By Alan Carasso
Victorious in this event in 2015, Danon Legend was looking for his third win from four starts this season, having most recently annexed the Hokkaido Sprint Cup over a muddy strip at Mombetsu June 9. The second favorite in a field of 14, Danon Legend jumped well enough from gate five and was in front after 100 metres, but was soon joined on the front end by longshot Love Bullet. Despite being pinned down on the inside through the middle stages of the race, the 6-year-old kicked away from Love Bullet entering the final furlong and was always holding odds-on Bulldog Boss to record an eighth career black-type success. A $90,000 Keeneland September purchase from the consignment of Craig and Holly Bandoroff's Denali Stud, Danon Legend was the $385,000 second highest-priced lot at the 2012 Barretts March Sale. Danon Legend shares his second dam–the 2000 Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old filly Caressing (Honour and Glory)–with a New York-bred son of Pioneerof the Nile consigned by Denali Stud as hip 63 to the upcoming Keeneland September sale. The winner's dam produced colts by Deep Impact (Jpn) in each of her last two years at stud.
CLUSTER CUP-Listed, ¥34,500,000, Morioka, 8-16, 3yo/up, 1200m, 1:09.10, yg.
1–DANON LEGEND, 132, h, 6, Macho Uno–My Goodness, by
Storm Cat. ($90,000 yrl '11 KEESEP; $385,000 2yo '12
BARMAR). O-Danox Inc; B-Colts Neck Stables LLC; T-Akira
Murayama; J-Mirco Demuro. ¥23,000,000. Lifetime Record:
GSW-Jpn, 28-13-4-3, ¥305,741,000.[bullet ad=”denali-keesep-2016-hip-63-danon-legend”][bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred-keen-grad”]2–Bulldog Boss (Jpn), 119, c, 4, Daiwa Major (Jpn)–Lyphard
Cannes (Jpn), by Danehill. O-Him Rock Racing; B-Keiichi
Samekawa. ¥5,290,000.
3–Love Bullet (Jpn), 119, h, 5, Nobo Jack–Revival Girl (Jpn),
by Bubble Gum Fellow (Jpn). O-Ichiro Uchiyama; B-Yuji
Tsushima. ¥2,990,000.
Margins: 2, 4, 2HF. Odds: 1.50, 0.90, 16.50.
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