2022 News

October 30, 2022

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Equinox Excels over Proven Field in the Tenno Sho (Autumn)
Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1)

Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1)

Equinox showcased intimidating speed in dominating the 15-horse field of graded winners in this year’s Tenno Sho (Autumn). Following last year’s victor Efforia to capture the title as a three-year-old, the brown colt marked his first win in his first attempt against older foes and in claiming a G1 race open to four-year-old and up in his fifth-career start, makes him the fastest to do so in JRA history. The son of Kitasan Black registered two wins out of as many starts in his two-year-old season which included the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G2, 1,800m), and was runner-up in both legs of this year’s Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m) in April and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) in May, by a length and a neck, respectively. He has given his sire Kitasan Black—seven-time JRA-G1 winner including the 2017 Tenno Sho (Autumn)—his first G1 title. This is the third JRA-G1 victory for trainer Tetsuya Kimura who landed this year’s Satsuki Sho with Geoglyph, while jockey Christophe Lemaire pocketed his 42nd JRA-G1 win—his latest was the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Stars on Earth—while adding another Tenno Sho (Autumn) title following wins with Rey de Oro (2018) and Almond Eye (2019,20).

Sent off race favorite, Equinox was reserved 10th from the front while Panthalassa,under jockey Yutaka Yoshida, took the early lead as expected and set a rapid pace running 1,000 meters in 57.4 seconds. Following Panthalassa, who expanded his huge lead to 15 lengths by the third corner,the three-year-old coltwas seen still near the rear of the field coming out of the last turn. It was from there that the colt unleashed a spectacular and fastest drive down the straight picking off his rivals one by one and after pulling away from a stubborn Jack d’Or 100 meters out, finally swooped past the tiring pacesetter in the final strides to notch a length victory.

“I’m happy that we were able to catch Panthalassa. When I saw him way in front of us after turning into the straight, the huge gap did worry me a bit, but my colt gave his best and displayed an incredible turn of foot. If he comes out of this race safe and well, he has every chance to do well in the Japan Cup or the Arima Kinen. This was his first G1 win but definitely not his last,” commented Christophe Lemaire after the race.

Fourth pick Danon Beluga settled behind the race favorite in 11th, ran strongly with the second fastest last three-furlong drive to threaten on an inner route and while failing to keep up with the winner’s speed and catching the runner-up, was able to secure third place in overtaking Jack d’Or right before the wire.

Equinox is the first race favorite to win a G1 flat race since Efforia’s victory in the Arima Kinen last year.

Other Horses:
4th: (9) Jack d’Or—raced towards front in 4th, advanced to 2nd 300m out, ran gamely, weakened in last 100m
5th: (8) Shahryar—traveled 3-wide around 5th, accelerated but no match for top finishers
6th: (2) Karate—sat around 8th in front of winner, showed belated charge along rails
7th: (1) Maria Elena—positioned around 5th on rails, showed effort but needed more
8th: (14) Uberleben—unhurried in 14th, angled out, passed tiring rivals
9th: (6) Geoglyph—ran around 8th, even paced at stretch
10th: (13) Ablaze—sat 3-wide around 8th, gradually made headway, lacked needed kick
11th: (10) North Bridge—rallied for lead in first 400m, raced in third, fell back after 300m out
12th: (15) Cadenas—was off slow, trailed in rear, never threatened
13th: (4) Potager—saved ground around 11th, unable to reach contention
14th: (11) Red Galant—traveled on rails in 13th, no factor
15th: (12) Babbitt—advanced to chase leader in second, faded after 300m out

THE 166TH TENNO SHO (AUTUMN) (G1)
3-year-olds & up, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, October 30, 2022      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: 56kg (about 123-124 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs),
2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2019
Course Record: 1:56.1            Race Record: 1:56.1 [Tosen Jordan (JPN, by Jungle Pocket), 2011]
Safety factor: 18 runners        Going: Good to Firm    Weather: Fine

