Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) - Preview

Soul Stirring

Lys Gracieux

Jeune Ecole

Reine Minoru

Vous Etes Jolie

The JRA Grade 1 action takes a break from the older horses and turns its to attention to 2-year-olds for the next two Sundays, with the 68th Hanshin Juvenile Fillies scheduled to be held at Hanshin Racecourse on Dec. 11. Twenty one 2-year-old fillies have been nominated for the maximum 18-horse Grade 1 field, with the race carrying a total purse of 123 million yen (65 million yen to the 1st place horse). As this is the only Grade 1 for 2-year-old fillies, the winner of this race has been tagged with the JRA Best Two-Year-Old Filly award since 1991.

The 1,600-meter turf race is run over the Hanshin outer “A” course, which was renovated in 2006. It may be difficult to imagine from the oval-shaped course layout, but the Hanshin outer course has the third-longest home straight of the 10 JRA racecourses at 473 meters, with Niigata Racecourse outer track having the longest at 658 meters, followed by Tokyo at 525. Add to that a 1.5% incline in the final straight, the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies is a grueling test of true speed, as well as stamina, for the young fillies.

Past winners of this race have gone on to mark illustrious careers, including Vodka (Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner and the current record-holder for this race), Apapane (2010 Fillies Triple Crown winner) and Buena Vista (multiple Grade 1 wins including the Japan Cup), just to name a few. Last year’s winner Major Emblem finished fourth in this year’s Oka Sho (1000 Japanese Guineas) as the overwhelming top pick, but bounced right back to win the Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup, defeating her male counterparts at Tokyo Racecourse. As this race is held over the same distance and course as the Oka Sho, those who perform well on this stage have been – and will be – the center of attention come next spring.

The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, with all runners carrying 54 kgs, is the 11th race on Sunday at Hanshin. Post time is set for 15:40 local time. Here is a look at the expected top picks in this year’s field.

Soul Stirring: One of the most talked-about themes with this year’s 2-year-old class is how well the first-year crops by Frankel will fare in JRA racing – and thus far, they have not fallen short of expectations. One of four Frankel-sired crops that have made their debuts in Japan, two of them are 2-for-2, and Soul Stirring, out of the Monsun-sired Stacelita, will be looking to give her father his first Grade 1 win in Japan. Mi Suerte is the other daughter by Frankel with a perfect 2-for-2 record, winning the Grade 3 KBS Kyoto Sho Fantasy Stakes at Kyoto over 1,400 meters, but she will pass up this race and is nominated to run in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes against the boys on Dec. 18.

After winning her debut in Sapporo in late July, Soul Stirring came out as the second favorite in the open class Ivy Stakes over 1,800 meters at Tokyo on Oct. 22. With Christophe Lemaire on board, Soul Stirring chased 3, 4 horses in front, travelling nicely throughout the race, and when the pace picked up with three furlongs to go, she gradually caught up to the leaders without a whip and accelerated in the last 200 meters to win by 0.3 seconds over the favorite. She closed out the last three furlongs in 33.9 seconds – the fastest of the nine runners and a rather impressive change of speed for a 2-year-old coming back from a 3-month break.

Soul Stirring, scheduled to be ridden by Lemaire again, is trained by Miho Training Center-based veteran trainer Kazuo Fujisawa, second in the JRA leading trainer rankings this year (as of Dec. 4) and winner of 21 JRA Grade 1 races in his illustrious career. Fujisawa will be looking for his first Grade 1 since Spielberg won the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in 2014. “This will be her first mile race, but she has the speed and racing sense to adjust to it,” assistant trainer Daisuke Tsumagari said. “She will bring herself up to par even in this strong field.”

Lys Gracieux: If Fujisawa, the second-leading trainer, has one of the favorites in this race, the leading trainer, Yoshito Yahagi, is ready to battle it out with his top 2-year-old filly. Lys Gracieux, by Heart’s Cry, is 2-for-3 and is coming off an impressive win in the 1,600-meter Grade 3 Artemis Stakes, beating a field of 18 as the top favorite. On top of that, she won her maiden – her second race – at Hanshin over 1,800 meters on turf in 1 minute, 46.2 seconds, a record time for 2-year-olds over the distance and course. Some believe she has the edge over Soul Stirring, as she has the experience of winning in a large field and the outer course at Hanshin (in record time), as well as being able to win in different styles (travelled front-to-mid-pack in the maiden race win, and showed late speed from near the back in the Artemis Stakes). “The mile distance may be a bit short for her – I think her ideal is around 2,000 meters,” Yahagi said. “But she is extremely mature at this point and she probably won’t lose her weight if we are only travelling to Hanshin (she was -4 kgs in the Artemis Stakes at Tokyo). I am looking forward to a good race.”

Yutaka Take, who led her to the Artemis Stakes win, will be riding in Hong Kong this weekend, thus Keita Tosaki – the leading jockey (as of Dec. 4) – is expected to get the ride with the U. Carrot Farm racing colors.

Jeune Ecole: Of the 21 nominated horses in the field, six have a perfect record, but the only horse with 3 wins in as many starts is the Kurofune-sired Jeune Ecole. Her winning margins have all been close (0.3 seconds., 0.1, neck) and so may not seem flashy as some of the other top picks, but the Grade 2 Daily Hai Nisai Stakes victory was over the same distance as this race. Trained by Takayuki Yasuda of Ritto Training Center, Jeune Ecole will be racing under the Sunday Racing colors with French jockey Mickael Barzalona expected to get the ride.

Reine Minoru: Daiwa Major-sired Reine Minoru is 2-for-3, with a graded race victory - Kokura Nisai Stakes over 1,200 meters - already on her resume. The victory at Kokura was so convincing (1.0 ahead of the runner-up), some had penciled her in as one of the early candidates to win this race. However, sent off as the favorite in the Grade 2 Keio Hai Nisai Stakes last out, Reine Minoru travelled smoothly but was caught in the final 100 meters by the eventual winner. She will most likely be one of the top picks on Sunday, but if the finish in the Keio Hai Nisai Stakes was any indication, she will have to find a way to handle the extra furlong in this race. Suguru Hamanaka, who had ridden the filly for all of her starts, is still serving his suspension from the Mile Championship, and Masayoshi Ebina is scheduled to get the ride.

Vous Etes Jolie: The Lohengrin-sired Vous Etes Jolie is another filly with a 2-for-2 record, but she has been away from racing since winning the Niigata Nisai Stakes in late August.  She was sent out for a break after the Niigata Nisai Stakes victory and has been back in training at Ritto Training Center since early November. She is by Lohengrin out of the Sunday Silence-sired French Bikini, which is the same sire-dam’s sire combination as Logotype, which won the 2012 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (held at Nakayama Racecourse) and the Yasuda Kinen this year – both over the mile distance. Trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida will be looking for his first Grade 1 win with jockey Ryuji Wada expected to get the ride.