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Costa Nova Wins February Stakes Giving Rider Rachel King First JRA-G1 Win

Second favorite Costa Nova claimed this year’s February Stakes for his first G1 title. The Lord Kanaloa horse now scores six wins in as many starts on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse including his previous start, the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m) just three weeks earlier. Trainer Tetsuya Kimura registered his 12th JRA-G1 title, his first since the Arima Kinen with Regaleira. Australian-based jockey Rachel King, who rode under a short-term license since January 5, registered her fourth graded and first G1 victory in JRA. King also became the first female jockey to win a flat G1 race in JRA. Rochelle Lockett was the first female jockey to win JRA’s jump G1 event in the 2002 Nakayama Daishogai with Gilded Age.

Costa Nova was a fraction slow out of the gate but quickly found his rhythm to position himself among the front between rivals and not far from the leaders in sixth position. Continuing to travel smoothly behind a moderate pace led by Mitono O and closing in on the leader with several other rivals towards the final corner, Rachel King urged the son of Lord Kanaloa into contention with 400 meters to go and edged forward to take command passing the furlong pole. Strongly driven to the wire, Costa Nova sustained his bid and successfully held off a strong challenge by Sunrise Zipangu from the inside to a 3/4-length victory.

“I’m very proud to be the first female jockey (to have won a G1 title) but also proud that Japan has welcomed me as a jockey and not just a “female” jockey—something that I’ve always strive to be—I’m one of everyone and we’re treated the same, so I’m always thankful to the Japan and all the supporters for welcoming me like that. They’ve given me huge support last year and also this year so it’s nice to be able to repay them with a group one (victory),” commented Rachel King.

Fifth choice Sunrise Zipangu was unhurried out of the gate and continued to travel off the pace along the backstretch while shifting to the inside before the third corner. Hugging the rails and taking an economic route to move up rounding the final corner, the Kizuna colt waited patiently behind a crowd of horses rallying for the lead while still stuck along the rails, then swiftly advanced through an opening with the fastest finishing speed to finish 3/4-length short of the winner but out-finishing the rest of the field by 1-1/4 lengths.

Race favorite Mikki Fight was sharp out of the gate and appeared very keen while being held back in mid-field by Keita Tosaki. Traveling wide throughout, the Drefong colt had much ground to cover, just managing to reach contention at the furlong pole and, while continuing to show good effort to the wire and overtaking a couple of rivals for third, was unable to cause a serious threat to the winner.

Other Horses:
4th: (11) Peptide Nile—ran behind winner, responded inside Mikki Fight but neck short to finish 4th
5th: (1) Emperor Wakea—raced inside winner, failed to find another gear in last 200m
6th: (6) Meisho Hario—sat in 15th, launched 2nd fastest late kick but belatedly
7th: (15) Gaia Force—settled around 11th, switched to outside at early stretch, needed more
8th: (2) Tagano Beauty—saved ground around 11th, angled out rounding final corner, lacked needed kick
9th: (5) Ater Astraea—unhurried and trailed in rear, circled wide, passed tired rivals
10th: (7) Sunday Funday—tracked leaders around 3rd, remained in contention until 200m pole
11th: (8) Dura Erede—hugged rails around 7th, unable to reach contention
11th: (16) Helios—ran around 13th, turned wide, showed little
13th: (4) William Barows—chased leader in 2nd, rallied for lead until 200m pole
14th: (13) Derma Sotogake—raced wide around 7th, gradually dropped position
15th: (3) Mitono O—set pace, faded after 400m pole
16th: (10) Ammothyella—traveled wide around 4th, outrun by rivals after final corner

THE 42ND FEBRUARY STAKES (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), dirt, left-handed
Sunday, February 23, 2025        Tokyo Racecourse        11th Race         Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 260,400,000 (about US$ 1,659,000 <US$1=¥157>)
4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2021
Course Record: 1:33.5               Race Record: 1:33.8 [Cafe Pharoah (USA, by American Pharoah), 2022]
Safety factor: 16 runners            Going: Standard            Weather: Fine

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 16,218,538,100       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 27,226,911,000       Attendance: 50,317

Winner= 10 starts: 7 wins & 1 second / Added & stakes money: ¥ 123,570,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 240,891,000

* February Stakes (G1)

Japanese horse racing, which is influenced by British racing, is held mainly on turf. However, dirt tracks that were popular in the U.S., quickly became widely used around the country since the Tokyo Racecourse implemented a new dirt track in 1960. While the mainstream of major JRA races remained over turf, the February Stakes (then called February Handicap), which was established in 1984 in conjunction with the new grading system, was one of just three graded dirt races at the time—the current number of graded dirt events is 15. The race was upgraded to G2 in 1994 and then to G1 in 1997, and stood as the highest-prized event until the Japan Cup Dirt (called the Champions Cup from 2014) took over in 2000. The race also joined the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2016, enabling its winners to earn automatic starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1, dirt, 2,000m).
Past winners include Wing Arrow (JPN, by Assatis; ’00), Agnes Digital (USA, by Crafty Prospector; ’02), Gold Allure (JPN, by Sunday Silence; ’03), Admire Don (JPN, by Timber Country; ’04), Kane Hekili (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki; ’06), Vermilion (JPN, by El Condor Pasa; ’08), Espoir City (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’10), Transcend (JPN, by Wild Rush; ’11), Copano Rickey (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’14&’15), Gold Dream (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’17), Cafe Pharoah (USA, by American Pharoah; ’21&’22) and Lemon Pop (USA, by Lemon Drop Kid; ’23)—all twelve are winners of multiple-G1 races as well as JRA Award winners.
Defending champion Peptide Nile and runner-up Gaia Force came off a fifth and a 15th, respectively, in the Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m, Dec.1). Sunday Funday captured his first grade-race title in the trial Procyon Stakes (G2, dirt, 1,800m, Jan.26), followed by two-time graded winner Sunrise Zipangu in second and two-time Champions Cup third-place finisher Dura Erede in third. Costa Nova also scored his first graded title in another trial, the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m, Feb.2) where Tagano Beauty, who had come off a victory in the JBC Sprint (Listed, dirt, 1,400m), unseated his rider after stumbling at the start but pulled up unharmed. The field also included Ammothyella, Emperor Wakea and Mikki Fight, respective winners of the JBC Ladies’ Classic (Listed, dirt, 1,860m, Nov.4), the Musashino Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m, Nov.9) and the Nagoya Daishoten (Listed, dirt, 2,000m, Dec.19) as well as two-time Teio Sho (Listed, dirt, 2,000m) champion Meisho Hario and 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1, dirt, 2,000m) runner-up Derma Sotogake.