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Sol Oriens Claims Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) Victory in Third Start

Second favorite Sol Oriens claimed this year’s first leg of the Triple Crown Classics, the Satsuki Sho. Undefeated in just two career starts since his November debut as a two-year-old and coming off his latest victory in the G3 Keisei Hai (2,000m) run over the same distance at Nakayama, the Kitasan Black colt became the first colt to land the Satsuki Sho in just his third career start, the shortest in JRA history. Trainer Takahisa Tezuka, whose latest G1 victory was in the 2021 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Uberleben, scored his ninth career JRA-G1 title, while jockey Takeshi Yokoyama, who also won the Satsuki Sho with Efforia in 2021 and had not landed a JRA-G1 since the Hopeful Stakes with Killer Ability in the same year, landed his sixth career G1 title with the win.

Sol Oriens was a fraction slow out of the gate and thereafter, guided further off the rails as the track on the inside was considerably roughed up from the heavy rain on Saturday. Traveling near the rear and well off the brisk pace led by Granite, who covered the first 1,000 meter in 58.5 seconds on the track rated yielding, the Kitasan Black colt circled the whole field that had already spread wide turning for home then unleashed a terrific late charge that carried him instantly from second last to the lead soon after the 100-meter marker.

“I’m thrilled to have been able to show the colt’s strength and win this G1 title. He’s still very green, especially at the turns, with only a short career coming into this race, but as he’s already shown in his previous start, I know firsthand the power and speed which this colt possesses and so, while we had a lot of ground to cover from way behind, I knew that if I could keep him in good rhythm up to the straight, he would be able to show his full potential to win this race,” commented Takeshi Yokoyama.

Fifth pick Tastiera broke smoothly and was rated outside a rival in mid-division, switched a little further out into the stretch, turned in a good turn of speed to assume command at the furlong pole and continued on willingly, holding off all but the winner to finish second.

Race favorite Phantom Thief was rated further behind than expected in mid-pack after the break as horses rushed to take a good position from both sides and traveled at a rapid pace. The Harbinger colt lost a shoe somewhere along the backstretch, lugged in after entering the stretch and while showing effort thereafter, was unable to match the strides of the first two finishers, finishing three lengths behind the winner in third.

Other Horses:
4th: (17) Metal Speed—sat wide around 9th, accelerated for runner-up seat, outrun in last 100m
5th: (4) Shonan Bashitto—hugged rails around 13th, made headway after 800m to go, ran gamely
6th: (11) Shazzan—ran in 12th, advanced after 3rd corner, quickened but no match for top finishers
7th: (8) Top Knife—broke slowly, positioned near rear, angled out to show belated charge
8th: (6) Win Odin—traveled around 13th, circled wide, passed tiring rivals
9th: (5) Hrimfaxi—sat around 10th, angled out, failed to respond
10th: (15) Bellagio Opera—settled around 3rd, outrun after final corner
11th: (3) Gruner Green—saved ground to chase leaders around 3rd, ran out of steam 200m out
12th: (13) Granite—set fast pace, weakened from early effort 200 meters out
13th: (16) Touch Wood—keen to go, track leader in 2nd, led briefly at final corner, used up
14th: (18) Meiner Laulea—unhurried near rear, unable to reach contention
15th: (2) One Direct—trailed in rear, showed effort up to 200m pole
16th: (10) Ras Hammel—traveled in 8th, showed little at stretch
17th: (9) Ho O Biscuits—raced around 5th on rails, outrun after final corner
18th: (12) Danon Touchdown—tracked leaders around 3rd, faded after 3rd corner

THE 83RD SATSUKI SHO (JAPANESE 2000 GUINEAS, G1)
3-year-olds, Colts & Fillies, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 16, 2023         Nakayama Racecourse         11th Race        Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 432,000,000 (about US$ 3,298,000 <US$1=¥131>)
3-y-o: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2020
Course Record: 1:57.8         Race Record: 1:57.8 [Al Ain (JPN, by Deep Impact), 2017]
Safety factor: 18 runners      Going: Yielding                    Weather: Fine

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 20,143,546,400       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 30,162,618,700       Attendance: 29,461

Winner= 3 starts: 3 wins / Added money: ¥ 225,382,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 272,697,000

* 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) in 2020.
This year’s edition did not include the two proven G1 winners of the past season—the 2022 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, 1,600m) winner and Best Two-Year-Old Colt Dolce More (JPN, by Rulership) was headed towards the NHK Mile Cup (G1, 1,600m, May.7) instead while the year-end Hopeful Stakes (G1, 2,000m) champion Dura Erede (JPN, by Duramente) had just returned from his overseas challenge in the UAE Derby (G2, dirt, 1,900m, Mar.25) in which he was second.
Hopeful Stakes runner-up Top Knife kicked off his three-year-old season in the main Satsuki Sho trial, the Yayoi Sho Deep Impact Kinen (G2, 2,000m, Mar.5), and finished second to Tastiera with One Direct following in third. Those who earned their Satsuki Sho berths in other trial races included Shonan Bashitto and Ras Hammel, who were first and second, respectively, in the Wakaba Stakes (Listed, 2,000m, Mar.18), as well as Bellagio Opera, Ho O Biscuits and Metal Speed, the top three finishers in that order in the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m, Mar.19). The field also included Danon Touchdown, runner-up in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, and Sol Oriens, Hrimfaxi, Phantom Thief and Shazzan, respective winners of the Keisei Hai (G3, 2,000m, Jan.15), the Kisaragi Sho (G3, 2,000m, Feb.5), the Kyodo News Hai (G3, 1,800m, Feb.12) and the Sumire Stakes (Listed, 2,200m, Feb.25).