Bouton d'Or

Manabu Ikezoe, trainer
“In the Fillies’ Revue, she was hanging out around the later turns and that’s something we’d never seen before. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe rode work on March 29 over the woodchip course. When he got after her, she did seem to quicken more. I changed her bit to a ring bit and I plan to have her in that for the race too. I think she’s a sprinter by nature, but we’d had this race in our sights from early on and we taught her to hold back in the 1,400 meters, so now we’ll try her at the mile. There’ll be a jockey change, so I’m hoping he’ll bring out her best.”

Hisashi Shimizu, trainer
“She started from the far outside gate in the Anemone Stakes and traveled on the outside from start to finish. I think it was quite a lot of extra ground to cover, but she picked it up very nicely in the stretch on the outside. She went to the farm for a bit after that and she was looking good as usual when she returned to the training center. Last week, she had a good hard workout alongside another horse on the woodchip flat course. We put blinkers on her for the first time in her last race and I think that helped her concentrate to the end. They definitely helped in some way. She ran well last time and I think she’ll do even better on the Hanshin outer course.”

Doe Eyes

Yasushi Shono, trainer
“In the Queen Cup, she went right in to where things were tight and split the ranks. It was so close, and such a frustrating race. Even though she’s a petite filly, she took up position in amid the other horses and held it. She’s got to have guts to be able to do that. After that race and a bit of time, she filled out and now gives the impression that she’s much stronger. On March 29, she worked with another horse, keeping that horse in sight and the rider focusing on how well in tune she was with him. She did tense up a bit in places, but she was able to shift into high well and I think her movement was good. Going in to the Oka Sho directly from the Queen Cup was always the plan. The lineup is strong, but this horse has matured and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of race she’ll give us.”

Dura

Atsushi Nishioka, assistant trainer
“When I saw her in the saddling enclosure before the Tulip Sho (15th place), I thought she looked in really great shape. Even considering she was racing for the first time in three months, she just took too long to gain ground. Even if she’d had a clear path, I can’t even say she’d have done any better. We’ve changed her routine in order to not overdo it on the woodchip flat course. Also, because we’re looking to the mile, we are only giving her short workouts. She’s catching and passing the other horse easily. Her breathing is good afterward too. Last week, she had gate practice and she loaded and stood well in the gate. I think the mile may be a bit too busy for her, but we’re focusing on getting her better one thing at a time.”

Emu

Shoichiro Wada, trainer
“She’s had a hard schedule, but she’s looking good and there was no damage anywhere. She’s eating well and she has regained the weight she’d lost so I decided to race her here. Things have gone as planned. Last week on March 29, she worked at a pace of about 14-15 seconds per furlong. On Friday, she went to Ritto Training Center. If she’s too much on her game, she’ll just go around spinning her wheels, so I’m being careful to prepare her in such a way that that doesn’t happen. She’s had a lot of races, so there’s no need to give her any more hard work. In both her last two starts, she showed us some good footwork in the final stage. She has won handily at Nakayama, but I wonder how she’ll do on the Hanshin outer course. I can’t say whether she’s suited to the course or not, but she’s not a horse that needs any special conditions to travel well, so I think she’ll be able to handle it just fine.”

Harper

Yasuo Tomomichi, trainer
“In her two races before the Queen Cup, she was very concerned about the other horses around her, so I put cheekpieces on her during trackwork. They seemed to help, so we used them in the race too, and even when things got difficult in the first half she didn’t shrink back, and she went on to win. Along with some time spent off at the farm, we’ve been training her with this race as our main goal. She worked in a group of three on March 30 over the woodchip flat and got a good hard workout. We picked up the pace sharply partway through and her response was a bit off for a moment, but she covered the last furlong in 11 seconds flat. Her footwork was good once she got her engine revved. She was well in hand and accelerated nicely when pushed on. She’s a good eater for a filly and she has maintained her condition. I think from her body type that she is really suited to longer distances, but I think she should be OK at Hanshin with its long homestretch and only one turn.”

