Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1) - Preview

Satono Reve

Namura Clair

Panja Tower

Mama Cocha

Win Carnelian

June Blair

Rapier

Pair Pollux

This coming Sunday, March 29, sees the Japan Racing Association’s top turf events, the 56th running of the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. A sprint over 1,200 meters at the counter-clockwise Chukyo Racecourse, this race and the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes in the autumn are decisive in determining the year’s top sprinter.

The nominees number 22, and 18 will go to the gate Sunday. Those elected range in age from 4 to 9, and experience abounds with eight horses aged 7 and up. Only two colts are in the mix, five mares and one gelding, and the 2-kg weight advantage of 56kg will go only to the mares.

Expected to carry the greater weight of the fans’ expectations is the trio of -- last year’s winner Satono Reve, three-time runnerup Namura Clair and the up-and-coming Panja Tower, last year’s Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup winner. 2023 Sprinters’ Stakes winner Mama Cocha, who shares the weight advantage with Namura Clair, is also seen as a serious threat.

The race has always been difficult to predict. And due to the current situation in the Mideast, there will also be horses, initially aimed to take part in the races in Dubai, that have been switched to here.

Spring rains often turn the ground heavy or even sloppy for this race and the past 10 runnings have seen the race favorite win only once and figure in the Top 3 a total of four times. The second choice of the fans, on the other hand, has finished in the top an astounding eight times, the third choice four times. Double-digit outsiders have made the Top 3 five times.

The Chukyo 1,200-meter turf race starts in the backstretch, with about 300 meters to the first turn. The ground rises for about 100 meters from the gate, then begins a long steady downward slope that drops about 3 meters. About 350 meters from the finish line, the ground rises sharply, then continues with a gentler upgrade to the finish. The race tends to favor the inside gates and those horses racing close to the pace.

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen is Chukyo’s No. 11 race on the Sunday card of 12. Post time is locally of   15:40.

Here is a look at some of the field’s likely top choices.

Satono Reve: Back and eyeing his second Takamatsunomiya Kinen victory in a row is Satono Reve, recognized as JRA’s Best Sprinter of 2025. Last year, the Lord Kanaloa-sired 7-year-old topped Namura Clair by 3/4 length, then jetted off for what by yearend would be three top-level events abroad. He scored a second in Hong Kong’s Chairman’s Sprint two lengths behind the incredible Ka Ying Rising, followed by a second at Ascot in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, then returned to Japan for a fourth place in the Sprinters Stakes. At yearend, he was off again to Sha Tin for the Hong Kong Sprint. Unable to show his best amid a heated pace, Satono Reve finished in ninth place amid the field of 13. Ridden here by Joao Moreira last year, new partner Christophe Lemaire is expected up on Sunday. Lemaire has captured all but three of the JRA’s 24 Grade 1 events thus far. This race still eludes him (as do the Osaka Hai and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes). Trainer Noriyuki Hori, who won back-to-back versions with Kinshasa no Kiseki in 2010-2011, eyes his second streak with Satono Reve.

Namura Clair: Now 7 years old, the Mikki Isle-sired Namura Clair takes on her fourth Takamatsunomiya Kinen and most likely this will be her final run. She has finished second in this race for three consecutive years,.which have shown her to be most reliable in a rather unusual and frustrating way. Expected in the saddle is Suguru Hamanaka, who had ridden 16 of her 24 starts up until Takeshi Yokoyama took over in the 2024 Sprinters Stakes, followed by Christophe Lemaire over the next five rides. In the same rotation as last year, Namura Clair was prepped with the Grade 2 Hanshin Cup over 1,400 meters at Hanshin in late December, and finished a nose behind the winner in a race won in course record-setting time. Trainer Kodai Hasegawa says her work is looking good. “She’s showing no signs of aging and her balance has shifted a bit more forward.  Hamanaka too says she’s feeling good.”

