Palace Rumor

Installed the second choice behind G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) defending winner Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente (Jpn), Masahiro Miki's Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact (Jpn) followed up on a last-time out victory in the Mar. 19 G2 Hanshin Daishoten to post a comfortable victory in the 3,200 meter fixture, held for the first time at the newly-renovated Kyoto Racecourse. "The horse was calm throughout the race and I was sure that he was going to win when we moved up behind Deep Bond entering the straight," commented winning rider Christophe Lemaire. "He...

As has been well-documented, Japanese interests have--over the course of many years--accumulated some of the best bloodstock from all corners of the globe, and as evidenced in Riyadh and Dubai in the last couple of months, the Japanese are breeding horses that can compete anywhere at any level. Classics season in the island nation kicked off last weekend with the running of the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), with the colts' equivalent--the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas)--set for this weekend at Nakayama Racecourse. The 3-year-old offspring of some...