VICTORIA MILE

(GRADE 1)

GROUP 1 racing continued for a third straight week at a rain sodden Tokyo racecourse where over 42,000 fans braved the elements to witness the 13th renewal of the Victoria Mile.

Run over a mile, it is just the second Group 1 on the Japanese racing calendar to be restricted to older mares and fillies. While its history is relatively short, the Victoria Mile already boasts an illustrious roll of honour including some of Japan’s greatest fillies and mares.

Seven-time Group 1 winner which included beating the colts in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and two-time Horse of the Year, Vodka was a seven-length winner of the Mile in 2014. The 2009 Fillies Triple Crown winner, Apapane, returned as a four-year-old in 2010 to win this race in an enthralling battle, eventually edging out horse of the year, Buena Vista, by a neck.

REnewal

This year’s renewal contained six individual Group 1 winners, competing for a €830,000 winning prize. The field also saw the top three finishers from the 2017 edition reoppose.

Eighth in the betting and third place finisher in the 2017 renewal Jour Polaire handled torrential conditions best of all to land her first success at group level. Drawn in stall four, Jour Polaire broke well before being settled into mid division by rider Hideaki Miyuki. Still firmly in the middle of the pack as the field entered the home straight, Miyuki produced his mount towards the centre of the track and as the pacesetters began to falter, Jour Polaire closed right up heading into the final furlong. She eventually stuck her head in front 50 metres out before repelling the fast-finishing favourite Lys Gracieux by a nose, with Red Avancer back in third in a dramatic finish.

Trained by Masato Nishizono, Jour Polaire, a daughter of Deep Impact, is the second Group 1 winner produced by her 19-year-old dam Summer Night City (Helissio), who was responsible for the 2012 Mile Championship winner Sademu Patek (Fuji Kiseki), also trained by Nishizono.

A maiden winner as a three-year-old, Jour Polaire progressed to win a brace of stakes races at four when she was also placed at both Group 1 and Group 2 level. Bred by Shadai Corporation’s Shiraoi Farm, in the colours of G1 Racing syndicate, Jour Polaire is now a six-time winner from her 14 career starts and has earned an excess of €1,700,000 in earnings.

Lys Gracieux once again had to settle for the consolation prize money in the search for her first elite level success. This is the fourth time she has finished second at Group 1 level. The ultra-consistent daughter of Heart’s Cry has only been out of the first three placings on two occasions from her 13 career starts.

NOTABLE UPDATE

Third-placed Red Avancer ensured a notable update for her dam for the second time in two weeks. She is out of 20-year-old Dancing Brave mare Erimo Pixie. Red Avancer’s three-year-old half-sibling ran third in the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup the previous weekend. Remarkably Erimo Pixie has now produced three horses that have been placed third at Group 1 level, but none have managed to win at the highest grade. From eight foals of racing age Erimo Pixie has produced six individual Group winners or Group 1 placed horses.

Jour Polaire’s next port of call will now likely be the 1600-metre Yasuda Kinen where she will come up against colts and also the three-year-old generation including recent NHK mile winner Keiai Nautique.

Of the remainder of the field, 2017 winner Admire Lead finished in a well beaten eighth place. Soul Stirring who provided Frankel with his first classic win as a sire in the 2017 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) continued her poor run of form as a four-year-old when finishing in seventh. She is now unplaced in her last five starts.

DESTINATION FRANCE

As a part of the ‘Destination France’ initiative between the Japanese Racing Association and France Galop, the top three finishers in the Victoria Mile receive automatic starting berths (including a transportation subsidy of €20,000) to the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois in August. June’s Group 1 Yasuda Kinen will also act as a feeder to the Prix Jacques Le Marois.

Included in the Destination France series will be the Japanese Oaks run on May 20th. The first three finishers will receive the same incentive to travel to Europe for the Qatar Prix Vermeille.

In return, the winner of the Jacques le Marois will have the opportunity to claim a €650,000 bonus by winning the €850,000 Group 1 Mile Championship to be held at Kyoto on November 18th. Similarly the Prix Vermeille victor will have the opportunity to claim the same value bonus in the €800,000 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup also to be held at Kyoto on November 11th.