Kawakami Princess turned the tables on the two top picks Sunday for a three-quarters-of-a-length win of the grade I Oaks at Tokyo Racecourse.
Kawakami Princess races to victory at the grade I Oaks in Tokyo on Sunday.
Second-place in the Oaks' 67th running was the race's fifth-most-popular filly Fusaichi Pandora, followed over the line by the even less popular Asahi Rising in third. Admire Kiss, the Okasho runnerup and Oaks favorite, and Fujimusume also made the board.
The race went off at a blistering pace, the 18 runners pulled by Yumeno Ora, who widened her lead down the backstretch to over 10 lengths, only to be caught at the top of the stretch. Seventeen runners straightened for home with Asahi Rising in front from the 400.
Third choice Kawakami Princess went neck and neck with Asahi Rising from the 200-meter mark and managed to gain the top with some 100 meters remaining in the 2,400-meter race.
Stretching forward in the last stride, Fusaichi Pandora snatched second place from Asahi Rising by a neck. Koiuta, third-place finisher in the Okasho, had to be pulled up going into the final turn, but the injury was not thought to be serious. Okasho winner and race second-choice Kiss to Heaven finished sixth.
Kawakami Princess, unbeaten in her three races leading to the Oaks, was running at the group level for the first time following her win of the April 30 Sweet Pea Stakes. The King Halo-sired bay filly was bred and is owned by Mitsuishi Kawakami Farm, located in Hokkaido's Hidaka.
She is out of the Seattle Slew mare Takano Secretary. Jockey Masaru Honda and trainer Katsuichi Nishiura both notched their first wins of the Oaks. First-place prize money was 97 million yen. Winning time was 2 minutes, 26.2 seconds, clocked over fast turf.