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Queens Ring Storms to Victory in Queen Elizabeth II Cup

Third pick Queens Ring stamped her claim as the champion distaffer on turf in this year’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup, her first G1 victory which followed grade-race wins won in the Kyoto Himba Stakes earlier this season and the Fuchu Himba Stakes, her last start before coming into this race. While winning three in a row since her debut in December of her two-year-old season and quick to claim her first grade-race title in the G2 Fillies’ Revue in her third career start, she was fourth, ninth, and second in her three-year-old fillies’ Triple and eighth in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last year. Trainer, Keiji Yoshimura, came into this race with three grade-race titles—all won with Queen Ring—since he opened his year in 2012 which makes this victory his first JRA-G1 title. Meanwhile, jockey Mirco Demuro, whose latest G1 victory was with Red Falx in the Sprinters Stakes last month, claimed his 18th JRA-G1 title with the win.

Queens Ring broke in air and was keen early while Mirco Demuro kept her covered inside rivals and behind Mikki Queen in mid-pack. Angling slightly rounding the last turn and asked to go, the Manhattan filly unleashed a bursting turn of speed to surge out between horses and pinned down Sing with Joy just before the wire for a neck win.

“I’m really happy to have won a G1 at Kyoto for the first time. She missed her break and I would have liked her to race a little more in front but since the distance was over 2,200 meters, I knew we had time to make up the loss. I wanted to take her out a little more for the stretch run but there was a horse outside of us so I had her go inside, she’s has a terrific turn of speed and quickened really well,” commented Mirco Demuro.

Sing with Joy was quick out of the gate to secure a forward position in fourth along the rails early. Closing up on the leaders rounding the last corner, the Yasuo Tomomichi-trained filly launched her bid impressively, hitting the front before the furlong pole, and pulled away and almost made it to the wire but was unable to withstand the winner’s bid in the last strides.

Mikki Queen broke smoothly from the innermost stall and saved ground in mid-field inside race favorite Marialite, was asked for the run as Queens Ring swept past her inside but was a little late in switching to gear but closed up impressively for the share.

Defending champion Marialite broke smoothly to chase the leader in around fourth position but was bumped, almost unseating the rider, and shuffled back rounding the first corner. Having to make up ground again, moving up to around eighth along the backstretch, she was unable to gain much more ground while giving much of what was left to finish sixth.

Other Horses:
4th: (15) Pearl Code—advanced to 3rd from widest draw, ran gamely but pinned by Mikki Queen before wire
5th: (13) Primera Azul—set moderate pace, led until 200m pole, showed tenacity for 3rd, weakened in final strides
6th: (10) Sundarbans—sat 3rd from rear, switched to outside at early stretch, quickened up to 100m marker
8th: (8) Touching Speech—traveled behind winner, showed brief effort, even paced in last 200m
9th: (7) Maximum de Paris—ran in mid-division, even paced throughout
10th: (12) Asuka Biren—settled near rear, lacked needed kick at stretch
11th: (11) Denko Ange—trailed in rear, angled wide, passed tired rivals
12th: (5) Meisho Mambo—stalked leader in 2nd, sustained bid up to 300m then faded
13th: (4) Hiruno Matera—raced outside winner, lacked needed kick at stretch
14th: (6) Proletariat—traveled outside winner, turned wide, unable to reach contention
15th: (14) Chaleur—sat in 5th, faded after entering stretch

THE 41ST QUEEN ELIZABETH II CUP (G1) - Japan Autumn International -
3-year-old & up, Fillies & Mares, 2,200 meters (about 11 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, November 13, 2016  Kyoto Racecourse    11th Race      Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 200,480,000 (about US$ 1,671,000 <US$1=¥120>)
3-y-o: 54kg (about 119 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 56kg (about 124 lbs),
2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2013
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. 1.Queens Ring (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 4-year-old
   Manhattan Cafe / Aqua Ring (Anabaa)

   Owner: Chizu Yoshida	Breeder: Shadai Farm
   Trainer: Keiji Yoshimura	Jockey: Mirco Demuro
   13 Starts, 6 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 96,192,000	Career earnings: ¥ 321,766,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’16 Fuchu Himba Stakes (G2, 1,800m)	1st
   	’16 Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, 1,400m)	1st
   	’15 Fillies’ Revue (G2, 1,400m)	1st
   	’15 Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m)	2nd

   
   
2. 2.Sing with Joy (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 4-year-old
   Manhattan Cafe / Sing Like Bird (Symboli Kris S)

   Owner: Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Shadai Farm
   Trainer: Yasuo Tomomichi	Jockey: Christophe Lemaire

   
   
3. 3.Mikki Queen (JPN), bay, filly, 4-year-old
   Deep Impact / Musical Way (Gold Away)

   Owner: Mizuki Noda	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Yasutoshi Ikee	Jockey: Suguru Hamanaka

*Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1)

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup was established in 1976 to facilitate friendly relations between Japan and England, in commemoration of Her Excellency’s visit to Japan in 1975. The race initially started as a 2,400-meter race and the last leg of the “Triple Crown for three-year-old fillies”, but became a 2,200-meter race for fillies and mares of three-year-old and up from 1996.
Tigertail (FR, by Priolo) and Ana Marie (FR, by Anabaa) were the first two foreign contestants to run in 2003—four years after its designation as an international event in 1999—and finished third and eighth, respectively. Shalanaya (IRE, by Lomitas) finished fourth in 2009 before Edward Dunlop-trained Snow Fairy (IRE, by Intikhab) became the first foreign runner to win back-to-back G1 titles in 2010 and 2011.
Last year’s winner Marialite had come off a fifth-place finish in the All Comers (G2, 2,200m) on September 25 after claiming second G1 title in the 2016 Takarazuka Kinen (G1, 2.200m) against male runners in June. 2015 Best Three-Year-Old Filly Mikki Queen made her first Queen Elizabeth II Cup challenge, coming off a runner-up effort in the Victoria Mile while Touching Speech, who finished third in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last year, had come off a long break following her last start, the Takarazuka Kinen, in which she finished 12th.
Coming off their starts in the Fuchu Himba Stakes (G2, 1,800m) on October 15 were Queens Ring, who landed her third grade-race victory in the race, as well as Asuka Biren, Sundarbans, Sing with Joy, Chaleur and Meisho Mambo who finished fourth, fifth, seventh, 10th and 13th, respectively.
The three-year-old newcomers challenging their seniors in this G1 race, coming off their last leg of the fillies’ Triple Crown, the Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m), were runner-up Pearl Code and ninth-place finisher Denko Ange
The race record has not been broken since To the Victory (JPN, by Sunday Silence) covered the 2,200-meter distance in 2:11.2 in 2001.