Centaur Stakes (G2) - Preview

Puro Magic

Flicker Jab

Fast Network

Diamond Knot

Mama Cocha

Red Mon Reve

Yoshino Easter

The 1,200-meter turf Grade 2 Sankei Sho Centaur Stakes, this Sunday’s graded race at Hanshin Racecourse, brings into focus the first big event of the autumn season looming on the horizon - the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse.

Proven or promising, 17 horses, 11 males and five females, ranging in age from 3 to 8, have been nominated for the Centaur Stakes and 16 of them will go to the gate. Run over the same distance, same surface, and also to the right, the Centaur Stakes offers valuable insights into the Sprinters Stakes, scheduled this year for Sept. 27.

The Centaur Stakes is open to 3-year-olds and up and carries a purse of nearly JPY129 million yen, a first-place prize of JPY59 million.  

This year, adding color to the event is Hong Kong’s Fast Network, here for both the Centaur and the Sprinters Stakes. He is a candidate to bring home Hong Kong’s first victory in the Centaur Stakes, and possibly, its third Sprinters Stakes victory.

On the home team, interest is centered on the trio of Diamond Knot, Flicker Jab and Puro Magic, with last year’s runner-up, the 7-year-old Mama Cocha, still holding her own in popularity.

The Hanshin 1,200-meter inner A course starts about midway down the backstretch and continues straight some 220 meters as it slopes gradually downward until 200 meters out, where it rises sharply for two meters before leveling out about 80 meters before the finish line. The steep climb at the end wreaks havoc with those close or on a fast pace, and the battle at the end is often a heated one.

The Centaur Stakes is the No. 11 and last race at Hanshin on Sunday. Post time is 15:30 locally.
Four-year-olds and up carry 57kg, 3-year-olds 55kg and fillies and mares are given a 2-kg allowance.

Here’s a look at some of the popular contestants:

Puro Magic: The 5-year-old mare by Asia Express snared two Grade 3s in a row, both wire to wire, the first a win in the Hakodate Sprint Stakes in mid-June over 1,200 meters, the most recent the Ibis Summer Dash over the Niigata straight 1,000-meter course. Said to have become “somewhat difficult” since last autumn, Puro Magic had failed to display the form that landed her three earlier Grade 3s from mid-2024 until early August of last year. An eighth-place finish in last year’s Sprinters Stakes started a double-digit skid over the next three outings, including a trip to Del Mar and the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen this spring. Now, back after some three months later, she’s showing renewed strength. Her winning time in the Ibis Summer Dash rewrote her record from last year. In morning work on Aug. 26, she clocked a sharp 53.3 seconds up the hill course at Ritto. It is the opening week at Hanshin and hopes are high she’ll handle the ups and downs of the course handily and extend her winning streak to three. Puro Magic has had nine different jockeys over her 20-race career and is expected to have yet a new one on Sunday - Mirai Iwata. Iwata currently tops Japan’s leading jockey rankings with 99 wins for the year. If he can bag the Centaur Stakes, he’ll also top the Summer Sprint Series.

Flicker Jab: Despite a brilliant start from his debut in late 2024, the now 4-year-old Flicker Jab slumped through his first three starts of 2025, then found his footing over his next six outings from July of that year. He currently has six wins from 11 outings and, last out on July 5, the son of Saturnalia landed his first graded victory, the Grade 3 Kitakyushu Kinen run over 1,200 meters at Kokura. Often going wire to wire, the dark bay can also shadow the frontrunner and step neatly into the lead in the final stage, as he did earlier this year in the open-class Kurama Stakes, a race he won in record time. Despite being stabled at Ritto, Flicker Jab has yet to race at Hanshin. His wins at five of seven tracks he’s raced at do however attest to his versatility. With his current form, Hanshin should be well within reach. Flicker Jab clocked 50.8 seconds up the hill course at Ritto on Aug. 27. Trainer Shota Nishizono commented: “It was a good solid workout, and he’s looking good, as he usually does in morning work. I believe this will translate to the racetrack.”

Fast Network: Hong Kong’s hopeful, the 6-year-old gelding by Wrote, has competed admirably amid Hong Kong’s high-level sprint company, currently dominated by the undisputed champion Ka Ying Rising. Fast Network has participated in graded events in all but one of his last eight starts, and has finished in the Top 5 in seven, in the Top 3 in four. He posted 3-3-4 in Group 1 events, his most recent outing being the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint in late April, where he finished about a length and half behind Japan’s Satono Reve. Arriving in Japan in the evening of Aug. 25, Fast Network moved to the international stables at Hanshin Racecourse on Monday. He was “a bit worked up,” according to an assistant to trainer Dennis Yip. “But he should calm down soon. We plan to gallop him on Tuesday to check him over, and then again on Friday, when the trainer will be at the track.” Fast Network has had a total of six different riders over his 15 starts thus far. With many of those already committed at the start of Hong Kong’s new season, Damian Lane is expected up on Sunday.

Diamond Knot: Representing the 3-year-olds along with Tamamo Icarus, Diamond Knot has shone in graded-stakes competitions, albeit only amid his peers. Winning the Grade 2 Keio Hai Nisai Stakes last November, he wrapped up the year with a second in the Grade 1 Asahi Futurity Stakes, then returned in March to win the Grade 3 Falcon Stakes. He took on his first Grade 1 event last out in the NHK Mile Cup, where he finished fifth. This will be his first 1,200-meter test since his first two starts over the distance. In those, he posted 3-4, the first over the Hanshin 1,200. He is heading into the Centaur Stakes without a prep after four months between races, but he’s looking good in morning work, which included a long workout over the flat on Aug. 20, followed by a hard run up the Ritto hill under his trainer, former jockey Yuichi Fukunaga.

Mama Cocha: Now 7 years old, the Kurofune-sired Mama Cocha won the Sprinters Stakes as a 4-year-old and returned twice more for an overall 1-4-6 tally. When she won the Sprinters Stakes, she had stepped from the Grade 3 Kitakyushu Kinen, but in 2024 and 2025 Mama Cocha went to the Sprinters Stakes from the Centaur Stakes, where she finished in second place both years. Despite her age, she still promises to be a solid prospect. Though it’s been nine races on since her last win a year and a half ago, Mama Cocha has never been totally out of contention. Missing the break in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen this spring, and forced to race from the rear, her ninth-place finish was only a second off the winner. She is showing no signs of slowing down and has made the Top 3 in four of her seven starts at Hanshin. Watching her fast work at Ritto since returning on Aug. 12 to the training center, trainer Yasutoshi Ikee commented on the mare: “She’s good in the hot weather. Her hooves are not giving us any problems, and she got a lot of work at the farm.” Jockey Yutaka Take is expected up on Sunday.  

Others to watch:

Red Mon Reve returns after five months from his last outing, the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, where blinkers helped him arrive home in second place two lengths behind winner Satono Reve. A closer, he’ll need help over the expected fast ground of the new meeting first weekend, but his late speed is not to be dismissed.
Yoshino Easter, the most senior in the field at 8 years old, posted 8-7 in his previous two Centaur Stakes runs and suffered interference last year. In his latest run in the Grade 3 Kitakyushu Kinen saw him finish a very close third while carrying the field’s highest weight of 58kg. With a bit of luck, he could figure in the Top 3.