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Four-Year-Old Justin Palace Claims First G1 Title in Tenno Sho (Spring)

Second favorite Justin Palace, coming off a victory in the Hanshin Daishoten (G2, 3,000m) in March, captured his first G1 victory in this year’s Tenno Sho (Spring) held for the first time in three years at the newly renovated Kyoto Racecourse. Marking two wins and a runner-up effort in the Hopeful Stakes (G1, 2,000) as a two-year-old, the son of Deep Impact was ninth in both the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) in his three-year-old spring campaign but marked his first graded victory in the Kobe Shimbun Hai (G2, 2,200m) in September, a third in the following Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m), and capped off the season with a seventh in the Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m). This win marked trainer Haruki Sugiyama’s fifth JRA-G1 victory following his Shuka Sho title with Daring Tact in 2020. Jockey Christophe Lemaire registered his 44th JRA-G1 win following last year’s Arima Kinen title with Equinox and third Tenno Sho (Spring) victory following his wins with Fierement in 2019 and 2020.

“I’m really happy to have won the first Tenno Sho held at the newly renovated Kyoto Racecourse. The horse was calm throughout the race and I was sure that he was going to win when we moved up behind Deep Bond and entered the straight. He has become a super horse over long distances, so I think he will do well in races like Arima Kinen in the future,” commented Christophe Lemaire.

Four-year-old Justin Palace, making a clean start from the innermost stall, eased back to settle 8-9th from the front along the rails and shifted slightly to the outside turning the second corner. The Deep Impact colt gradually made headway turning the last corner two-wide, surged out behind Deep Bond entering the lane, overtook the eventual runner-up 300 meters out and pulled away for a 2-1/2-length victory with the fastest closing speed.

Fifth pick Deep Bond settled wide in seventh in front of the eventual winner early, gradually made headway to take command turning the final corner and, while surrendering the lead passing the 300-meter marker, held fast-closing Silver Sonic by a length to mark his third consecutive runner-up effort in this race.

Unhurried around 13th, sixth choice Silver Sonic advanced on the outer route after the third corner to close in on the front rivals and, while unable to threaten the top two finishers, showed the second fastest late drive for a third.

Race favorite Titleholder, settling in second after rallying with African Gold for the lead, assumed command at the first corner but pulled up before the final corner due to lameness in his right foreleg. He is scheduled to undergo an examination after the race.

Other Horses:
4th: (12) Breakup—raced around 9th behind winner, showed effort but needed more
5th: (14) Matenro Leo—traveled around 9th, gradually closed in on leaders, weakened in last 100m
6th: (13) Boldog Hos—ran 3-wide around 10th, advanced after 3rd corner, lacked needed kick
7th: (15) End Roll—rated 2nd from rear, showed belated charge on outer stretch
8th: (10) Sanrei Pocket—trailed in rear, angled out, passed tiring rivals
9th: (11) Diastima—saved ground around 5th, gradually fell back
10th: (9) Humidor—hugged rails around 12th, never fired at stretch
11th: (6) Ask Victor More—ran near pace in 3rd on rails, outrun after 3rd corner
12th: (4) Melody Lane—took economic trip around 13th, unable to reach contention
13th: (5) Iron Barows—chased leaders, inherited lead at 3rd corner, used up 300m out
14th: (2) Deep Monster—tracked leaders in 4th, faded after final corner
15th: (8) Tosen Cambina—positioned in 13th, no factor throughout trip
FF: (17) African Gold—set pace early, pulled up after 2nd corner due to atrial fibrillation

THE 167TH TENNO SHO (SPRING) (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 3,200 meters (about 16 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 30, 2023         Kyoto Racecourse        11th Race         Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 475,200,000 (about US$ 3,628,000 <US$1=¥131>)
4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2019
Course Record: 3:12.5         Race Record: 3:12.5 [Kitasan Black (JPN, by Black Tide), 2017]
Safety factor: 18 runners      Going: Good                Weather: Cloudy

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 22,603,536,100       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 32,516,564,400       Attendance: 45,580

Winner= 10 starts: 5 wins, 1 second & 1 third / Added money: ¥ 223,570,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 434,666,000

* Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1)

The forerunner of the Tenno Sho was established in 1905 under the name “Emperor’s Cup”, in which the winner received the silver comport bestowed by the Emperor. The race was renamed to “Teishitsu Goshoten Kyoso” the following year. The race became biannual events—held at Hanshin in spring and at Tokyo in autumn—a year after the establishment of the Japan Racing Society (the forerunner of the Japan Racing Association) in 1936 and was officially named the “Tenno Sho” since the autumn of 1947. The Tenno Sho (Spring) became the ultimate competition to determine the champion stayer, having altered its distance to 3,200 meters in 1938 while its counterpart in autumn run over 2,000 meters is one of the biggest middle-distance events contested between the proven older horses with the addition of the three-year-old hopefuls. The venue of the spring version was moved to Kyoto Racecourse in 1948 and was temporarily shifted to Hanshin in 2021 and 2022 during the renovation of Kyoto’s grandstand.
The Tenno Sho (Spring) was designated as an international race in 2005 and welcomed Makybe Diva (GB, by Desert King) of Australia as the first foreign contender the same year. She finished seventh and subsequently went on to make history back home by winning her third consecutive Melbourne Cup (G1, 3,200m). Red Cadeaux (GB, by Cadeaux Genereux) was the latest foreign contender of this race in 2014, running for the second time after finishing third in the 2013 edition, but was unable to perform over the firm turf and finished 14th.
Here are the recent performances of some of this year’s runners: defending champion Titleholder won his first start of the season by overwhelming eight lengths in the Nikkei Sho (G2, 2,500m, Mar.25), followed by Diastima in third, while 2022 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m) champion Ask Victor More was a disappointing ninth. Kikuka Sho third-place finisher Justin Palace claimed his second graded title in the Hanshin Daishoten (G2, 3,000m, Mar.19) with Kikuka Sho and Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m) runner-up Boldog Hos in second, Copa Republica Argentina (G2, 2,500m) winner Breakup in third and two-time Tenno Sho (Spring) runner-up Deep Bond in fifth. Matenro Leo came off a fourth in the Osaka Hai (G1, 2,000m, Apr.2) and Silver Sonic captured his first overseas victory in the Red Sea Turf Handicap (G3, 3,000m, Feb.25) in Saudi Arabia.