MAJOR Emblem’s recent win in the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies ensures that she will be crowned champion two-year-old filly.

There is only one Group 1 race for two-year-old fillies in the JRA calendar and the winner is invariably bestowed with champion status.

In the case of Major Emblem, there will be few complaints; indeed there will be little surprise when the votes are counted if the decision is in fact unanimous.

Even before the race started, the bay daughter of Daiwa Major had already won the hearts of punters and she started as the 6/4 favourite in the 18-runner field.

This was despite her finishing second in her previous start, a Group 3 race, when she was just caught on the line. However, she had won impressively on her debut and followed up immediately afterwards in a conditions race.

BOUNCED OUT

However, last Sunday she showed exactly how good she is. Ridden as in all her previous starts by Christophe Lemaire, she bounced out from the innermost stall and dominated the entire race to win comfortably by two lengths. Win Fabulous was second and Blanc Bonheur was a further length and a quarter back in third.

The winner is by Daiwa Major, a five-time Group 1-winning son of Sunday Silence who stands at Shadai Stallion Station. Though Major Emblem is from his fifth crop of foals, this year looks likely to be a break out year for the handsome chesnut.

His two-year-olds have been running remarkably well and he is already certain to be champion two-year-old sire, displacing Deep Impact who has held this honour for the last five consecutive years. Daiwa Major will also be represented in the Group 1 Futurity on Sunday by the two-year-old colt Ball Lightening.

It was also a red letter day for the winning trainer Yasuhito Tamura as Major Emblem was his first Group 1 winner in a training career that has spanned 18 years.