Panja Tower: Standing out as the youngest of the expected top picks is the 4-year-old colt Panja Tower, a son of Tower of London, winner of the 2019 Sprinters Stakes. Following his win of last year’s NHK Mile Cup, Panja Tower captured the Grade 3 Keeneland Cup over 1,200 meters. He then scored fifth place in two races overseas -- the 1,500-meter Golden Eagle at Royal Randwick in late October and, recently, the Grade 2 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh. “The ground was quite poor in his last outing,” said trainer Shinsuke Hashiguchi. “I think the distance (1,351 meters) was just a bit too long.” After returning to Japan and completing four weeks of quarantine, Panja Tower’s tight schedule will give him only the required 10 days at Ritto before race day., “He came out of his last race with no damage and things have gone well since. The 1,200 meters is his best distance and he has had good results racing to the left,” Hashiguchi said.

Mama Cocha; Winner of the 2023 Sprinters Stakes and third in last year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Mama Cocha failed to score a win in her five starts that followed. She did notch three seconds, two in Grade 2 competitions and one in the JBC Sprint  at Funabashi. Before the JBC Sprint, she finished in sixth place, only 0.4 seconds off winner Win Carnelian, in the Sprinters Stakes. Now, 7 years old, the daughter of Kurofune is prepped with a good showing in the tightly contested Feb. 28 Grade 3 Ocean Stakes, where she finished in fourth place only a mere 0.1 seconds off winner Pair Pollux. Connections had expected an invitation to Dubai that failed to materialize and turned their sights here. Mama Cocha is not to be overlooked, especially if the ground is fast. Yuga Kawada is expected up.

Win Carnelian: A son of Screen Hero, this big chestnut looks to be coming into his own as a late bloomer. Fourth in the 2024 Takamatsunomiya Kinen over heavy ground, Win Carnelian passed on this race last year to take on theAl Quoz Sprint at Meydan, where he finished a close second. Later last year, at the age of 8, he scored (after seven previous G1 runs) his first top-level victory, the Sprinters Stakes, and also landed jockey Kosei Miura his first G1 win. His bid in the Hong Kong Sprint mid December, however, saw him over the line with only two horses behind him in a field of 13. This will be his first race since Hong Kong. “We had our sights set on Dubai again, but decided to switch to here,” trainer Yuichi Shikato said. “He still had a lot of fluff twoweeks out, but has been able to do everything we asked of him. I don’t know how he’ll do if the race favors late speed, but he still is very youthful. I’m hoping for a fast track this time.”

June Blair: It is her first appearance in the Takmatsunomiya Kinen and only her second G1, but the 5-year-old, American Pharoah-sired June Blair has proven herself wholly capable at the top level, having finished second in last year’s Sprinters Stakes. She is a standout amid this year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen nominees due to her having proven herself twice capable of covering 1,200 meters in 1 minute, 6 seconds and change. June Blair was ahead of Namura Clair at the finish line in the 2025 Sprinters Stakes by a length and a half. She has speed, and though the heated early speed of the Grade 2 Hanshin Cup last out, coupled with an extra furlong proved a bit much, June Blair has cred at Chukyo, with a second in the Grade 3 CBC Sho over 1,200 meters last summer. A track condition conducive to speed would stand her well. She is looking good and will be in good hands, with Yutaka Take expected up.

Others to watch include:

A versatile 4-year-old, Rapier notched two seconds in G3 company in February, most recently the Ocean Stakes on Feb. 28 at Nakayama. Though he has raced predominately to the right, he has done well at Chukyo and over all going.
The 5-year-old Pair Pollux topped Rapier last out to narrowly win the Ocean Stakes. He also finished second to Panja Tower in the Grade 3 Keeneland Cup last summer. In the 2025 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, he finished last, but was seriously disadvantaged with the No. 18 draw and forced to travel wide. He boasts a sharp turn of foot and a better trip may turn the tables this year.

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