THE Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen marks the end of the first half of the year’s top-tier races on Japan’s racing calendar. Group 1 action is set to return in the JRA on September 29th with the Sprinter Stakes, which is the eighth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge.
Along with the Arima Kinen, the final Group 1 of the calendar year, the Takarazuka Kinen is the only other Grand Prix ‘All-Star’ race. This means the line-up is determined by votes from racing fans as to which horses are invited to compete.
Breeders’ Cup
First run in 1960, the 11-furlong race gained worldwide Group 1 accreditation in 1997. It is also part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge, whereby the winner is granted an automatic berth in the autumn’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, with a $40,000 travel supplement included. The race winner also receives an invitation to run in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia.
At the end of a long spring campaign, typically the Takarazuka Kinen attracts a smaller field than the usual maximum for JRA racing. With the number one pick in the ballot, Almond Eye, not running, Al Ain, Kiseki and Rey De Oro, all Group 1 winners, took their invitation as second, third and fourth in the voting polls.
Suave Richard, Lys Gracieux and Makahiki also lined-up as Group 1 winners to make it six top-level victors in the field of 12 runners.
On paper the small but select field of the Takarazuka Kinen looked highly competitive and wide open, however the result was far from that. The sole mare in the field, Lys Gracieux ran out a comprehensive three-length winner.
Drawn widest of all, Lys Gracieux broke sharply easing her way towards the rail to sit on the girth of the front-running Kiseki. Run at a solid pace throughout, Kiseki began to assert himself from the front as the field approached the 600-metre pole.
Lys Gracieux, with Damian Lane aboard, manoeuvred away from the rail to challenge for the lead entering the home straight. The Yoshito Yahagi-trained mare quickly took control of the race to pass the line an impressive winner. Kiseki stayed on to claim second with Suave Richard a further two lengths behind in third.
A narrowly beaten runner-up in five separate Group 1 races, Lys Gracieux’s long overdue maiden Group 1 success came in the 2018 Queen Elizabeth II Cup. The ultra-consistent daughter of Heart’s Cry is the third produce of the 12-year-old listed-winning French-bred mare Liliside (American Post).
The five-year-old Lys Gracieux has had 20 career starts and only finished outside of the top three on three occasions, earning €4.7 million.
Sensational Lane
Damian Lane received a short-term licence to ride in the JRA from April 27th to June 25th, his first time riding in Japan. Lane has had nothing short of a sensational stint since taking to the saddle in April. He partnered his first JRA Group 1 winner aboard Normcore in the Victoria Mile in May. On his final weekend as a JRA jockey, the Australian rode a five-timer on Saturday before ending the weekend with Group 1 spoils on Sunday. During his brief time in the land of the rising sun, Lane rode 37 winners from a 123 rides, posting a quite impressive 30.1% winners to rides.
This statistic is comfortably the highest return from the current leading top 20 permanent JRA jockeys.
His two Group 1 wins were also supplemented by four other JRA graded race wins with total race earnings of €7,000,000.
ON the weekend of June 15th/16th, 156 horses were forced to be withdrawn from a total of 72 races held across Tokyo, Hanshin and Hakodate Racecourses.
The JRA took the decisive action because of a theobromine contamination in the widely used Green Cal supplement. Theobromine is a substance similar to caffeine which is prohibited under the rules of racing. With not enough time to verify samples from individual horses before, the JRA took the unprecedented decision to prohibit runners from 28 trainers stables where the supplement had been used.
Upon a negative test result from each individual horse from the affected stables, they will be free to resume racing.
Of the principal races of the weekend the Group 3 Hakodate Sprint Stakes was the worst affected by non-runners. Only seven of the 13 horses entered were eligible to run in the race that had a prize pool of in excess of €600,000.
In 25 years of JRA racing there has only been one winner that has been disqualified because of testing positive for a banned substance. Juvenile filly Pink Bouquet holds this unwanted title, winning and subsequently losing a newcomers’ race in December 2014.