ALMOND Eye was simply magnificent at the weekend when the five-year-old brought her Group 1 tally of victories to seven with success in the Victoria Mile at Tokyo. The win had the added bonus of guaranteeing her a place in this November’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Hopefully she will take up that invitation.

Carrying the colours of Silk Racing, Almond Eye not only won with ease, but she failed by just 0.1 of a second to match the course record. Her win puts her level with seven other Japanese Group 1 winners for the number of victories at the highest level, a group that includes heavyweights such as Deep Impact, Vodka and Gentildonna. Another landmark was achieved with this Victoria Mile triumph as the winning jockey, Christophe Lemaire, was recording his 30th Group 1 win in Japan.