SUBJECT: RESULTS OF THE 72ND SATSUKI SHO (Japanese ...

FROM: Yuji Kinoshita
General Manager, Media & Publicity Department, THE JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION (JRA)
DATE: April 15, 2012
SUBJECT: RESULTS OF THE 72ND SATSUKI SHO (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1)
The Satsuki Sho, which is the first of the three legs of JRA’s Triple Crown Classics for three-year-olds including
the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1) and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1), is comparable to British
Two Thousand Guineas. The “Yokohama Norinsho Shoten Yonsai Yobiuma”, the precursor of the Satsuki Sho, was
first run over 1,850 meters at Yokohama Racecourse in 1939 then moved its venue to Tokyo Racecourse four years
later before given its current name. The venue shifted to Nakayama Racecourse in 1949 and the distance was also
altered to 2,000 meters in the following year.
Last year’s Satsuki Sho, which was held soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake, was temporarily shifted to
Tokyo Racecourse owing to damages caused on parts of the stands at Nakayama. Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold)
who won the race proceeded to claim all three of the Triple Crown titles—the seventh Triple Crown winner in JRA
history—as well as the Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m), making him an unarguable winner of the Horse of the Year title
of 2011. Other recent winners of the Satsuki Sho include subsequent JRA Award winners such as Meisho Samson
(’06; JPN, by Opera House), Deep Impact (’05; JPN, by Sunday Silence), Daiwa Major (’04; JPN, by Sunday
Silence) and Victoire Pisa (JPN, by Neo Universe) whose success in the 2010 Satsuki Sho and the 2011 Dubai
World Cup (G1, AW, 2,000m) earned him two consecutive JRA Awards—Best Three-Year-Old Colt in 2010 and
Best Older Colt or Horse in 2011.
With 2011 Best Two-Year-Old colt Alfredo (JPN, by Symboli Kris S) opting to run in the NHK Mile Cup (G1,
1,600m) in early May, Grandezza stood first in line as the only runner with two grade-race titles—his most recent
being the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m) in March. Deep Brillante who finished second in that race was a winner in
the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,800m) last November and had come off two runner-up efforts this season.
Cosmo Ozora came off a win in the Yayoi Sho (G2, 2,000m) while World Ace won his second successive win in
the Wakaba Stakes (2,000m) after claiming his first grade-race title in the Kisaragi Sho (G3, 1,800m) in February.
Other grade-race winners included Monstre , Adam’s Peak and Gold Ship who won the Niigata Nisai Stakes (G3,
1,600m), the Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes (G3, 2,000m) and the Kyodo News Service Hai (G3, 1,800m),
respectively.
The race record is held by No Reason (JPN, by Brian’s Time) who won in 1:58.5 in 2002.
THE 72ND SATSUKI SHO (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1)
3-year-old colts & fillies, 2,000 meters (about 10 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 15, 2012 Nakayama Racecourse 11th Race Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 202,160,000 (about US$ 2,527,000 )
3-y-o: 57kg (about 126 lbs),
2kg allowance for Fillies, 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2009
Safety factor: 18 runners
FP BK PP Horse
1 7 14
2 5 9
3 3 6
Gold Ship
World Ace
(JPN)
(JPN)
Deep Brillante
(JPN)
4 7
Cosmo Ozora
15
(JPN)
5 8 18 Grandezza
(JPN)
6 4 8
Satono Gallant
(JPN)
7 4 7
Veiled Impact
(JPN)
8 2 4
Meisho Kadomatsu
(JPN)
9 1 1 Monstre
(JPN)
Sex
Age
Wgt
(kg)
Sire
Dam
Stay Gold
C3 57.0
Point Flag
Deep Impact
C3 57.0
Mandela
C3 57.0 Deep Impact
Love And Bubbles
C3 57.0 Roses in May
Meine Sharona
C3 57.0 Agnes Tachyon
Marbye
C3 57.0 Symboli Kris S
Stinger
C3 57.0 Deep Impact
Violet Love
Daiwa Major
C3 57.0
Alpine Rose
Admire Max
C3 57.0
Isono Swallow
Jockey
Trainer
H. Uchida
N. Sugai
Y. Fukunaga
Y. Ikee
Y. Iwata
Y. Yahagi
D. Shibata
Y. Takahashi
M. Demuro
O. Hirata
N. Yokoyama
K. Fujisawa
Y. Fujioka
R. Okubo
K. Fujioka
K. Fujioka
Y. Shibata
T. Ozeki
Owner
Breeder
Eiichi Kobayashi
Eiichi Kobayashi
Sunday Racing Co.,Ltd.
Northern Racing
Sunday Racing Co.,Ltd.
Love and Bubbles
Partnership
Big Red Farm
Big Red Farm
Shadai Race H.
Shadai Farm
Hajime Satomi
Shadai Farm
Shadai Race H.
Shadai Farm
Yoshio Matsumoto
Mishima Bokujo
Koji Maeda
Murashita Nojo
Margin
(L3F)
2:01.3
(34.6)
2-1/2
(34.9)
3/4
(36.7)
Nose
(36.4)
1-1/4
(35.4)
Nose
(36.0)
Neck
(36.2)
Nose
(38.4)
1/2
(36.4)
Odds
(Fav)
7.1
(4)
3.2
(2)
6.2
(3)
18.5
(6)
3.1
(1)
45.6
(9)
58.7
(13)
48.9
(11)
145.2
(16)

