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Twelfth Favorite Roger Barows Scores Upset Victory with Record Time in 86th Tokyo Yushun

Twelfth favorite Roger Barows captured his first grade-race victory in this year’s Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), renewing the race record set by Duramente in 2015 by 0.6 seconds to 2:22.6. The Deep Impact colt won his debut start (2,000m) in August last year and was runner-up in his second start two months later. The bay marked his second win in his kick-off start this year, the Fukujuso Tokubetsu (2,000m), but finished seventh in the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m) in March and was second in the Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m), three weeks prior to this race. He is the 20th colt since Fusaichi Concorde in 1996 to win the Derby without prior graded win. This win gave trainer Katsuhiko Sumii his 26th JRA-G1 victory following his Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) title with Saturnalia and his second Derby win following Vodka in 2007. Jockey Suguru Hamanaka marked his 9th JRA-G1 win following his Mile Championship victory with Mikki Isle in 2016 and his first Derby title in his 13 years of career.

Breaking smoothly from the innermost stall, Roger Barows settled in second behind Lion Lion who dashed out from the outer stall to set an extremely fast pace. Traveling 5-6 lengths behind the frontrunner along the backstretch, the Deep Impact colt gradually closed the gap turning the last two corners and immediately made bid entering the lane to assume command at the 400-meter pole. The Katsuhiko Sumii-trained bay continued to run strongly, fending off the repeated efforts of Danon Kingly in the last 300 meters, for his first G1 win.

“I was hoping for a fast pace, so settling in second behind an early pace was an ideal race for us. The colt is a stayer with much stamina so he held on strongly even after the uphill climb and ran persistently all the way to the end. He’s now a Derby horse, so we can count on his future performance,” commented Suguru Hamanaka.

Third pick Danon Kingly made a good break and hugged the rails in fifth. The son of Deep Impact kicked into gear rounding the last turn, entered the lane in third and threatened Roger Barows from the outside with an impressive burst of speed but was a neck short at the wire in second.

Second pick Velox traveled two wide, around 7-8th from the front, turned the last corner wide and stretched strongly behind Saturnalia in the homestretch. The son of Just a Way ran persistently and overtook the odds-on-favorite in the last 100 meters to finish 1/2 a length in front for third place.

Other Horses:
5th: (9) Nishino Daisy—ran inside favorite, showed effort and quickened in final strides, head short for
6th: (10) Courageux Guerrier—sat in 5-6th, rallied with Velox and Saturnalia, weakened in last 100m
7th: (14) Run for the Roses—traveled in mid-group along rails, showed brief response, even paced in last 200m
8th: (11) Red Genial—hugged rails towards rear, showed belated charge, timed 2nd fastest over last 3 furlongs
9th: (16) Tagano Diamante—settled near rear, accelerated on inner stretch, met traffic 200m out
10th: (8) Meisho Tengen—positioned near rear, quickened and passed tired rivals in last 200m
11th: (5) Meiner Surpass—took economic route in mid-pack, outrun in last 300m
12th: (3) Emeral Fight—saved ground in 4th, turned wide for clear path, ran gamely until 250m out
13th: (17) Naimama—raced in mid-division, angled out, failed to respond
14th: (2) Wind—sat near rear along rails, never fired at stretch
15th: (15) Lion Lion—set fast pace, ran out of steam 300m out
16th: (18) Schwarz Riese—traveled in front of favorite, unable to reach contention
17th: (4) Satono Lux—ran 5 lengths behind eventual winner in 3rd, faded after final corner
18th: (12) Admire Justa—was off slow, trailed in rear, no factor

THE 86TH TOKYO YUSHUN (JAPANESE DERBY, G1)
3-year-old Colts & Fillies, 2,400 meters (about 12 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 26, 2019     Tokyo Racecourse      11th Race        Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money:             ¥ 432,000,000 (about US$ 3,757,000 <US$1=¥115>)
3-y-o: 57 kg (about 126 lbs), 2 kg allowance for Fillies,
3 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2016
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. 1.Roger Barows (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / Little Book (Librettist)
   

   Owner: Hirotsugu Inokuma	Breeder: Tobino Bokujo
   Trainer: Katsuhiko Sumii	Jockey: Suguru Hamanaka
   6 Starts, 3 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 225,277,000	Career earnings: ¥ 268,756,000

   
   
2. 2.Danon Kingly (JPN), dark bay or brown, colt, 3-year-old
   Deep Impact / My Goodness (Storm Cat)
   

   Owner: Danox Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Mishima Bokujo
   Trainer: Kiyoshi Hagiwara	Jockey: Keita Tosaki

   
   
3. 3.Velox (JPN), bay, colt, 3-year-old
   Just a Way / Selkis (Monsun)
   

   Owner: Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Mitsumasa Nakauchida	Jockey: Yuga Kawada

* 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 the 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 the Horse of the Year of 2011.
Top five finishers of the Satsuki Sho (Apr.14)—Saturnalia (1st), Velox (2nd), Danon Kingly (3rd), Admire Mars (4th) and Courageux Guerrier (5th)—acquired their tickets to this race, though 2018 Best Two-Year-Old Colt Admire Mars (JPN, by Daiwa Major) decided not to step up in distance and headed for the NHK Mile Cup (1,600m) held three weeks earlier, where he claimed his second G1 title. Grade-race winners Meisho Tengen (15th) and Nishino Daisy (17th) also came off the first leg in their attempt to exceed their performances. Contenders coming off another trial race, the Aoba Sho (G2, 2,400m; Apr.27), were Lion Lion and Run for the Roses, winner and runner-up, respectively. Other notable runners included the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m; Mar.17) champion Emeral Fight and the Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m; May.4) winner Red Genial.