FUCHU -- A mere three weeks after a 5-length win of the NHK Mile Cup, King Kamehameha once again reigned supreme, this time with a length-and-a-half record win of the year's biggest racing event, the Nippon Derby.

Before some 122,000 fans on a sweltering, sweaty Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse, King Kamehameha extended his winning streak to four with a rout of 18 of Japan's top racehorses and a winning time (2:23.3) that whittled 2 seconds from the race record.

"I still can't really believe it," jockey Katsumi Ando said of the win. "But I'm more relieved that overjoyed. I really believed in him and I wanted him to win so he could show just how strong he is," Ando said of his mount.

It was three weeks ago to the day that Ando, speaking before the press following the Mile Cup win, raised eyebrows with his cool, confident proclamation that his horse would win the Derby. Sunday, the crowd was fully behind him, sending King Kamehameha to the gate the strong favorite.

At 3:40 p.m. sharp, the 18 colts broke from the gate and passed the grandstand, packed with screaming race fans. Meiner Makros pulled the field at a sharp pace, putting 10 lengths between him and the rest down the backstretch with second pick Cosmo Bulk in hot pursuit.

Ando and King Kamehameha remained cool in fifth position, unaffected by the frontrunners. At the bend, however, Ando decided he couldn't afford to stay too far back, just in case the front held.

Beginning his spurt from 600 meters before the goal, King Kamehameha surged forward. "After the last race I thought he couldn't get any stronger. But he was," Ando said with obvious pride.

King Kamehameha took the lead with 300 meters to go and held on. "Most horses wouldn't have been able to keep going at that speed for that long but he did. He put up with it. He gave it his everything. He's a monster."

King Kamehameha continued home without a challenge, followed by Heart's Cry in second place and Higher Game 1-3/4 lengths later in third.

It was a record for trainer Kunihide Matsuda as well. Two-time Derby winner, Matsuda became -- with the NHK Mile Cup, the Oaks, and the Derby -- the first Japanese trainer to win three Grade 1s in a row. Matsuda indicated that plans to race King Kamehameha overseas are likely.

King Kamehameha, by King Mambo, out of the Last Tycoon mare Manfath, was bred at Northern Farm in Hokkaido. He is owned by Makoto Kaneko. The bay colt is now six for seven. The Derby's 150 million yen winner's share brought his earnings to over 375 million yen.

Not all of the 18 runners in the Derby field made it home safely. Tragically, Meiner Brooke had to be euthanized after breaking down in the homestretch just 200 meters before the goal.

Turnover on the Derby alone topped 33.3 billion yen, down just under 2 percent from last year.