High-class Japanese galloper Gold Ship returned to his winning ways and defended his title when taking Sunday's Hanshin Daishoten. Winner of three Group 1s, including two Classics, as a sophomore three years ago, Gold Ship has scored at the highest level each year since. He took the G1 Takarazuka Kinen the last two years, but had failed to find the winner's circle in four outings since that score last June. He ventured outside Japan for the first time when 14th in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last October, and was third in the G1 Arima Kinen Dec. 28 to close out his campaign. He warmed up for this with a seventh in the G2 American Jockey Club S. Jan. 25. Traveling near the rear of a strung out field yesterday, Gold Ship began to swiftly pick off rivals on the outside the second time down the backstretch and was perched third and three-wide at the top of the lane. The grey spurted clear down the stretch and held off a stubborn Denim and Ruby to win comfortably.
Sunday, Hanshin, Japan
HANSHIN DAISHOTEN-G2, ¥124,320,000, Hanshin, 3-22, 4yo/up, 3000mT, 3:05.90, fm
1–GOLD SHIP (JPN), 128, h, 6, by Stay Gold (Jpn)
1st Dam: Point Flag (Jpn) (SP-Jpn, $421,332), by Mejiro McQueen (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Pastoralism (Jpn), by Pluralisme
3rd Dam: Tokuno Eighty (Jpn), by Tribal Chief (GB)
O-Eiichi Kobayashi; B-Deguchi Farm; T-Naosuke
Sugai; J-Yasunari Iwata. ¥65,714,000. Lifetime
Record: Ch. 3yo Colt & MG1SW-Jpn, 24-12-3-2.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Denim and Ruby (Jpn), 119, m, 5, Deep Impact
(Jpn)–Venenciador (Jpn), by King Kamehameha
(Jpn). (¥39,000,000 wnlg '10 JRHAJUL) O-Makoto
Kaneko Holdings; B-Northern Farm. ¥26,204,000.
3–Last Impact (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–
Superior Pearl (Jpn), by Timber Country. O-Silk Co;
B-Shiraoi Farm. ¥16,102,000.
Margins: 1 1/ 4, 3, 1HF. Odds: 0.60, 17.60, 3.90.
Click for the JRA chart and video. Click for the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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