Victoria Mile (G1) - Preview

Mikki Queen

Rouge Buck

Smart Layer

Admire Lead

Queens Ring

Let's Go Donki

Ukiyono Kaze

Top-level racing continues for the third week in a row and the second straight week at Tokyo Racecourse. The filly Aerolithe prevailed over colts to top the NHK Mile Cup last week and, on May 14, the females will shine once again as it marks the 12th running of the Victoria Mile, a race open to fillies and mares 4 years old and up. The race carries a first-place prize of 93 million yen.

For the race's third time in its history, the field boasts three previous Grade 1 winners - the two-time Grade 1 winner Mikki Queen, 2015 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) champ Let's Go Donki, and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner Queens Ring - all now 5 years old and all taking on the Victoria Mile for their second time.

The Tokyo 1,600 meters is a tough test of strength and stamina at a venue that is known for its high standards. In short, it's hard to get lucky at Tokyo. The mile race starts at the top of the backstretch and continues for more than 500 meters. It dips slightly from the gate to about 250 meters out and the pace tends to be faster than average. The track rises again, dips into the bend, and levels into the stretch of 525 meters, where horses face an upward slope over 225 meters until the ground flattens over the final 300 meters.

The favorite has won the race three times in the last 11 runnings and run second three times. However, the past three versions did not see the favorite in the winner's circle. In 2014, Verxina, at 28-1 odds, took home the lion's share, and in 2015, the 5th, 12th and 18th picks filled the top three spots and skyrocketed the return on the trifecta to a whopping 20.7 million yen on 100 yen.

Seventeen of Japan's best females have been nominated for this year's Victoria Mile, the 11th race on the Sunday card of 12 races at Tokyo Racecourse. Post time is 15:40 local time.

Following is a look at the likely top picks:

Mikki Queen: After running second to Straight Girl in last year's Victoria Mile, Mikki Queen returned in the fall for runs at distances 3 and 4.5 furlongs longer in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup and the Arima Kinen (Grand Prix) and finished in third and fifth place, respectively. Her first start this year was the April 8 Hanshin Himba Stakes, which she captured over heavy ground by a 1 3/4 lengths over Admire Lead. “Her responses were a bit slow last out and it took a while for her to pick up speed, but when she did it was terrific,” trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said. “We were close to retiring her at one point, but I think she has fully recovered now and she is very tough mentally.” The Deep Impact-sired Mikki Queen now aims to pocket her third Grade 1 event, following wins in the 2015 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and Shuka Sho. In her 13 career starts, she has finished out of the top three spots only twice and made first or second 10 times. With her splendid run last out, she looks to be in top form. She has two seconds over the mile at Tokyo, and rain or shine, this girl has what it takes to make the winner's circle. Suguru Hamanaka is pegged for the ride.

Rouge Buck: A 5-year-old daughter of Manhattan Cafe, Rouge Buck followed her fifth place in the Victoria Mile last year with two wins over a furlong longer at Tokyo. She was competing against the boys but scooped both the Grade 3 Epsom Cup in mid-June and the Grade 2 Mainichi Okan in October. Her next two starts, both Grade 1s, saw her end the year with only seventh and eighth-place finishes. Sunday puts Rouge Buck back on the track for the first time since her only run this year, an eighth in the Grade 2, 2,000m Kinko Sho at Chukyo on March 11. It has been over 2 months, but Rouge Buck is known to do well with a bit of time between races. Trainer Masahiro Otake admits his mare “has gotten a bit ornery at times.” In training “when she lines up with another horse in the stretch she seems a bit timid, but she is in good shape, and even though she'll be competing against females, it's a Grade 1 and the competition will be tough. That said, the wide-open Tokyo course is a plus.” She is fresh and with such factors on her side, including Keita Tosaki in the saddle, Rouge Buck is in a fine position to at long last avenge her Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) second to Mikki Queen.

Smart Layer: Yet another horse that made the board in last year's Victoria Mile is Smart Layer, a 7-year-old mare by Deep Impact. Smart Layer ran fourth in last year's race, then returned in the fall for a third in the Grade 2 Fuchu Himba Stakes before taking on the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin, where she finished in fifth place. Smart Layer has had one race back in Japan since, the Feb. 12 Kyoto Kinen, a Grade 2 over 2,200-meters. She ran second, a neck ahead of last year's Japanese Derby champion Makahiki. Smart Layer's record at Tokyo has been competitive, including a win of the Grade 3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai over the mile. At the Grade 2 level, she has scored two seconds and a third in her three starts in the Fuchu Himba Stakes and her second last year saw her beat Mikki Queen over the line. The fourth in last year's Victoria Mile was Smart Layer's best result in three tries and the 2016 run also saw her race from a more forward position for the first time. It will be three months from her last race, but Smart Layer has proven before that she can do well in such circumstances and although she is 7 years old, this silver lady shows no sign of slowing down. Last year, Straight Girl became the first 7-year-old mare in JRA history to capture a Grade 1 race when she topped the field of the Victoria Mile for her second year in a row. Here's hoping Smart Layer, with the aid of ace jockey Yutaka Take, can finally lay claim to her own big prize.

Admire Lead: A 4-year-old filly by Stay Gold, Admire Lead has two wins and a second from three starts this year, the last result a second in the Grade 2 Hanshin Himba Stakes on April 8. Topped by Mikki Queen in that race, Admire Lead has currently won or finished second over her past five races, all at 1,600-1,800 meters. Admittedly, she dropped down in class this year after three disappointing Grade 1 bids in 2016, but as a 4-year-old she looks to be coming into her own. Trainer Naosuke Sugai knows that a Grade 1 won't be easy and admits that Admire Lead has always needed time to recover from a race. “She has no problems now though, and she gave us a very good workout last week,” Sugai said. It will be Admire Lead's first time at Tokyo since last year's Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). “She is much more solid than she was for the Oaks. Key will be if we can keep her calm during the long haul to the track,” Sugai said. Frenchman Christophe Lemaire is set to ride.

Other horses considered competitive in the Victoria Mile are 2016 Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner Queens Ring, who ran 15th last out on heavy going and coming off a spell. Let's Go Donki had been inconsistent for much of last year, but her last four races have seen her reap one win and three seconds, including a second in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen on March 26. Jour Polaire, off of a third-place run in the Hanshin Himba Stakes, and Ukiyono Kaze, a recent winner of the Grade 3 Fukushima Himba Stakes, will also likely be one of the top contenders.