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Soul Rush Claims Much-Awaited First G1 Title in Mile Championship

Fourth favorite Soul Rush captured his much-awaited first G1 victory in this year’s Mile Championship. Starting his career in December as a two-year-old, the son of Rulership notched his first graded title in the 2022 Milers Cup (G2, 1,600m). Coming off of his 2023 Keisei Hai Autumn Handicap (G3, 1,600m) win, Soul Rush made his second Mile Championship challenge last year in which he finished a neck second. Following his Milers Cup victory in April this year, the six-year-old finished third in the Yasuda Kinen (G1, 1,600m) in June and then put in a runner-up effort in his latest Fuji Stakes (G2, 1,600m) start in October. Trainer Yasutoshi Ikee is now the proud winner of 23 JRA-G1 wins, his latest being last year’s Sprinters Stakes victory with Mama Cocha, while this marks his second Mile Championship title following the 2017 version with Persian Knight. Jockey Taisei Danno celebrates his second JRA-G1 title following last year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen partnered with First Force.

The race got underway with Soul Rush reserved on the shoulder of the race favorite in mid-division and two-wide in the backstretch. While the field fanned out wide entering the stretch and still in fourth to fifth from the front, the dark bay horse launched an incredible stretch drive to overtake Win Marvel near the 100-meter marker to power clear and pull away to a comfortable 2-1/2-length victory.

“I feel great. I was initially thinking of positioning him further in front, but racing among such strong contenders, sitting in an ideal position wasn’t so easy. However, with some of the key members within eye sight, I kept cool and waited for the moment. His movement was really good and he wanted to make his move rather early but I let him go as he pleased and he continued to respond really well. In the end (with a good 2-1/2 lengths between us and the rest of the field) I couldn’t hear any thundering hooves from behind, only the cheering crowd,” commented Taisei Danno after the race.

After breaking sharply from the widest stall, seventh pick Elton Barows took a wide trip around eighth, angled out farther for his stretch run and, although lacking the speed to match that of the winner, passed his rivals one by one then closed in strongly to catch Win Marvel at the wire for second place.

Tenth choice of the 17-horse field, Win Marvel showed a good break and chased the pace in fourth before launching a strong turn of foot down the center of the lane, taking command before the 200-meter pole, but was caught by the eventual winner 100 meters out, then pinned right before the wire by Elton Barows for a neck-third.

In attempt for her second G1 title, race favorite Brede Weg broke well but was shuffled back to sit in mid-pack. As the field straightened away, the Lord Kanaloa filly kicked into gear while splitting horses and closed well to engage in a brief four-horse rally in the final strides, but was nosed out by Win Marvel to finish fourth.

Sent off third pick, the only overseas contender Charyn missed his break and was forced to race behind in third from the rear. After shifting far out entering the straight, the four-year-old chased the frontrunners with the second fastest stretch speed but had too much ground to make up and finished a neck behind the race favorite in fifth.

“He ran a very good race but he was slow coming out of the gate so the first furlong cost him in the end—you get behind and wide around whole the field. After the start he wasn’t able to secure a good position and afterwards, it was always going to be hard work for him—he finished strong, so I thought the horse performed very well—in defeat he proved himself to be very good horse. We have to accept the results although it is disappointing because we came here to win. But it has been a fantastic year for this horse to win three mile G1 races in Europe and we wanted to finish with another win here but it did not happen. It still was a very good race—in my opinion, just the start cost him,” commented trainer Roger Varian.

“He couldn’t make a good jump at the start and had to race behind, but despite the disadvantages, he gave a terrific effort at the straight,” added jockey Ryan Moore.

Other Horses:
6th: (15) Serifos—near rear early, advanced along rails towards final corner reached contention final furlong
7th: (16) Time to Heaven—raced wide in rear, still well behind entering stretch good effort while much ground to cover
8th: (9) Nihonpiro Kyiv—pressed pace outside leader led soon after entering straight, overtaken last furlong
9th: (8) Fierce Pride—chased pace in 6th, ran tenaciously while overtaken from behind
10th: (5) Jun Blossom—off slow, raced behind, showed effort but no threat
11th: (12) Al Naseem—further back in mid-field, unable to reach contention
12th: (6) Obamburumai—in mid-pack outside race favorite early, even paced at stretch
13th: (3) Balsam Note—made pace, opened gap and held on well up to early stretch then faded
14th: (7) Matenro Sky—rated mid-pack, circled wide final corner
15th: (1) Comstock Lode—forwardly positioned early, tired and faded turning for home
16th: (10) Labeling—disputed lead, raced second, tired and faded at stretch
17th: (4) Namur—hugged rails in mid-pack, dropped back at stretch

THE 41ST MILE CHAMPIONSHIP (G1) – Japan Autumn International -
3-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), right-handed, turf
Sunday, November 17, 2024       Kyoto Racecourse         11th Race       Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 388,800,000 (about US$ 2,758,000 <US$1=¥141>)
3-y-o: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs),
2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares, 1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2021
Course Record: 1:31.3               Race Record: 1:31.5 [Danon Shark (JPN, by Deep Impact), 2014]
Safety factor: 18 runners            Going: Good to Firm      Weather: Cloudy

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 17,098,235,400       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 26,148,984,000       Attendance: 28,258

Winner= 22 starts: 8 wins, 3 seconds & 2 thirds / Added & stakes money: ¥ 183,612,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 638,332,500

* Mile Championship (G1)

The Mile Championship is one of the most prestigious autumn grade-one events for milers together with the Yasuda Kinen (G1, 1,600m) in spring. Horse racing in Japan had been focusing on long distance racing for a long time, regarding stamina and strength as the most important quality of horses. However, with modern racing having increased its attention to speed horses suited to a mile or shorter distance races, the Mile Championship was established in 1984 in conjunction with Japanese races adopting the grading system. The current racing program now provides races for short, middle and long-distance racehorses. The race was temporarily shifted to Hanshin Racecourse due to renovations taking place at Kyoto Racecourse between 2020 and 2022.
After being designated an international race in 1998, the race welcomed several foreign contestants, including Sahpresa (USA, by Sahm) who ran three consecutive years—third in 2009 and 2011, fourth in 2010. Charyn, from Great Britain, made his bid in Japan’s international mile event this year in aim to add another G1 title to the list of his G1 victories—the Queen Anne Stakes in June, the Prix Jacques le Marois in August and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in October.
Defending champion Namur commenced her autumn campaign with this race coming off a runner-up effort in the Yasuda Kinen (G1, 1,600m, Jun.2). Jun Blossom claimed his first graded title in the Fuji Stakes (G2, 1,600m, Oct.19) where three-time graded winner Soul Rush was second and 2022 Mile Championship victor Serifos finished fourth. The field also included last year’s Mile Championship fourth-place finisher Elton Barows who was third in the Mainichi Okan (G2, 1,800m, Oct.6). The 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) winner Brede Weg and this year’s Victoria Mile (G1, 1,600m) runner-up Fierce Pride, who came off a win and fourth, respectively, in the Fuchu Himba Stakes (G2, 1,800m, Oct.14) along with Matenro Sky, fifth-place finisher in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1, 2,000m, Oct.27) were also among the lineup.