Kodai Hasegawa, trainer
“She’s good in the finish and I think if she’d just broken better last time out, we’d have seen better results. Two weeks ago, with the care we gave her to get over her last race, and an eye on her recovery, I saw that she was largely back in shape so I gave her a pretty hard workout last week. She responded well to the rider’s signals and I think it was a good workout. She’s calm during gate practice, but key will be how relaxed she is on raceday. There are a lot of strong horses, so I’m hoping she’ll be able to give us a strong race.”

Kita Wing

Shigeyuki Kojima, trainer
“She’d won two graded stakes already, but the object of racing her in the Tulip Sho was to give her more experience. And my hope was that she would race without incident and that it would stand her well for her next race. The jockey did a good job there, but in the stretch another horse got in her way. With the competition as it was, I think if her trip had been smoother, she would have finished among the top. I’ve continued to prepare her at Ritto and last week, she worked up the hill course with a 3-win class older horse and she moved nicely, without almost no encouragement from the rider. So far, all’s good. I’m hoping for a smooth race this time, one where she’ll be able to access the power she has.”

Kona Coast

Hisashi Shimizu, trainer
“If she was going to do as well as she did in the Tulip Sho (second place), I wished she had won. The winner went wire to wire and if you consider that, this one really tried hard. She won her ticket to the Oka Sho and earned some money. After that race she went to the farm for a while and all has gone well since she returned to the training center. She worked alongside another horse last week over the woodchip flat course and it was good solid workout. She finished second in both her last two starts, upon returning from time off in the Elfin Stakes and next up in the Tulip Sho. This will be her third race back and I think we can still expect improvement. The competition takes a huge leap up, so I don’t know how that will go, but she has good racing sense. I’ve brought her up to peak condition again and she’ll be going to the gate in good shape.”

Liberty Island

Mitsumasa Nakauchida, trainer
“Jockey Yuga Kawada rode work on April 5 and was able to get a good reading on her. The main objective was to put the finishing touches on her movement going into the race. I think it was excellent work and she’ll go to the gate in good shape. She won very strongly in her last race, the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. I think she’s learned very well each time she has raced. Before that, in the Artemis Stakes she was able to race in among the pack and was able to run with a nice rhythm as the jockey had taught her. Giving her ample time to mature in between her debut and the Artemis Stakes was a great help. I think her strongpoints are her acceleration and her ability to shift gears into top speed. She is still immature in some ways, so I am hoping she will mature more mentally. I would like to see her have a fast track on Sunday. I am really grateful to have a horse like this to run in the Oka Sho this year. I think she’ll give us some good solid results.”

Light Quantum

Koshiro Take, trainer
“She had hard workouts last week on Wednesday and on Sunday. This Wednesday, it was just some finishing touches. If she has a training partner she tends to tense up, and we were careful not to get too fast a time when she was running alone. She’s been getting work over a long span of time and I feel that all has gone well. In her previous race, the Shinzan Kinen, she wasn’t worked up but she did weigh less on raceday than she had at Ritto. I did still think she’d be able to run a strong race. However, she did act up a bit in the gate and raced from further back than in her debut. She leaned to the right in spots and it wasn’t the smoothest race. She was still able to win and there was enough time between that race and the Oka Sho. I didn’t send her to the farm right away after the Shinzan Kinen, but instead worked on getting her better on the bit. Then she went to the farm. We’ll have to be very careful in the gate and then be careful of the other horses. She has speed, so I think if she breaks well, she’ll be able to get a pretty good forward position. I hope she’ll get a fast track.”

Moon Probe

Hiroyuki Uemura, trainer
“She was in such good shape for the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies that she was just too raring to go. So, for the Fillies’ Revue, I prepared her in such a way that she’d be a bit more relaxed. If she was going to do as good as she was (second place), I’d rather she’d have won, but with an eye to her next race, she did well. She was in top shape for that race, so the problem has been how to keep her at her peak until the main event. Her fast work was up the hill last week and she didn’t seem to tense up. I think I’ll hold off a bit in her training this time and that should stand her well. The way she’s looking now she’ll be able to handle the mile. She has won over the Hanshin mile too. It’ll be good if she can stay in tune with the rider and have something left for the final stage.”

