The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, fall's showcase for up-and-coming 2-year-olds,went to Yamanin Sucre by a neck at Hanshin Racecourse in Hyogo Prefecture on Sunday.
Yamanin Sucre (foreground) races down the stretch en route to victory at the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at Hanshin Racecourse in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture.
The daughter of Tokai Teio, out of Yamanin Jewely, topped the field of 18 in the race's 55th running for her first grade race victory, her third win in a total 5 starts.
Yamanin Sucre, under Hirofumi Shii, broke from the No. 16 gate, and held four from the rear, three widths off the rail down the backstretch.
Staying wide through the final bend, Shii brought the filly to within striking distance two lengths off the front by the 200-meter mark, then spurted forward to catch stablemate and front runner Yamanin Alcyon in the final stride.
Shii admitted that the outside draw had been a concern.
"I was worried about it. The main question was how to tackle the first turn. When the trainer told me to take it easy it helped a lot to take off the pressure," Shii said after the race.
Yamanin Sucre is trained by the Ritto-based Hidekazu Asami. The Sunday Silence-sired Yamanin Alcyon finished second with Concordia, by Fuji Kiseki, in third 3/4 length later. The winning time over the 1,600 meters of turf was 1 minute 35.9 seconds. First-place prize money was 60 million yen.