2022 News

June 5, 2022

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Songline Secures First Grade One Victory in Yasuda Kinen
Yasuda Kinen (G1)

Yasuda Kinen (G1)

Fourth favorite Songline bounced back from her latest Victoria Mile (G1, 1,600m) fifth-place finish to land her first G1 victory in this year’s Yasuda Kinen. Finishing a nose second to Schnell Meister in last year’s NHK Mile Cup (G1, 1,600m), the Kizuna filly turned the tables this time holding off the German-bred colt by a neck. Following the 2021 Fuji Stakes (G2, 1,600m) and this year’s 1351 Turf Sprint (G3), this marks the filly’s third grade-race title. Winning trainer Toru Hayashi, who opened his yard in 2018, celebrates his fifth grade-race victory and first JRA-G1 title while jockey Kenichi Ikezoe has now 27 G1 wins—his latest was with Gran Alegria in the 2020 Yasuda Kinen.

After breaking sharply from stall 13, Songline was settled behind Salios and in front of Schnell Meister in mid-pack as the field cruised down the backstretch in a leisurely pace. Making headway while shifting to the outside before the last corner, the Kizuna filly unleashed a good and tenacious stretch drive, finally catching Salios in the last half furlong and held off Schnell Meister, who dug in with great force from behind, to clear the wire first.

“I’m just relieved and happy that I was able to live up to the team’s expectations. It was a tight schedule for the filly but the staff at the stables prepared her remarkably. She broke well and I decided to settle her behind Salios who rushed up in front of us. Trying not to make the same mistake as last time, we made an early bid before the last corner and she responded well and stretched all the way for a strong finish,” commented Kenichi Ikezoe.

Second pick and G1 winner Schnell Meister broke well but was settled in mid-division under jockey Christophe Lemaire after a bit keen in the backstretch. Boxed in after rounding for home, the son of Kingman struggled to find room climbing the hill and finally shot out between horses to overtake Salios at the same time Songline did on the other side but was a neck short in second.

Eighth favorite Salios, under Damian Lane, took a wide trip around seventh just in front of the eventual winner, responded well to rally for the lead but weakened in the last 100 meters and gave way to Songline and then the fast-closing Schnell Meister in the last strides for third.

Race favorite Elusive Panther trailed near the rear before hitting the straight in a wide move and quickened in the last 200 meters while clocking the fastest late kick but had too much ground to make up and finished eighth.

Other Horses:
4th: (15) Serifos—sat near eventual winner, showed effort but failed to close in on leaders
5th: (7) Fine Rouge—ran forwardly around 5th, ran willingly while no match for top finishers
6th: (4) Danon the Kid—stalked leader in 2nd, took lead 300m out, weakened in last 100m
7th: (10) Air Lolonois—positioned near rear, angled out, showed fastest late drive but belatedly
9th: (18) Naran Huleg—unhurried around 15th, passed tiring rivals at stretch
10th: (3) Lotus Land—raced around 9th, struggled to find clear path at early stretch, even paced
11th: (16) Resistencia—rallied for lead but eased back to 5-6th, ran gamely until 100m out
12th: (5) Ho O Amazon—set pace, showed tenacity on rails until 200m marker, weakened thereafter
13th: (14) Soul Rush—traveled around 13th, showed response but met traffic 200m out, lost momentum
14th: (12) Diatonic—tracked leaders around 3rd while keen to go, outrun in last 200m
15th: (2) Vin de Garde—saved ground around 7th, lacked needed kick
16th: (6) Karate—took economic trip around 10th, showed little at stretch
17th: (1) Cafe Pharoah—chased leaders around 3rd, faded after 200m pole
18th: (11) Catedral—was off a bit slow, trailed in rear, no factor

THE 72ND YASUDA KINEN (G1)
3-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, June 5, 2022           Tokyo Racecourse          11th Race           Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 388,800,000 (about US$ 3,381,000 <US$1=¥115>)
3-y-o: 54kg (about 119 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2018, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2019
Course Record: 1:30.5         Race Record: 1:30.9 [Indy Champ (JPN, by Stay Gold), 2019]
Safety factor: 18 runners      Going: Good to Firm       Weather: Cloudy