Mozu Meimei

Kenichi Shono, assistant trainer
“She started really well in the Tulip Sho and easily went to the front. She was able to travel at her own pace, with a nice rhythm. She’s finally gotten good on the bit now and her balance has gotten better, so she can race more solidly now. We let her take it easy the week after the Tulip Sho and she recovered fully from the effort. Two weeks ago, she clocked 54.2 seconds up the hill course and everything to date has gone smoothly. We wanted the jockey (Ryuji Wada) to get a reading on her, so we had him ride on March 29 up the hill. This week, we just breezed her and I think she’s in excellent shape. She doesn’t necessarily have to take the lead and she’s won twice at Hanshin mile in a row. It’s the same course this time, which is good for her.”

Perifania

Yuichi Shikato, trainer
“She went for a position from the far outside gate in the Tulip Sho, and that brought her out of balance in places. The race unfolded in a rather difficult way, but she’d only had one previous start and was returning from a layoff, so to go for the win on her own was something. She definitely gained something from that race and she is one talented filly. She went to the farm for a bit after that and came back to the training center on March 25. Last week, I had her work with another horse and overtake that horse, which she did easily. I think she’ll go into the race looking good. Her breathing isn’t the best yet, but I’m hoping that as she gets stronger, her lungs will get stronger too. It’s a strong field, but I think that her last race will have sharpened her up and I’m looking forward to seeing just how well she can do.”

Ravel

Takahide Ando, assistant trainer
“She had the far outside gate in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, couldn’t get cover, and was unbalanced in spots. After that, she had some time off at the farm. Since she easily gets worked up, we didn’t give her a prep and focused on this race alone. Up to now, we’d have her work alongside another horse in trackwork the week before race week, but this time she worked alone as we wanted to focus on keeping her on an even keel. She was a bit unbalanced, but her rhythm wasn’t that bad. Though she has lost weight and she was at 452kg last week, it doesn’t seem to be because she loses her appetite after hard work. We’re going into the race with the problem still unsolved, but I’m hoping she’ll relax and run well through the final preparation for the race.”

Masahiro Takeuchi, trainer
“I’d nominated her even when there was still the chance that she wouldn’t get a berth in the final gate, but I’d also thought that we could race her in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) if she didn’t get in. On March 29, her work showed me that she was ready for either the Oka Sho or the Satsuki Sho. Her preparations have gone well with no problems at all. In any case, the key point of her training is to have her learn to wait patiently for a signal, so she doesn’t overdo it. And because we’ve been able to do that, she’s much calmer now than she was before. I think she’ll be in satisfactory shape on raceday.”

Sing That Song

Tomokazu Takano, trainer
“In the Elfin Stakes, the race before the Fillies’ Revue, she was bothered by another horse and ran off to the outside. I figured that kind of behavior was something we had to work on, so we started working on her break during morning work. In the Fillies’ Revue, the jockey was holding her back as the pace was strong. Even considering that, winning from the position she was in just shows how much ability she has. It was a very good race. After we checked that she’d come out of the race unscathed, I focused on not getting her stressed rather than getting more muscle on her. She still has a lot of things that need work. She doesn’t run straight and she’ll make it clear when she’s not enjoying running. We’ll keep working on it so that she’ll be able to handle a lot more situations. The main focus has been to get her more ridable for the jockey. I think she’ll be able to handle the mile and it’ll be good if she can run her own race.”

Michihiro Ogasa, trainer
“After winning two races over 1,400 meters, she won her first start over a mile in the Anemone Stakes. She’s very maneuverable, so I did have my hopes up. The jockey believed in her strength and sent her forward. I think she ran a very strong race. She’s still very lightly built, so her work has centered on the hill course. We have the trip to the west this time, so I shipped her to Ritto on March 21 and have been preparing her there. She did lose some weight at first but has regained that. On March 29, I had her chase down another horse. Though her time was the same as what she’d been doing at Miho, she worked on the tough hill course and it was a good solid workout. This time, she’ll be up against some horses she’s never competed against before, so I don’t know how she’ll do. She has gotten strong and we haven’t seen everything she’s capable of, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she’ll do.”