HYOGO PREF. — Eishin Deputy knocked off some of the more fancied runners with an all-the-way win in the 49th Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin racecourse on Sunday afternoon.

The 6-year-old put up a game display under jockey Hiroyuki Uchida, who took the shortest way round, despite ground worries after a night of heavy rain and showers on the day.

Eishin Deputy won his first ever Group 1, and did so by beating Meisho Samson into second, with Inti Raimi running on to take third. The distances were a head and a neck, and the son of French Deputy covered the 2,200 meters in a time of 2 minutes 15.3 seconds, some way off the record due to the soft going.