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Unbeaten Efforia Claims Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) Title

Second favorite Efforia captured the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) undefeated since his debut and extending his winning streak to four for his first G1 title—he becomes the 19th undefeated Satsuki Sho winner following Saturnalia and Contrail in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Winning his debut start over 2,000 meters at Sapporo in August last year, the Epiphaneia colt followed with a win in the Hyakunichiso Tokubetsu (Tokyo, 1 Win Class, 2,000m) in November and a graded victory in the Kyodo News Hai (Tokyo, G3, 1,800m) in February this year. Trainer Yuichi Shikato won his second JRA-G1 title after the 2008 Japan Cup with Screen Hero. It was the fifth graded title and first G1 victory for jockey Takeshi Yokoyama who is in his fifth season as a jockey. He is the son of currently active jockey Norihiro Yokoyama who has won the same race with Seiun Sky back in 1998, the year when Takeshi was born. Takeshi’s victory makes him the third second generation Satsuki Sho winner after Yutaka (father/Kunihiko) Take and Yuichi (father/Yoichi) Fukunaga.

Efforia broke smoothly and immediately secured a nice position behind the early leaders and inside Danon the Kid around third or fourth. While overtaken by a couple of rivals along the backstretch, Efforia moved up approaching the final corner and towards the inside rounding for home. Despite being pinched back briefly, Takeshi Yokoyama did not miss a beat in giving the green light as soon as an opening presented itself as the front runners spread out for the stretch run and the bay colt immediately assumed command and effortlessly increased his speed while many struggled to find another gear over the soft turf, pulling away with each stride to a comfortable three-length victory.

“It’s such a great feeling,” commented Takeshi Yokoyama with a big smile which could easily be seen even with the facemask on. “I was fortunate to have been able to ride this colt since his debut and although I knew the colt, coming here undefeated, would be heavily backed and the pressure would be great, I believed that if I put my concentration on using whatever skills I had as a rider and bring out the best performance from my horse, that we would have a great chance of winning. The pace wasn’t that fast, so we were able to cruise along in a good position but we were a little tight going into the stretch and I could be sure of my win until the end.”

Eighth choice Titleholder jumped out from an outside draw, disputed the lead with World Revival and eventually settled in second position. Joined by Red Belle Aube in chasing the leader for the last half of the trip, the two horses ran in tandem with World Revival with Titleholder having a slight advantage up to the early stretch. While already taken over by the eventual winner in the early stretch, the Duramente colt showed tremendous effort in staying well to finish second best while unable to reach the winner.

Sixth favorite Stella Veloce was unhurried and saved ground well off the pace in mid-field. The Bago colt closed up with the rest of the field approaching the fourth corner while patiently waiting for an opening near the inside behind the eventual winner, then turned in an impressive turn of speed matching the winner in the last three furlongs, passing the tired early pacesetter in the last furlong and closing in rapidly to reach within a neck of Titleholder for third.

Other Horses:
4th: (1) Admire Hadar—hugged rails around 6th, switched to outside turning last corners, sustained bid
5th: (6) Yoho Lake—settled around 10th, driven after 3rd corner, showed fastest late kick but belatedly
6th: (15) Gratias—ran 3-wide around 6th, responded after disadvantage at early stretch
7th: (11) Deep Monster—traveled around 14th, circled wide, passed tired rivals
8th: (16) Red Belle Aube—sat 4-wide around 6th, gradually made headway to 2nd, weakened in last 200m
9th: (5) Victipharus—positioned around 10th, checked at early stretch, showed brief effort
10th: (4) Elusive Panther—saved ground around 14th, never fired at stretch
11th: (10) Chevalier Rose—raced 3-wide around 10th, angled out for stretch run, showed little
12th: (12) World Revival—set pace, gradually fell back after top of stretch
13th: (9) Lagom—settled 3-wide around 7th, outrun after turning final corner
14th: (2) Lupus Tesoro—trailed in rear, advanced briefly, no factor
16th: (14) Asamano Itazura—traveled 3-wide in 5th, bumped at final corner, faded

THE 81ST SATSUKI SHO (JAPANESE 2000 GUINEAS, G1)
3-year-olds, Colts & Fillies, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 18, 2021         Nakayama Racecourse         11th Race        Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 238,600,000 (about US$ 2,273,000 <US$1=¥105>)
3-y-o: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2018
Course Record: 1:57.8         Race Record: 1:57.8 [Al Ain (JPN, by Deep Impact), 2017]
Safety factor: 18 runners     Going: Good         Weather: Fine

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 19,172,667,100       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 28,460,423,800       Attendance: 3,005

Winner= 4 starts, 4 wins / Added money: ¥ 136,432,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 192,148,000

* Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (G1)

The Satsuki Sho, which is the first of the three legs of JRA’s Triple Crown Classics for three-year-olds including the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m), is comparable to the British Two Thousand Guineas. The “Yokohama Norinsho Shoten Yonsai Yobiuma”, the precursor of the Satsuki Sho, was first run over 1,850 meters at Yokohama Racecourse in 1939 then moved its venue to Tokyo Racecourse four years later before given its current name and shifted again to Nakayama in 1949—the distance was also altered to 2,000 meters in the following year.
Nine of the past Satsuki Sho champions since 2005 subsequently received the JRA Best Three-Year-Old Colt Award, in recognition of their outstanding performances throughout the year—Deep Impact (JPN, Sunday Silence) in 2005, Meisho Samson (JPN, by Opera House) in 2006, Victoire Pisa (JPN, by Neo Universe) in 2010, Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) in 2011, Gold Ship (JPN, by Stay Gold) in 2012, Isla Bonita (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki) in 2014, Duramente (JPN, by King Kamehameha) in 2015, Saturnalia (JPN, by Lord Kanaloa) in 2019 and Contrail (JPN, by Deep Impact) last year.
This year’s Satsuki Sho featured 2020 Best Two-Year-Old Colt and Hopeful Stakes (G1, 2,000m) victor Danon the Kid who commenced his 2021 campaign with a third in the trial, the Yayoi Sho Deep Impact Kinen (G2, 2,000m, Mar.7), which was won by Titleholder. Those who earned their tickets to run in the first leg of the Triple Crown in other trials were: Admire Hadar (1st) and Chevalier Rose (2nd) from the Wakaba Stakes (Listed, 2,000m, Mar.20); and Victipharus (1st) and Asamano Itazura (2nd) from the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m; Mar.21). Key runners coming off other races included Gratias, Efforia and Deep Monster, respective winners of the Keisei Hai (G3, 2,000m, Jan.17), the Kyodo News Hai (G3, 1,800m, Feb.14) and the Sumire Stakes (Listed, 2,200m, Feb.28), as well as Lagom and Yoho Lake who were the top two finishers in that order in the Kisaragi Sho (G3, 2,000m, Feb.7).