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Duramente Continues To Best Three-Year-Olds in Tokyo Yushun

Duramente gave a solid performance and with much style as he captured his second Triple Crown title in the 82nd running of the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). Improving with every run since his debut in October last year, the speedy colt, in addition to becoming the 23rd colt to claim the first two legs of the Triple Crown, renewed the race record, previously held by his sire King Kamehameha in 2004, by 0.1 seconds. Trainer Nobuyuki Hori claimed his seventh JRA-G1 victory and his first derby title. Mirco Demuro, overwhelmed with emotion and lost for ways to express his joy other than to shower the colt with countless kisses, celebrated his 12th career G1 victory and second derby title since in 2003 aboard Neo Universe, with whom he also captured both the Satsuki Sho and the Tokyo Yushun.

Duramente, positioned much more in front than his previous Satsuki Sho in mid-field around eighth in a field of 18 led by Musee Alien, settled well along the backstretch under Mirco Demuro who swiftly urged his colt forward soon after the last turn to avoid a bunch of foes that were moving frantically to the outside for a clear path. Duramente responded instantly and made ground powerfully, taking command at the top of the uphill stretch with a little more than 200 meters to go, then pulled away for a 1-3/4-length victory.

“I’m so full of joy and gratitude to have been able to accomplish this with such a powerful and talented colt and especially as an official JRA jockey. There was a lot of pressure after having won the Satsuki Sho and being the race favorite. Duramente was rather worked up and keen between the first two corners but he was in a good position throughout the race and was under control after that. In the homestretch there was some knocking about but after changing his lead, he was in gear and really strong to the finish,” responded Demuro in Japanese in an interview following his victory.

Satono Rasen was rated just behind Duramente along the rails but had to work his way out from the crowd after entering the stretch before showing much effort under Yasunari Iwata’s left-hand urging to keep in pace with the eventual winner and barely holding off a strong closing Satono Crown while unable to reach the winner.

Satono Crown traveled further back, fourth from the rear, turned wide into the homestretch and made ground impressively for third place.

Other Horses:
4th: (13) Real Steel—positioned in rear pack, checked at top of stretch, showed effort
5th: (3) Komet—chased leader in 3rd, showed tenacity, gave way grudginly 100m out
6th: (15) Musee Sultan—traveled 3rd from last, turned wide, showed belated charge
7th: (2) Tanta Alegria—sat 2nd from last, accelerated between horses, weakened in last 100m
8th: (4) Guanciale—ran along rail in mid-division, quickened until last 100m
9th: (7) Reve Mistral—settled behind winner, angled wide, lacked needed kick
10th: (10) Musee Alien—set solid pace, ran gamely until furlong pole then faded
11th: (5) Danon Major—hugged rail toward rear, met traffic at early stretch, even paced
12th: (6) Porte d’Auteuil—broke poorly, trailed in rear, switched to right after final turn, passed tired rivals
13th: (18) Tagano Espresso—advanced to 5th from widest draw, showed little at stretch
14th: (17) Kitasan Black—pressed pace in 2nd, dueled with leader until last 300m, dropped back thereafter
15th: (8) Bell Lap—ran inside winner, saved ground but never fired
16th: (9) Cosmo Nine Ball—raced in front of winner, met traffic at early stretch, no factor
17th: (12) Adam’s Bridge—traveled well off pace, failed to respond at stretch
18th: (16) Spirits Minoru—stalked leaders in 3rd or 4th, checked at top of stretch, faded

THE 82ND TOKYO YUSHUN (Japanese Derby, G1)
3-year-old Colts & Fillies, 2,400 meters (about 12 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 31, 2015   Tokyo Racecourse   10th Race   Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money:¥ 416,000,000(about US$ 3,466,600 <US$1=¥120>)
3-y-o: 57 kg (about 126 lbs), 2 kg allowance for Fillies, 3 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2012
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. Duramente (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   King Kamehameha / Admire Groove (Sunday Silence)

   Breeder: Northern Racing	Owner: Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
   Trainer: Noriyuki Hori	Jockey: Mirco Demuro
   6 Starts, 4 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 232,417,000	Career earnings: ¥ 392,763,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’15 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m)	1st

   
   
2. Satono Rasen (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Toupie (Intikhab)

   Breeder: Northern Racing	Owner: Hajime Satomi
   Trainer: Yasutoshi Ikee	Jockey: Yasunari Iwata

   
   
3. Satono Crown (JPN), dark bay or brown, colt, 3-year-old
   Marju / Jioconda (Rossini)

   Breeder: Northern Racing	Owner: Hajime Satomi
   Trainer: Noriyuki Hori	Jockey: Christophe Lemaire

* Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (G1)
With the aim of establishing a systemized program that emulates the Triple Crown race held in Britain, and enhancing the quality of thoroughbreds in Japan, a 2,400-meter race for three-year-old thoroughbreds was established at the Tokyo Racecourse (then situated in Meguro ward) in 1932. While maintaining its status as one of the most popular JRA events with a record crowd of 196,517 in 1990, the race has evolved during its long history, opening its door to runners from National Association of Racing (NAR; local public racing) since 1995 and foreign-bred participants since 2001. In 2010, the race entered a new phase as JRA reached the final stage of its internationalization project allowing foreign contestants in all its graded events. The winner’s prize money, which had already exceeded 100 million yen in 1989, has now reached 200 million, making it the third richest race behind Japan Cup (G1, 2,400m) and the Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m).
Recent winners include Vodka (JPN, by Tanino Gimlet) who became the first filly in 64 years to claim the derby title in 2007 and Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) who subsequently became the seventh Triple Crown winner in JRA history and won against older G1 winners in the year-end Arima Kinen to become Horse of the Year title of 2011. Last year’s derby winner One and Only (JPN, by Heart’s Cry) was third in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, 2,410m) in March this year but cancelled his intended start in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1, 2,400m) and will head for the Takarazuka Kinen (G1, 2,200m) in June.
Duramente won by a dominating 1-1/2 lengths in the first leg of the three-year-old Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m) on April 19 with Real Steel in second and Kitasan Black trailing 2-1/2 lengths behind that in third. Satono Crown, who was the race favorite, finished sixth.
Other notable runners in this year’s Tokyo Yushun included Reve Mistral and Tanta Alegria, the top two finishers in the Aoba Sho (G2, 2,400m) on May 2 as well as Satono Rasen and Porte d'Auteuil who also finished first and second, respectively, in the Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m) on May 9.