Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) (G1) - Preview

Lovcen

Danon History

Going to Sky

Ask Edinburgh

Justin Chicago

Audacia

Basse Terre

Following on from the big race for fillies last week, JRA Grade 1 action remains at the Kyoto Racecourse this coming Sunday (October 25), when the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) will be run at the track. It’s the final leg of the Japanese Triple Crown for 3-year-old colts, and excitement is building as Lovcen (winner of the first two legs earlier this year) bids for glory over the 3,000 meters on the outer turf track at Kyoto.

It will be the 87th running of the race, which was first run back in 1938. Its current name dates back to 1948, and it became a Grade 1 in 1984, with foreign-bred horses being permitted to run since 2001. It is a race open to colts and fillies (although the latter rarely take on the race and none are nominated this year), and one other condition is that geldings cannot run in the race. All colts carry a set weight of 57kg.

Two official trial races for the Grade 1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) are the Grade 2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen, run at Nakayama over 2,200 meters in September, and the Grade 2 Kobe Shimbun Hai, run at Hanshin over 2,400 meters in the same month. The top three finishers in both of these races receive automatic qualification for this Sunday’s big race.

Recent big-name winners of the final Classic of the year have included Epiphaneia (2013), Kitasan Black (2015) - now both proven stallions - and Contrail in 2020. The latter was the last Triple Crown winner, and there have just been eight horses to achieve the feat in Japanese horseracing history. The first to do so was St. Lite in 1941.

Twenty-one horses have been nominated for this year’s Grade 1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), which will have a maximum of eighteen runners, and the first past the post receives a winner’s check of JPY 200 million (in the region of USD 1.3 million). Record time for the race was set by Toho Jackal, when he won in 2014 in a time of 3 minutes 1.0 seconds. There have been four first favorites win in the past ten years, with Energico being the last one to do so just last year. The past decade has also favored horses trained at the Miho Training Center.
The race is timed to start at 15:40 Japan time, and will be Race 11 on the Sunday card at Kyoto. Final declarations and the barrier draw will be available later in the week.

Here’s a look at some of the runners expected to play a part in the race:

Lovcen: The colt by World Premiere may only have won his last two races by a small margin (including the Derby), but expectations will be high that he can see out the 3,000 meters this time (his sire won the race in 2019), and receive all the accolades associated with a Triple Crown winner. Recent comments from trainer Haruki Sugiyama were: “He had an inside draw in the Kobe Shimbun Hai, and I was hoping he’d get a slightly more forward position after the start, but he was returning from a spell, so he was just a bit hesitant. It was a slow pace and he dropped back for a while, but when the jockey switched him to the outside, he showed a good turn of foot, and I think it just showed how confident the jockey is with him. Overall, it was a good race.” Kohei Matsuyama continues his association with the colt, hoping that he can gain more Grade 1 success.

Danon History: It will be just the fifth start for the half-brother to Danon Beluga, and he has just won at two-win class level, but that latest win came over 2,600 meters at Sapporo in August, and it proved to be a very easy win indeed, with the jockey on the day having time to look up at the big screen to see just how far ahead he was. Add into the mix that he’s trained by Noriyuki Hori and will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire, and he perhaps can be a threat to Lovcen. Trainer Hori said: “After his last race, he came back to the stable after being at Hakodate Racecourse, and after recovering from his last race, he’s been at Northern Farm Shigaraki, returning again on September 26. Everything’s been good with him, and with his big stride, he’s just been training on the flat, as we work on getting him to run in a balanced way.” Another plus has to be that Christophe Lemaire has won the race for the past three years, and has a total of five wins in the race overall.

Going to Sky: The colt by Contrail has two wins to his name from six career starts, and finished fourth in this year’s Grade 1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). On his re-appearance this autumn, he finished sixth to Justin Chicago in the Grade 2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen at Nakayama in September, a good enough effort after the horse’s summer break. Trainer Yuki Uehara said: “He came out of the St. Lite Kinen without any problems, and has been well looked after at the farm. He has a tendency to hang, so that’s been the focus of his training, and just recently he’s been running a lot straighter.” Going to Sky will be ridden by Yutaka Take, who has also won the race five times, including in 1988, when he made the race his first ever JRA Grade 1 victory on Super Creek.

Ask Edinburgh: Jockey Yasunari Iwata has ridden the colt in his last seven races, and despite coming up short of a win, he’s had a number of near misses, including the Grade 1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and the Grade 1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), when he finished just 0.5 of a second behind Lovcen. His one run at Kyoto as a 2-year-old saw him finish second, and trainer Yuichi Fukunaga had the following to say about the colt: “He got off to a good start last time, just behind Justin Chicago. However, as the race went on, he couldn’t get cover and he was straining a little. Despite this, he still ran a good race and I wasn’t discouraged at all. After the race, the jockey said that 3,000 meters would be fine for him.”

Justin Chicago: Stepping up from one-win class to win the Grade 2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen over 2,200 meters at Nakayama in September was quite a feat for the colt by Suave Richard, and his odds of 50/1 that day suggested that he wasn’t likely to be the winner. So, it’s onwards and upwards perhaps for him, as he tries to see out the extra 800 meters of the race this time, and also handle the Kyoto track, which will be another first for him. Trainer Keisuke Miyata commented: “Before he had some time off, he won at Tokyo and showed that he could be controlled well, so I also thought he would handle Nakayama without any problem. He’s a strong horse and I don’t worry about the ground for him. He was a bit tired after his last race, but he got over that at the farm. He’s been doing light work since he’s been back and we’ll build things up more from now.”

Majorelle Bleu: The colt by Contrail is one of two possible runners for trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, and Majorelle Bleu has won his last three races, including his maiden over 2,400 meters at Kyoto, which could be a key to getting the extra distance at the track this time. He’s another horse that takes a big step up into Grade 1 company however. “It was a slow pace last time, but he showed that he has a lot of fighting spirit,” the trainer said. “I was pleased with the way he ran, and he’s getting better every time he races. The jockey last time said that a longer distance wouldn’t be a problem.” Jockey Keita Tosaki continues his partnership with the horse, which runs in the Shadai Race Horse Co. Ltd. colors.

Altramuz, unfortunately, misses the race with a left hindleg injury, but a couple of other runners worth noting are Audacia and Basse Terre. Audacia has been working well under jockey Akihide Tsumura, and put his slightly disappointing Derby run behind him with a third-place finish in the recent Grade 2 St. Lite Kinen, while Basse Terre, who finished third in the Derby, will be hoping to bring that form to this next race. He will be ridden by Yuga Kawada.

Sources: Keiba Book