FP BK PP Horse
Jockey
S&A
Color
Wgt
Odds
(Fav)
Margin
(L3F)
Sire
Dam
(Dam’s Sire)
Owner
Breeder
Trainer
1 7 13 Songline (JPN)
Kenichi Ikezoe
F4
br.
56.0
8.2
(4)
1:32.3
(32.9)
Kizuna
Luminous Parade
(Symboli Kris S)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Toru Hayashi
2 5 9 Schnell Meister (GER)
Christophe Lemaire
C4
b.
58.0
4.9
(2)
Neck
(32.9)
Kingman
Serienholde
(Soldier Hollow)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Takahisa Tezuka
3 8 17 Salios (JPN)
Damian Lane
H5
ch.
58.0
15.7
(8)
Head
(33.0)
Heart's Cry
Salomina
(Lomitas)
Silk Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Noriyuki Hori
4 7 15 Serifos (JPN)
Yusuke Fujioka
C3
ch.
54.0
8.7
(5)
1/2
(32.8)
Daiwa Major
Sea Front
(Le Havre)
G1 Racing Co., Ltd.
Oiwake Farm
Mitsumasa Nakauchida
5 4 7 Fine Rouge (JPN)
Yutaka Take
F4
b.
56.0
7.8
(3)
Neck
(33.5)
Kizuna
Passion Rouge
(Boston Harbor)
Genichi Mutsui
Northern Racing
Tetsuya Kimura
6 2 4 Danon the Kid (JPN)
Yuga Kawada
C4
b.
58.0
10.9
(7)
Nose
(33.7)
Just a Way
Epic Love
(Dansili)
Danox Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Takayuki Yasuda
7 5 10 Air Lolonois (JPN)
Hideaki Miyuki
H5
b.
58.0
135.0
(16)
1/2
(32.6)
King Kamehameha
Air One Piece
(Rock of Gibraltar)
Lucky Field Co., Ltd.
Tsunebumi Yoshihara
Kazuhide Sasada
8 4 8 Elusive Panther (JPN)
Hironobu Tanabe
C4
d.b.
58.0
4.5
(1)
Nose
(32.6)
Heart's Cry
Elusive Cat
(King Kamehameha)
Tsunefumi Kusama
Oiwake Farm
Takashi Kubota
9 8 18 Naran Huleg (JPN)
Kyosuke Maruta
H6
ch.
58.0
52.1
(12)
3/4
(33.1)
Gold Allure
Kelley's Beauty
(Brian's Time)
Katsushige Muraki
Mrs Setsuko Sakato
Yoshitada Munakata
10 2 3 Lotus Land (USA)
Mirco Demuro
M5
b.
56.0
36.2
(11)
Neck
(33.5)
Point of Entry
Little Miss Muffet
(Scat Daddy)
Kobayashi Eiichi Holdings LLC.
Dr. Aaron Sones & Dr. Naoya Yoshida
Yasuyuki Tsujino
11 8 16 Resistencia (JPN)
Takeshi Yokoyama
M5
b.
56.0
21.0
(9)
Neck
(33.6)
Daiwa Major
Malacostumbrada
(Lizard Island)
Carrot Farm Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Takeshi Matsushita
12 3 5 Ho O Amazon (JPN)
Ryusei Sakai
C4
ch.
58.0
60.1
(15)
1/2
(34.1)
King Kamehameha
Hikaru Amaranthus
(Agnes Tachyon)
Yoshihisa Ozasa
Northern Racing
Yoshito Yahagi
13 7 14
B
Soul Rush (JPN)
Suguru Hamanaka
C4
d.b.
58.0
10.0
(6)
Neck
(33.3)
Rulership
Eternal Bouquet
(Manhattan Cafe)
Tatsue Ishikawa
Shimokobe Farm
Yasutoshi Ikee
14 6 12 Diatonic (JPN)
Yasunari Iwata
H7
b.
58.0
142.7
(17)
1/2
(34.1)
Lord Kanaloa
To Harmony
(Sunday Silence)
Silk Racing Co., Ltd.
Sakai Bokujo
Takayuki Yasuda
15 1 2 Vin de Garde (JPN)
Mirai Iwata
H6
b.
58.0
56.3
(13)
1-1/2
(34.0)
Deep Impact
Skia
(Motivator)
Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.
Shadai Farm
Hideaki Fujiwara
16 3 6 Karate (JPN)
Akira Sugawara
H6
d.b.
58.0
57.9
(14)
Neck
(33.8)
To the Glory
Lady no Punch
(French Deputy)
Hikaru Odagiri
Yuichi Odagiri
Yasuyuki Tsujino
17 1 1 Cafe Pharoah (USA)
Yuichi Fukunaga
H5
b.
58.0
21.6
(10)
Head
(34.4)
American Pharoah
Mary's Follies
(More Than Ready)
Koichi Nishikawa
Paul P. Pompa
Noriyuki Hori
18 6 11
B
Catedral (JPN)
Keita Tosaki
H6
b.
58.0
203.4
(18)
4
(34.2)
Heart's Cry
Abyla
(Rock of Gibraltar)
Carrot Farm Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Manabu Ikezoe
FP: Final Position / BK: Bracket Number / PP: Post Position / S&A: Sex & Age / Wgt: Weight (kg) / DH: Dead Heat / L3F: Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m)
Color: b.=bay / bl.=black / br.=brown / ch.=chestnut / d.b.=dark bay / d.ch.=dark chestnut / g.=gray / w.=white
Note1: No Foreign Contenders
Note2: Figures quoted under Odds are shown in form of decimal odds (single unit is ¥100), and Fav indicates the order of favorites.