FP BK PP Horse
Jockey
S&A
Color
Wgt
Odds
(Fav)
Margin
(L3F)
Sire
Dam
(Dam’s Sire)
Owner
Breeder
Trainer
1 4 7 Equinox (JPN)
Christophe Lemaire
C3
br.
56.0
2.6
(1)
1:57.5
(32.7)
Kitasan Black
Chateau Blanche
(King Halo)
Silk Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Tetsuya Kimura
2 2 3 Panthalassa (JPN)
Yutaka Yoshida
H5
b.
58.0
22.8
(7)
1
(36.8)
Lord Kanaloa
Miss Pemberley
(Montjeu)
Hiroo Race Co., Ltd.
PANGLOSS Y.K., Toshihiro Hirosaki et al.
Yoshito Yahagi
3 3 5 Danon Beluga (JPN)
Yuga Kawada
C3
b.
56.0
7.3
(4)
Neck
(32.8)
Heart's Cry
Coasted
(Tizway)
Danox Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Noriyuki Hori
4 5 9 Jack d'Or (JPN)
Yusuke Fujioka
C4
ch.
58.0
5.0
(3)
1/2
(33.5)
Maurice
Ravarino
(Unbridled's Song)
Toshiyuki Maehara
Crown Co., Ltd.
Kenichi Fujioka
5 5 8 Shahryar (JPN)
Cristian Demuro
C4
d.b.
58.0
4.4
(2)
2
(33.6)
Deep Impact
Dubai Majesty
(Essence of Dubai)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Hideaki Fujiwara
6 2 2 Karate (JPN)
Akira Sugawara
H6
d.b.
58.0
39.4
(9)
1
(33.4)
To the Glory
Lady no Punch
(French Deputy)
Hikaru Odagiri
Yuichi Odagiri
Yasuyuki Tsujino
7 1 1 Maria Elena (JPN)
Kohei Matsuyama
F4
g.
56.0
20.9
(6)
Nose
(33.5)
Kurofune
Tenderly Voice
(Deep Impact)
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Inc.
Naohiro Yoshida
8 8 14 Uberleben (JPN)
Mirco Demuro
F4
br.
56.0
43.8
(10)
Neck
(33.3)
Gold Ship
Meine Theresia
(Roses in May)
Thoroughbred Club Ruffian Co., Ltd.
Big Red Farm
Takahisa Tezuka
9 4 6 Geoglyph (JPN)
Yuichi Fukunaga
C3
ch.
56.0
9.1
(5)
Neck
(33.6)
Drefong
Aromatico
(King Kamehameha)
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Tetsuya Kimura
10 7 13 Ablaze (JPN)
Tom Marquand
M5
br.
56.0
179.0
(13)
Neck
(33.7)
Kizuna
Etain
(Jungle Pocket)
Koki Maeda
North Hills Co,. Ltd.
Yasutoshi Ikee
11 6 10 North Bridge (JPN)
Yasunari Iwata
C4
b.
58.0
59.9
(11)
Head
(34.0)
Maurice
Amazing Moon
(Admire Moon)
Noboru Iyama
Murata Bokujo
Takeshi Okumura
12 8 15 Cadenas (JPN)
Kosei Miura
H8
b.
58.0
286.9
(15)
Neck
(33.2)
Deep Impact
French Riviera
(French Deputy)
Koji Maeda
Grand Stud
Kazuya Nakatake
13 3 4 Potager (JPN)
Hayato Yoshida
H5
b.
58.0
34.6
(8)
Neck
(33.4)
Deep Impact
Ginger Punch
(Awesome Again)
Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Yasuo Tomomichi
14 6 11 Red Galant (JPN)
Kazuo Yokoyama
H7
b.
58.0
279.7
(14)
1-1/2
(33.4)
Lord Kanaloa
Dance on the Roof
(Symboli Kris S)
Tokyo Horse Racing Co., Ltd.
Shadai Farm
Takayuki Yasuda
15 7 12 Babbitt (JPN)
Norihiro Yokoyama
H5
ch.
58.0
173.4
(12)
Head
(34.6)
Nakayama Festa
Art Ryoko
(Taiki Shuttle)
Naoya Miyata
Taihoku Stud Co., Ltd.
Tamio Hamada
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: ¥ 22,152,374,100       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 32,602,890,300       Attendance: 62,958

PAY-OFF (for ¥100)
Win No.7 ¥ 260 Bracket Quinella 2-4 ¥ 1,680 Quinella 3-7 ¥ 3,330
Place No.7 ¥ 130 Quinella Place 3-7 ¥ 1,210 Exacta 7-3 ¥ 4,930
No.3 ¥ 470 5-7 ¥ 320 Trio 3-5-7 ¥ 4,400
No.5 ¥ 220 3-5 ¥ 2,260 Trifecta 7-3-5 ¥ 23,370

Winner= 5 starts: 3 wins, 2 seconds / Added money: ¥ 203,150,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 403,242,000

Fractional time (sec./furlong): 12.6 - 10.9 - 11.2 - 11.3 - 11.4 - 11.6 - 11.8 - 11.6 - 12.4 - 12.7
Last 4 furlongs: 48.5            Last 3 furlongs: 36.7

Positions at each corner: 2nd corner 3(10,12)(1,9)(6,8)(2,13)7,5,4-11-14-15
3rd corner 3=12-10,9(1,8)(2,6,13)7(4,5)(11,14)15
4th corner 3=12(10,9)(8,13)(1,6)(2,7)(4,5,14)(11,15)

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.

 

* Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1)

“The Emperor’s Cup” was first held in 1905 to encourage the horse racing sport through annual events that gave the winner the highest honor of being awarded the Imperial prize. Then the Tenno Sho (Autumn) was established in 1937 together with its counterpart, Tenno Sho (Spring), under the name “Teishitsu Goshoten Kyoso” and held biannually in both the Eastern and Western part of Japan. The race was officially renamed the “Tenno Sho” in 1947. Both the spring and autumn races, which secured its status as the most prestigious events for older horses, were run over 3,200 meters in the early years. Later, the autumn version was shortened to 2,000 meters in 1984 so that the spring version could determine the best stayer, while the Tenno Sho (Autumn) would be the main target for middle-distance champions. This also gives the three-year-olds, who find the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m), to be beyond their suitability, an alternative G1 as the ultimate goal for their autumn campaign. The Tenno Sho (Autumn) entered a new chapter in its long history when opening its doors to foreign contenders as an international race in 2005.
Last year’s victor and 2021 Horse of the Year Efforia (JPN, C4, by Epiphaneia) had trouble regaining his form after a couple of disappointing results in his two spring starts and is headed for the Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m) on December 25 instead.
This year’s field included Sapporo Kinen (G2, 2,000m, Aug.21) finishers: winner Jack d’Or who claimed his second graded title with the win; this year’s Dubai Turf (G1, 1,800m) winner Panthalassa who finished second; and last year’s Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1, 2,400m) victor Uberleben who was 11th. Other older contenders included Shahryar and Potager, respective champions of the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, 2,410m) in March and the Osaka Hai (G1, 2,000m) in April, as well as Maria Elena and Karate who came off their wins in the Kokura Kinen (G3, 2,000m, Aug.14) and the Niigata Kinen (G3, 2,000m, Sep.4), respectively. From the three-year-old generation, Geoglyph, victor of the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m), Equinox who secured second in both classics, and Danon Beluga, winner of the Kyodo News Hai (G3, 1,800m) faced older foes for the first time in this race.

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