Mile Championship (Group 1)

THERE is one flat Group 1 in the world this weekend and Japan provides the Mile Championship, it’s top mile race of the autumn run again at Hanshin Racecourse instead of its usual venue Kyoto.

The race has attracted 17 runners including the three-time Group 1 winner Sodashi and four others with one Group 1 victory each to their name - Salios, Schnell Meister, Danon The Kid and Danon Scorpion.

Schnell Meister, a German-bred four-year-old son of Kingman, was runner-up here last year and only three-quarters of a length behind winner Gran Alegria.

Last time out in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes, he encountered interference in the homestretch, yet finished fastest. In between those two races, in the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen, Schnell Meister finished a neck behind winner Songline.

Christophe Lemaire, who won this race for the past two years with Gran Alegria, is on board.

Main attraction

The pure-white Sodashi will again be the main attraction. She has three wins in mile Group 1s races, and in her four 2022 starts, she has a win and two seconds including winning the Group 1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo. Following a fifth in the Group 2 Sapporo Kinen over 10 furlongs at Sapporo in August, she finished a head behind the winner Izu Jo no Kiseki in the Fuchu Himba Stakes over nine furlongs last time out.

Salios has finished fifth and sixth in his previous tries in this race. Last year’s Mile Championship was followed by a third in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin. Back on familiar turf for the Grloup 1 Yasuda Kinen, he finished third but a head and neck behind the winner under Damian Lane. This year, jockey Ryan Moore will be in the saddle. Salios is fresh off a win in the Group 2 Mainichi Okan, which was his first win in two years.

Serifo, a three-year-old by Daiwa Major, is a mile specialist with all his seven starts at the distance.

He has consistent form with a fourth-place finish against three-year-olds in the NHK Mile Cup, followed by another fourth in the Yasuda Kinen. He then won the Group 2 Fuji Stakes over a mile at Tokyo in October with Danon Scorpion third. Damian Lane rides.

One of two runners for trainer Takayuki Yasuda, the three-year-old Danon Scorpion has four wins and two thirds from his only seven starts so far and the Lord Kanaloa-sired colt won the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup in May.