Sweeping Victory by Gold Ship in the First Leg of the 3-Y-O Triple Crown Classics
Fourth choice Gold Ship, coming off a 2-month break, marked a sweeping victory with his impressive late charge in
this year’s Satsuki Sho. This marks his first G1 and second grade-race win after his victory in the Kyodo News
Service Hai (G3) in February. His two consecutive grade-race victories come after his two runner-up efforts during
his two-year-old season, in the Sapporo Nisai Stakes (G3) and the Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes (G3), in which he
lost to Grandezza and Adam’s Peak, respectively. Gold Ship, by Stay Gold and out of the Mejiro McQueen
mare Point Flag, has the same bloodlines as last year's Triple Crown winner Orfevre and three-time Grade 1
champion Dream Journey.
With this victory, the son of Stay Gold gave his jockey his first Satsuki Sho win and third Classics title—he has won
the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) in 2008 with Oken Bruce Lee and the Japanese Derby in 2010 with Eishin
Flash, which makes him the Triple Crown-winning jockey—and his trainer Naosuke Sugai his first G1 win after
only three years since opening his stable.
Second pick World Ace, trained by Yasutoshi Ikee who was looking for back-to-back titles following last year’s
victory with Orfevre, came in second, followed by third favorite Deep Brillante. Race favorite Grandezza
finished a disappointing fifth.
The race took off with Meisho Kadomatsu and Zelos immediately rushing out to rally for the lead, as expected.
Deep Brillante turned the first two corners wide in third, six to seven lengths behind the frontrunners, then fell
back to fourth through the backstretch, while sixth choice Cosmo Ozora also traveled wide around 6-7th from the
front. Gold Ship partnered with Hiroyuki Uchida settled in the very rear, with top two race favorites running in
front of him—World Ace second and Grandezza third from last.
As the field of 18 rounded the last two corners, with most of the contenders taking the outer route to avoid the
somewhat worn turf areas, Hiroyuki Uchida steered Gold Ship through the inner path and successfully took the
front 200 meters out, after which the Stay Gold gray unleashed a powerful late charge—running the last three
furlongs the fastest in the field—and easily pulled away to a 2-1/2-length victory. World Ace, regaining balance
after stumbling at the beginning of the race, displayed an impressive late kick from behind after taking the widest
route through the last corner and overtook Deep Brillante in the last three strides to cross the wire 3/4 length in
front. Grandezza, who also took a wide route through the last corners, produced a strong charge from the outside,
but finished 1-1/4-length short of Cosmo Ozora who stayed on well in the homestretch to finish a nose behind
Deep Brillante in fourth.
Othe r Horses:
6th: (8) Satono Gallant—traveled wide in mid-division, showed mild effort in stretch.
7th: (7) Veiled Impact—raced in midfield, one paced.
8th: (4) Meisho Kadomatsu—set pace, fell back to 2nd in backstretch, held on well in stretch.
9th: (1) Mons tre—ran 4th from front at one point, fell back to mid-division, unable to threaten
10th: (10) Snowdon—even paced.
11th: (5) Ardent—sat towards rear in mid-pack, lacked needed kick in stretch.
12th: (3) Trip—settled in mid-division, tired at last uphill climb.
13th: (12) Fujimasa Emperor—raced towards rear, passed tired rivals in stretch.
14th: (17) Logi Major—traveled wide in mid-field, never a contender.
15th: (13) Silver Wave—settled in rear pack, unable to reach contention.
16th: (11) Meiner Robusto—hugged rail, never a factor.
17th: (16) Zelos—overtook the lead at backstretch with 6-7-length gap, faded in last 200m.
18th: (2) Adam’s Peak—prominent early, running 3-4th from front, dropped out in stretch.
Fractional Time (sec./furlong): 12.4 – 11.1 – 12.3 – 11.9 – 11.4 – 11.6 – 12.2 – 12.7 – 13.6 – 12.1
Last 4 furlongs: 50.6 Last 3 furlongs: 38.4
Positions at each corner: 1st corner 4,16-6(2,15)(1,3,17)7,8(10,5,12)(11,13,18)9,14
2nd corner (*4,16)=6(1,2)(3,15)(10,17)7(5,8)(11,12)(13,18)9,14
3rd corner 16=4=2-6(3,15)17-(1,7)(10,5,8)(11,12)-(13,18)(14,9)
4th corner 16=4-2,6,15(14,3,17)(1,7)10(5,8)18(11,12,9)13

Note1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse
Note2: horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more
horses inside the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse
numbers indicate that there is distance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.