FUNABASHI, Chiba Pref. – Top favorite Rose Kingdom lived up to his future star status Sunday by winning the Asahi Cup Futurity Stakes.
Rose Kingdom improved to 3-for-3 with a 1 1/4 length victory over second favorite Eishin Apollon in the Grade One race for 2-year-olds at Nakayama Racecourse.
Daiwa Barbarian was third, two lengths further back.
Rose Kingdom covered the mile in 1 minute, 34.0 seconds and earned ¥63 million in prize money.
“I took him to the outside in the final straight and he responded with a powerful charge,” said jockey Futoshi Komaki.
“I’m so honored to be aboard this wonderful horse. I had the confidence to win today and only concentrated on the start.”
It was the first victory in this race for both Komaki and trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi.