THE Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen marks the end of the first half of the year’s top-tier races in Japan’s racing calendar. Group 1 action is set to return in the JRA on October 1st 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. The line-up is determined by votes from racing fans as to which horses are invited to compete.

First run in 1960, the 11-furlong race gained worldwide Group 1 accreditation in 1997. It is also now 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.

Top billing, by way of votes, for the second consecutive year in a row was the 2016 champion Kitasan Black. He received in excess of 101,000 votes, 83% of the total cast.

Three other individual Group 1 winners would compete the 11-runner field, the joint smallest field to contest the race in a decade.

However, as on 20 previous occasions, jockey, Mirco Demuro would pose for the winner’s photos. This time it was aboard the third horse in the betting, 2016 Hong Kong Vase winner Satono Crown.

This marked the first Group 1 in Japan for the Noriyuki Hori-trained five-year-old.

He is the 18th horse to lay claim to both JRA and overseas Group 1 titles.

Remarkably he is just the third for Hori, having successfully guided Maurice (Hong Kong) and Real Impact (Australia) to top-tier wins outside Japan.

MODERATE PACE

In a race run at a decidedly moderate pace, Demuro was content to restrain his mount towards the rear of the field for much of it.

Sitting in seventh as they entered the homestretch, he surged clear of the pack in the final furlong to win by a comfortable but unflattering three-quarters of a length.

Connections have so far remained tight-lipped about a possible autumn trip to the Breeders’ Cup. Noriyuki Hori’s success and propensity to challenge overseas, it would come as no surprise to see Satono Crown appear in November’s Championship festival.

Satono Crown is by the late Derrinstown stallion Marju, out of the listed winning and Group 3-placed Irish-bred mare Jioconda.

He is the second Group 1 winning produce of the mare as she is also responsible for 2011 Cheveley Park Stakes winner, Lightening Pearl, also by Marju.

Kitasan Black was sent off at the prohibitive odds of 1/2 favourite to complete three consecutive wins a Group 1 level. He won both the Osaka Hai and the spring edition of the Tenno Sho in his two previous runs.

Once again in partnership with regular rider Yutaka Take, Kitasan Black was prominent in the early stages of the 11-furlong race.

However, Take began to show signs of distress aboard the usually powerful travelling bay. As early as midway down the back straight, Kitasan Black, seemingly needing to be bustled along to remain within striking distance of the modest pace.

Once into the final three furlongs, it became evident that Kitasan Black didn’t possess his familiar flair that had served him so well in five Group 1 wins in his career to date.

Post-race, a perplexed Take offered no excuses for the obvious sub-par performance.

Since his success in November’s Japan Cup, connections had made no secret of their intention of travelling the son of Black Tide to France for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe later in the year.

OVERSEAS EXCURSION

An added incentive for an excursion overseas was a new initiative between Horse Racing Ireland and the Japan Racing Association. The winner of the recently upgraded Group 1 Osaka Hai would claim a ‘win and you’re in’ ticket to the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes.

Since Kitasan Black’s emphatic victory in the race, it had been widely expected that he would take part in the Leopardstown showpiece en-route to the Arc.

In the immediate aftermath of the disappointing performance in the Takarazuka Kinen, connections were quick to rule out a trip to Europe. Instead he will stay in Japan and be trained for the defence of his Japan Cup crown and ending his season in the Arima Kinen run in December.