By Alan Carasso
Awardee (Jungle Pocket {Jpn}), the older half-brother to 2016 US Triple Crown participant Lani (Tapit), and Moanin (Henny Hughes), this year's G1 February S. hero, made Wednesday Nihon TV Hai a two-horse affair, with Awardee getting just the better of a captivating battle.
Drawn gate five, Moanin, having his first run in nearly five months, jumped alertly and took them along at a solid clip, but was joined after a furlong by the race favorite and the duo kept close company for the next mile. Narrowly in front into the second turn, Moanin looked to be in some trouble as Awardee turned up the pressure nearing the final quarter-mile as the top two pulled a country mile clear of the others. Moanin counterpunched and gamely poked his nose in front inside the final 150 metres, but Awardee dug in gamely outside to earn a hard-fought decision.
Awardee won four times from 26 tries on the grass, but has been reinvented since a switch to the dirt six days after Lani debuted last September. The 6-year-old is now perfect in five starts on the main track, having posted a third straight graded success in the Apr. 16 G3 Antares S. in his most recent trip to the post. Awardee and Moanin could clash again in the G1 Champions Cup (formerly Japan Cup Dirt) at Chukyo Dec. 4.
Heavenly Romance, winner of the 2005 Tenno Sho (Autumn), is represented by a 2-year-old filly by Distorted Humor and a yearling filly by the WinStar stallion. She foaled a colt by Awesome Again this past Apr. 1 and was most recently bred to Tapit.
Click for the race chart and VIDEO.
NIPPON TV HAI-Listed, ¥54,400,000, Funabashi, 9-28, 3yo/up, 1800m, 1:52, hy.
1–AWARDEE, 123, h, 6, Jungle Pocket (Jpn)–Heavenly
Romance (Jpn) (MSW-Jpn, $3,527,120), by Sunday Silence.
O-Koji Maeda; B-North Hills Management (KY); T-Mikio Matsunaga;
J-Yutaka Take; ¥32,000,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW-Jpn,
31-9-4-6, ¥245,480,000. *1/2 to Amour Briller (Smart Strike),
MSW, $2,005,613; and Lani (Tapit), GSW-UAE, GISP-US,
$1,561,618.[bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred”]2–Moanin, 128, c, 4, Henny Hughes–Giggly, by Distorted
Humor. ($90,000 Ylg '13 FTNAUG; $335,000 2yo '14 OBSMAR).
O-Yukio Baba; B-Empire Equines LLC (NY); ¥11,200,000.[bullet ad=”bradley-pinhook”][bullet ad=”hidden-brook-raised-sold”][bullet ad=”us-bred-ft-grad”]3–Sound True (Jpn), 128, g, 6, French Deputy–Kyoei Truth (Jpn),
by Fuji Kiseki (Jpn). O-Hiroshi Yamada; B-Okada Stud;
¥6,400,000.
Margins: HD, 5, 3. Odds: 0.80, 2.20, 2.00.
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