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Admire Lead Dismisses Favorites to Claim Victoria Mile Title

Four-year-old Admire Lead captured her first grade-race victory in this year's Victoria Mile after being sent off sixth favorite in a field of 17, putting away three G1 champions. The Stay Gold filly registered two wins out of four starts in her debut season but was winless in all six of her three-year-old campaign starts after challenging the fillies' classics, finishing fifth in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and 15th in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). However, she notched a back-to-back win and had shown a good runner-up effort in her most recent G2 Hanshin Himba Stakes start. For both trainer Naosuke Sugai and jockey Christophe Lemaire, this is their 11th JRA-G1 victory—their latest were the 2015 Tenno Sho (Spring) with Gold Ship and the 2016 Arima Kinen with Satono Diamond, respectively.

The field broke evenly with Solveig rushing to the front setting a slow pace as Smart Layer sat at her heels on the rails with Jour Polaire right behind that while Admire Lead settled far back in 12th behind Queens Ring and Denko Ange. While most of the field fanned out to avoid the soft inner-track going due to the heavy rain the day before, Admire Lead chose an economic inner route heading into the stretch and dug in gamely between Solveig and Smart Layer 150 meters out, stretching strongly from thereon to cross the finish line a comfortable 1-1/4-length winner.

“I had every confidence in her today because I knew the soft track wouldn't bother her at all. I was able to position her well and although she has a good turn of foot, her charge doesn't last long so I tried not to drive her in early stretch. She kicked off the season with two wins and then a second in a G2 race—it's obvious she's progressed enormously,” commented Christophe Lemaire who claimed his 600th JRA career win in his first race today.

As Solveig, Smart Layer and Queens Ring, who also took an inner path into the lane, furiously rallied for the runner-up seat, Queens Ring was first to drop away 100 meters out before both Solveig and then Smart Layer were caught by Denko Ange who came up gamely from the outside to clear the wire in second. While the runner-up displayed an incredible last three-furlong drive, Jour Polaire, who chased Solveig down the middle of the straight, also dug in well to tag her front runners in the final strides for third.

Breaking from stall 11, heavy favorite Mikki Queen traveled wide in seventh to eighth and angled out at the top of the stretch for clear sailing, however met traffic with a furlong to go, losing momentum to finish seventh.

Other Horses:
8th: (15) Frontier Queen―unhurried near rear, accelerated and tied fastest over last 3 furlongs, but belated
9th: (12) Ukiyono Kaze―traveled outside eventual winner, met traffic at early stretch, showed belated charge thereafter
10th: (7) Rouge Buck―ran behind eventual winner, quickened impressively, but was too late
11th: (14) Let's Go Donki―advanced to 4-5th from wide draw, showed little at stretch
12th: (1) At the Seaside―positioned near rear, turned innermost, ran gamely until furlong pole, outrun
13th: (6) Asuka Biren―prominent early in 3rd, sustained bid until 200m marker, weakened thereafter
14th: (13) Hiruno Matera―trailed in rear, turned inner route, failed to respond and gradually fell back
15th: (16) Kurino Lahore―raced wide in mid-division, checked turning final corner, lost momentum
16th: (17) Lethal Weapon―chased leader early from widest draw, met traffic at 400m marker, dropped back
17th: (9) Halteclere―traveled around 7th inside favorite, no factor after turning into stretch

Victoria Mile
4-year-old & up, Fillies & Mares, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 14, 2017    Tokyo Racecourse     11th Race        Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 200,480,000 (about US$ 1,743,000 <US$1=¥115>)
4-y-o & up: 55kg (about 121 lbs), 1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2013
Safety factor: 18 runners

FP=Final Position / BK=Bracket Number / PP=Post Position / Wgt=Weight / L3F=Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m) / DS=Distance

1. 1.Admire Lead (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 4-year-old
   Stay Gold / Belle Allure (Numerous)
   

   Owner: Riichi Kondo	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Naosuke Sugai	Jockey: Christophe Lemaire
   14 Starts, 5 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 96,570,000	Career earnings: ¥ 191,252,000

   
   
2. 2.Denko Ange (JPN), dark bay or brown, filly, 4-year-old
   Meisho Samson / Denko Lucky (Marienbard)
   

   Owner: Yasuhiro Tanaka	Breeder: Yasuhiro Tanaka
   Trainer: Yoshiyuki Arakawa	Jockey: Masayoshi Ebina

   
   
3. 3.Jour Polaire (JPN), bay, filly, 4-year-old
   Deep Impact / Summer Night City (Helissio)
   

   Owner: G1 Racing Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Shadai Corporation Inc.
   Trainer: Masato Nishizono	Jockey: Hideaki Miyuki

* Victoria Mile

In accordance with the restructuring of JRA racing program for fillies/mares executed in the 2006 season, the Victoria Mile was established to give the older fillies/mares a stage to prove their ability among their own sex, in addition to the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, which had been the only G1 reserved for older fillies/mares. While the Queen Elizabeth is run over 2,200 meters and held in mid-November, the Victoria Mile is held in spring and provides female milers a chance to claim a G1 title without having a tough competition in a mixed field.
The race, however, attracts not only fillies/mares suited to the mile distance but also outstanding runners from the middle-long distance group. Two-time Horse of the Year winner Vodka (JPN, by Tanino Gimlet) claimed the title in 2009 by an overwhelming seven-length margin, and Apapane (JPN, by King Kamehameha), after having claimed all three titles of the fillies' version of the Triple Crown during 2010, held off defending champion and 2010 Horse of the Year Buena Vista (JPN, by Special Week) for a neck victory.
At the gate this year were runners coming off their Hanshin Himba Stakes (G2, 1,600m; Apr.8) starts; winner Mikki Queen who was second in last year's Victoria Mile, runner-up by 1-3/4 lengths Admire Lead, Jour Poliare who was third and 2016 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) victor Queens Ring in 15th. Fresh from the Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, 1,800m; Apr. 22) were winner Ukiyono Kaze, marking her third grade-race victory, and runner-up by a neck, Frontier Queen.
Other notable starters were 2015 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m) victor Let's Go Donki, entered after turning in a close second in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1, 1,200m; Mar.26), and last year's Victoria Mile's fourth and fifth place finishers, Smart Layer and Rouge Buck, who finished second in the Kyoto Kinen (G2, 2,200m; Feb.12) and eighth in the Kinko Sho (G2, 2,000m; Mar.11), respectively.
The race record of 1:31.5 was set by Straight Girl (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki) in the last of her consecutive victories in this race in 2015 and 2016.