By Alan Carasso
Sent off the third choice in a high-class and competitive renewal, Silk Racing's Indy Champ (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) became just the seventh horse in history and first since Horse of the Year Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) in 2015 to win both the G1 Yasuda Kinen and G1 Mile Championship S. in the same calendar year. Favored Danon Premium (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) stayed on for second ahead of 2017 race winner and 2018 runner-up Persian Knight (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}).
Drawn nicely in gate five, Indy Champ landed in the first third of the field while saving ground behind the longshot pacesetter My Style (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). Held together by Kenichi Ikezoe nearing the home straight, the 4-year-old burst through three off the inside at the 200-metre mark and skipped home a clear-cut winner. Danon Premium raced three wide the trip after breaking from a high gate and raced outside the eventual winner down the side. He came to win the race at the furlong grounds, but could not summon the necessary kick and settled for second as Persian Knight closed good ground from the second half of the field to be third.
One of 10 top-level winners for his sire, Indy Champ is out of a half-sister to multi-jurisdictional Group 1 winner Real Impact (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}); Neorealism (Jpn) (Neo Universe {Jpn}), a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong and third in this in this event in 2016; and MSW & G1SP I'll Love Again (Jpn) (El Condor Pasa). Will Power produced a filly by Daiwa Major (Jpn) in 2018 and a filly by Kinshasa no Kiseki (Aus) (Fuji Kiseki {Jpn}) in 2019.
Sunday, Kyoto, Japan
MILE CHAMPIONSHIP-G1, ¥215,100,000, Kyoto, 11-17, 3yo/up, 1600mT, 1:33, fm.
1–INDY CHAMP (JPN), 126, c, 4, Stay Gold (Jpn)
1st Dam: Will Power (Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Tokio Reality, by Meadowlake
3rd Dam: What a Reality, by In Reality
O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm; T-Hidetaka Otonashi; J-Kenichi Ikezoe; ¥113,570,000. Lifetime Record: 12-7-1-2, ¥361,790,000. *1/2 to A Will a Way (Jpn) (Just a Way {Jpn}), SW & GSP-Jpn, $664,254. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Danon Premium (Jpn), 126, c, 4, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Indiana Gal (Ire), by Intikhab. O-Danox Inc; B-K I Farm; ¥45,020,000.
3–Persian Knight (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Harbinger (GB)–Orient Charm (Jpn), by Sunday Silence. O-G1 Racing; B-Oiwake Farm; ¥28,510,000.
Margins: 1HF, NK, HF. Odds: 5.40, 1.40, 16.60.
Also Ran: My Style (Jpn), Danon Kingly (Jpn), Catedral (Jpn), Kurino Gaudi (Jpn), Guanciale (Jpn), Red Olga (Jpn), Diatonic (Jpn), Primo Scene (Jpn), Time Trip (Jpn), Fiano Romano (Aus), Mozu Ascot, Leyenda (Jpn), Al Ain (Jpn), Emeral Fight (Jpn).
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
