Tenno Sho (Autumn) (Group 1)

THE Group 1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) proved a hugely dramatic race at Tokyuo racecourse last Sunday.

The three-year-old colt Equinox showed brilliant finishing speed in mastering a 15-horse field of graded winners, including last year’s Japanese Derby winner Shahryar (fifth).

In the footsteps of 2021 winner Efforia, he was attempting to win as a three-year-old and it was the dark brown colt’s first race against the older horses, on only his fifth-career start.

The son of Kitasan Black, owned by Silk Racing Co Ltd, had two wins from two in his two-year-old season including a Group 2, and this season was runner-up in two legs of the Triple Crown, to Geoglyph in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) in April and to Do Deuce in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) in May, by a length and a neck respectively.

Sent off race favourite last Sunday, Equinox raced back in 10th place while Panthalassa, under jockey Yutaka Yoshida, took the early lead as expected and set a rapid pace running five furlongs in 57.4 seconds.

Panthalassa expanded his huge lead to 15 lengths by the third bend, as Equinox was nearer the rear of the field coming out of the last turn.

It looked for all money as though Panthalassa had an unassailable lead but it was from there that Equinox and Christophe Lemaire unleashed a spectacular run down the straight, picking off his rivals one by one, and after pulling away from Jack d’Or 100 metres out, they finally swooped past the tiring pacesetter in the very final strides to notch a thrilling length victory.

“I’m happy that we were able to catch Panthalassa. When I saw him way in front of us after turning into the straight, the huge gap did worry me a bit, but my colt gave his best and displayed an incredible turn of foot,” commented Lemaire to Japanese media after the race.

“If he comes out of this race safe and well, he has every chance to do well in the Japan Cup or the Arima Kinen. This was his first Group 1 win but definitely not his last,” he added.

The win has given his sire Kitasan Black, a son of Deep Impact’s full-brother Black Tide, (and a seven-time JRA-Group 1 winner including the 2017 Tenno Sho (Autumn)) his first Group 1 win as a sire.

Lemaire was winning his 42nd JRA-Group 1 win, adding another Tenno Sho (Autumn) title following wins with Rey de Oro (2018) and Almond Eye (2019,20).