Photo:
Japan Racing Association
Museum Mile drew away in the final furlong and set a stakes
record Sunday at Nakayama to win the Grade 1 Satsuki Sho, Japan’s 2,000 Guineas
and the first race in the nation’s Triple Crown.
Breaking smoothly from gate 11 in the field of 18, the
3-year-old Leontes colt traveled wide in mid-pack early in the roughly 1 1/4-mile
turf race. Museum Mile (9-1) rallied briefly with odds-on favorite Croix du
Nord (1-2) nearing the sixteenth pole but soon pulled away with a powerful turn
of speed to win by 1 1/2 lengths.
The winning time on the good-to-firm course was 1:57.0
without a run-up for the 2,000 meters, 13 yards short of 1 1/4 miles. That was
one-tenth of a second faster than the Satsuki Sho record set last year by
Justin Milano.
Owned by Sunday Racing, Museum Mile was ridden by jockey João
Moreira. He became the sixth jockey since Christophe Lemaire in 2019 to claim
both the Oka Sho (G1) and the Satsuki Sho in the same year. It was his fifth
Japan Grade 1 victory.
“When we were turning for home, we were a bit unbalanced,
maybe because the ground was not so smooth,” Moreira said. “But when I got him
on the stretch, he just dashed home, and when he took the lead with 150 meters
to go, he kept running away, showing me that he’s got so much ability.”
Museum Mile’s trainer Daisuke Takayanagi earned his first classic
win and his third in a Group 1.
Croix du Nord, who was Japan’s champion juvenile colt last
year, stalked in fourth before surging out of the second right turn and into
the lead at the eighth pole. Although he was overtaken by Museum Mile, the
Kitasan Black colt ran persistently, holding off the strong charges from behind
to secure second place.
Masquerade Ball (12-1), who came in from a Grade 3 victory, was
11th before he tipped out for the stretch run with the second-fastest late
drive. He finished third by a half-length over fourth-place Giovanni (22-1).
After a third-place debut in August, Museum Mile broke his
maiden next out in Kyoto. Another win preceded his runner-up finish in the
Futurity (G1) to end his 2-year-old season. He kicked off the current season
with a fourth in the Deep Impact Kinen (G2) on March 9.
The 1 1/2-mile Tokyo Yushun (G1), also known as the Japanese
Derby, will be run June 1 as the second race in the Triple Crown. The 1 7/8-mile
Kikuka Sho (G1), Japan’s St. Leger, will complete the series Oct. 26 at Kyoto.
AloJapan.com