"I didn't think she could catch them in time," said the trainer. "I was scared," admitted the jockey. But, once again, Vodka left the stands reeling as she showed just what a fine grain she is. Weaving her way out of a death trap in the stretch, she knocked back her second win of the Yasuda Memorial in two years straight, capturing the race at Fuchu on Sunday by three-quarters of a length over Deep Sky.
"I screwed up," winning jockey Yutaka Take blurted out to friends as he made his way to the awards ceremony after the Yasuda, but in the postrace interview his self-critique resounded a bit gentler.
"I was scared, but I knew that if we could just get an opening, she had what it took to get to the front in time," Take said.