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The Garrison Savannah near Bridgetown, Barbados, shows off its lights – photo by GAYLE SEALE
*SODASHI, an undefeated 2-year-old filly in Japan, became the first registered white-coloured winner of a Group 1 as she took the Dec. 13 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies.
She may be the only Group/Grade 1 winning white horse to ever win such a race in racing history.
Her dam Buchiko, by King Kamehamaha, was also listed as white:
Buchiko, dam of Group 1 winner Sodashi.
The favoured filly extended her unbeaten record to four by winning this year’s Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in a nail-biting photo-finish and has become the first white horse to claim a JRA-G1 race. Sired by Kurofune (gray) and out of Buchiko (white) , the filly immediately broke her maiden in July and went on to sweep two graded races, the Sapporo Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,800m) in September and the Artemis Stakes (G3, 1,600m) the next month. Following the triumphs in the 2012 and 2013 versions with Robe Tissage and Red Reveur, respectively, this is trainer Naosuke Sugai’s third Hanshin Juvenile Fillies title, his 12th JRA-G1 title overall and his first since the 2017 Victoria Mile with Admire Lead. Jockey Hayato Yoshida has now captured his second JRA-G1 victory following his 2015 Arima Kinen win with Gold Actor.
The race commenced on the backstretch of the Hanshin course as Sodashi, after being a bit reluctant to enter the gate, made a clear break, settling in fourth to fifth and two-wide while Yoka Yoka set a moderate pace five to six lengths in front. After chasing the front runners into the straight, the white filly secured a good path 300 meters out and powered home, picking off the tired pace-setter running the rails while Satono Reinas loomed up in between in the last 50 meters, but repelled the determined challenge in a stirring duel to the wire to win her first G1 title by a whisker.
“Going into the race as favorite was a bit of a load, but I’m thrilled with the outcome. She hated to even go near the gate but I’m relieved that all went well and that we were able to be positioned just as I hoped. The going affected her good turn of foot but she gave all she had. There is room for improvement, and I hope we can get her ready for next year’s classics,” commented jockey Hayato Yoshida after the race.
*At Sha Tin, the big Hong Kong Cup races included the title featured race and it was won by the grey mare NORMCORE while MOGUL took the Hong Kong Vase.
From Racing.Com – “Stretched in distance from her last visit to Hong Kong, Japanese mare Normcore extended when it counted to win Sunday’s HK$28m (A$4.9m) G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin.
Trained by Kiyoshi Hagiwara, Normcore finished fourth in last year’s Hong Kong Mile behind Admire Mars.
Normcore won her only Grade 1 race in the Victoria Mile under Damian Lane in May 2019 and was stepped up in distance ahead of the Hong Kong Cup, winning the Grade 2 Sapporo Kinen (2000m) in August. She then flopped at her final lead-up run, sixteenth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200m) at Hanshin for fillies and mares.
Belgian jockey Christophe Soumillon was booked to ride Normcore but failed to gain clearance from the Hong Kong Jockey Club after an unsatisfactory COVID-19 result late this week, paving the way for Australian jockey Zac Purton to gain the ride.
Purton positioned Normcore ($10) sixth in the eight-horse field and in a slugging finish withstood the challenge of fellow Japanese challenger and last year’s Hong Kong Cup winner Win Bright ($10) by three-quarters of a length.”
Normcore – HKJC photo
Vindicating Aidan O’Brien’s long-held faith, Mogul has emphatically underlined claims as heir apparent to Ballydoyle’s throne after claiming victory in the HK$20 million LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m).
Providing Aidan O’Brien’s third triumph in the race, adding to Highland Reel’s 2015 and 2017 wins, Mogul downed Hong Kong champion Exultant and Columbus County to also give Ryan Moore his third Vase success.
Yet another son of Galileo, Mogul has long been touted as the next world-beater to emerge from O’Brien’s yard and proved his class by overwhelming Exultant, a five-time G1 winner and Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of the Year.
While elated at notching his sixth LONGINES Hong Kong International Races victory, Moore was unsurprised by the quality of Mogul’s performance.
“He’s a horse that we always expected a lot from,” Moore said.
“He was a good two-year-old, he won his G2 race (Champions Juvenile Stakes) at Leopardstown. I don’t know, maybe just the way the season unfolded, he took a while to really pull himself together.
“Maybe he was just a bit behind Derby Day (when sixth to Serpentine) and we were always on the back foot. He was super impressive when he won in Paris (Grand Prix de Paris) and his Breeders’ Cup run (fifth behind Tarnawa in the Breeders’ Cup Turf) wasn’t without merit.
“Today, the race worked out nicely for him, he’s beaten a really solid yardstick in Exultant. He (Exultant) always seems to consistently perform to the same level and never seems to run a bad race around here.
“He’s put them away very nicely.
“In reality, I was in front sooner than would have been ideal today but he took me there nicely.
“When he gets in front, he maybe lacks a bit of concentration still but he’s a beautiful looking horse.
“He’s got a fantastic mind and it doesn’t stress him. He’ll be a really nice three-year-old.”
Owned by Coolmore, Mogul’s laidback mindset lends itself to another international campaign as a four-year-old.
“He has a great mind, so travelling won’t stress him. He loves decent ground,” Moore said.