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 22,229,119,400       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 33,368,170,900       Attendance: 32,471

PAY-OFF (for ¥100)
Win No.13 ¥ 820 Bracket Quinella 5-7 ¥ 720 Quinella 9-13 ¥ 1,740
Place No.13 ¥ 260 Quinella Place 9-13 ¥ 830 Exacta 13-9 ¥ 3,740
No.9 ¥ 210 13-17 ¥ 2,770 Trio 9-13-17 ¥ 11,810
No.17 ¥ 520 9-17 ¥ 1,470 Trifecta 13-9-17 ¥ 64,140

Winner= 11 starts: 5 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third / Added money: ¥ 183,822,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 441,669,300

Fractional time (sec./furlong): 12.2 - 11.0 - 11.5 - 12.0 - 12.0 - 11.2 - 11.0 - 11.4
Last 4 furlongs: 45.6            Last 3 furlongs: 33.6

Positions at each corner: 3rd corner (*5,4)(1,12)(7,16)(2,17)3(6,13,15)(14,9)(11,18)(8,10)
4th corner (*5,4)(1,7,12)(2,3,16)17(6,9,13)(14,18,15)(11,8,10)

Note1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse.
Note2: Horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more horses inside the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse numbers indicate that there is distance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.

 

* Yasuda Kinen (G1)

The Yasuda Kinen, a race to determine the best miler of the spring season, has welcomed just over 50 foreign-trained horses since its designation as an international race in 1993, including 1995 champion Heart Lake (GB, by Nureyev) from the UAE, 2000 winner Fairy King Prawn (AUS, by Danehill) from Hong Kong and the winner of the 2006 Champions Mile-Yasuda Kinen double, Bullish Luck (USA, by Royal Academy). The race joined the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2016, enabling its winners to earn automatic starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1, 1,600m), while the first three finishers of this race are eligible to start in the French mile G1s, the Prix Jacques le Marois and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. This year, the race was held in celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the first President of the JRA, Izaemon Yasuda, whom the race is named after.
Past Yasuda Kinen winners that have subsequently become the season’s Horse of the Year include Oguri Cap (JPN, by Dancing Cap; ’90), Taiki Shuttle (USA, by Devil’s Bag; ’98), Vodka (JPN, by Tanino Gimlet; ’08 &’09), Lord Kanaloa (JPN, by King Kamehameha; ’13) and Maurice (JPN, by Screen Hero; ’15).
Runners this year included Soul Rush who marked his fourth consecutive win in the Milers Cup (G2, 1,600m, Apr.24), one of the preps towards this G1 event, and Ho O Amazon who followed in second. Elusive Panther, Cafe Pharoah and Naran Huleg came off their respective wins in the Tokyo Shimbun Hai (G3, 1,600m, Feb.6), the February Stakes (G1, dirt, 1,600m, Feb.20) and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1, 1,200m, Mar.27). Victoria Mile (G1, 1,600m, May.15) finishers that were among the lineup were Fine Rouge (2nd), Resistencia (3rd) and Songline (5th). 2020 Best Two-Year-Old Colt Danon the Kid, Vin de Garde and Schnell Meister (8th) who came off third and eighth, respectively, in the Dubai Turf (G1, 1,800m, Mar.26) were also in the field along with Lotus Land, runner-up in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, and Salios, victor of 2019 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, 1,600m).

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