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Liberty Island Lands Second Jewel with Overwhelming Victory in Yushun Himba

Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m) winner and heavy favorite Liberty Island validated her Best Two-Year-Old Filly title of 2022 and her recent G1 victory last month by staging another dominant performance in this year’s Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). The Duramente filly followed last year’s winner, Stars on Earth, as the 17th horse to capture the first two of the fillies’ Triple Crown while becoming the first since 1975 to win by a margin exceeding six lengths—2012’s fillies’ Triple champion, Gentildonna, was the closest at five-lengths margin in recent years. The last G1 victory for both trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida and jockey Yuga Kawada was with the same filly in the Oka Sho and it was the seventh JRA-G1 victory overall for Nakauchida while Kawada, whose other victory in this race was with Gentildonna, claimed his 23rd G1 title.

Liberty Island was unhurried out of the gate and in hand, around seventh from the leader, along the rails. Yuga Kawada continued to keep the keen filly under control while measuring his timing to steer the filly slightly out for a clear run soon after the last turn. As soon as the filly was given the go signal, the Oka Sho champion unleashed her terrific turn of speed to catch the leader at the furlong pole and continued to pull away uncontested for an overwhelming six-length victory.

“Having run the Oka Sho and being transported here to Tokyo for another big race, the filly was quite tense coming into this race, so I had to make an effort to reserve her energy and calm her down before the race. She settled well once in the gate, allowing us to make a safe start, and we were able to race in good rhythm while I still had the task of keeping her under control up to the critical stages. I knew we were already in a position to finish clear of the other horses once taking the lead, but I wanted her to finish off the race strongly to the wire so I kept driving her to the wire which led to a big margin,” commented Yuga Kawada.

Second pick Harper was positioned right behind the eventual winner under Christophe Lemaire throughout most of the trip and followed that foe to the outside, rounding the final turn. While unable to keep up with the Liberty Island’s explosive burst of speed going up the uphill stretch, the Heart’s Cry filly continued with good late speed to overtake Ravel in the last 50 meters while managing to hold back the fast-closing Dura by a neck margin for second.

Lightly regarded 15th choice Dura raced off the pace, around fifth from the rear, and came into the homestretch still well behind the leaders, where the Duramente filly exerted an impressive late speed once angling out just before the 400-meter pole and closed in well to finish just a neck short of second place.

Other Horses:
4th: (1) Ravel—tracked leaders in 3rd, inherited lead 400m out, showed tenacity after overtaken by winner, outrun just before wire
5th: (17) Shinryokuka—ran behind winner, circled wide to improve position while unable to cause serious threat
6th: (7) Hip Hop Soul—saved ground around 10th, quickened between horses, weakened in last 100m
7th: (9) Kona Coast—bumped at break, hugged rails around 13th, showed belated effort
8th: (10) So Dazzling—settled around 10th, turned wide, lacked needed kick
9th: (16) Doe Eyes—broke poorly, trailed in rear, circled wide, passed tired rivals
10th: (8) Remige—sat near winner around 6th, outrun in last 400m
11th: (6) Golden Hind—raced in 5th on rails, angled out, showed little
12th: (14) Perifania—traveled 3-wide around 10th, met traffic at early stretch, even paced
13th: (15) Emu—unhurried near rear, unable to reach contention
14th: (11) Mikki Gorgeous—was off a slow, positioned around 14th, no factor
15th: (3) Kita Wing—took economic trip around 15th, never fired
16th: (18) England Eyes—chased leaders around 4th, fell back after 400m pole
17th: (2) Light Quantum—set pace, maintained lead up to 400m pole, dropped back
18th: (4) Kiminonawa Maria—stalked pace in second, faded after final corner

THE 84TH YUSHUN HIMBA (JAPANESE OAKS, G1)
3-year-olds, Fillies, 2,400 meters (about 12 furlongs), turf, left-handed
Sunday, May 21, 2023          Tokyo Racecourse          11th Race          Post Time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 325,000,000 (about US$ 2,481,000 <US$1=¥131>)
3-y-o: 55 kg (about 121 lbs), 3 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2020
Course Record: 2:20.6         Race Record: 2:22.8 [Loves Only You (JPN, by Deep Impact), 2019]
Safety factor: 18 runners      Going: Good to Firm       Weather: Fine

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 20,224,356,500       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 29,880,269,700       Attendance: 45,184

Winner= 5 starts: 4 wins & 1 second / Added money: ¥ 177,426,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 429,472,000

* Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) (G1)

The Japanese version of the prestigious British Oaks, the Yushun Himba was established in 1938 and contested among runners limited to home-bred three-year-old fillies. Initially called the “Hanshin Yushun Himba” and held during the fall season at Hanshin Racecourse, the race acquired its current status as the Japanese Oaks upon changing its venue to Tokyo Racecourse in 1946. The race was also shifted to the spring season, being the richest in prize money and longest in distance among the current JRA races limited to fillies/mares. The Yushun Himba opened its door to foreign-bred runners in 2003 and acquired international G1 status in 2010.
While the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m) serves in gauging the speed potentials in the future broodmares, the Yushun Himba is a championship race in which to discover the added quality of stamina as well as speed, and winners of this race are highly rated as broodmares upon retirement to stud. Recent winners included fillies/mares that became high profile G1 winners. 2020 winner Daring Tact (JPN, by Epiphaneia) went on to capture the Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m) that autumn, not only to become the sixth filly to capture the fillies’ Triple Crown title but the first in JRA history to do so undefeated, while 2019 victor Loves Only You (JPN, by Deep Impact) scored three G1 titles in Hong Kong and the U.S in 2021 to become the season’s Best Older Filly or Mare.
The top five finishers of the Oka Sho (Apr.9) that were automatically eligible for the Oaks were: Liberty Island, Kona Coast, Perifania, Harper and Doe Eyes in that order. Proven grade-race winners that also ran in the Oka Sho, Light Quantum (8th), Emu (10th), Ravel (11th), Kita Wing (12th) and Dura (14th), were hoped to show improvement in the 2,400-meter classic. The field also included Golden Hind and So Dazzling who earned their tickets by finishing first and second, respectively, in the Oaks trial Flora Stakes (G2, 2,000m, Apr.23) as well as Mikki Gorgeous who marked two wins over 1,800 meters and beyond.