey (JPN, by Stay Gold) in 2009 landed his Takarazuka Kinen victory two starts later. 2018 victor Suave Richard (JPN, by Heart’s Cry) captured his second G1 title in the Japan Cup (G1, 2,400m) last year. Winners who also showed extraordinary accomplishments include 2008 champion Daiwa Scarlet (JPN, by Agnes Tachyon), legendary 2013 winner Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) and 2014 victor Kizuna (JPN, by Deep Impact).

2018 Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m) winner Blast Onepiece registered his fifth graded title in the American Jockey Club Cup (G2, 2,200m; Jan.26), while last year’s Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m) winner Chrono Genesis claimed her third grade-race victory in the Kyoto Kinen (G2, 2,200m; Feb.16) against male opponents. Last year’s Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) runner-up Danon Kingly claimed his third graded title in the Nakayama Kinen (G2, 1,800m; Mar.1), the same race in which 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) winner Lucky Lilac came in second. Those who came off the Kinko Sho (G2, 2,000m; Mar.15) were Satono Saltus (2nd) and Lord My Way (10th). The field also included two Derby winners, Wagnerian and Makahiki who finished third and fourth in the Japan Cup last year, respectively.
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