FUNABASHI, CHIBA PREF. – Race-favorite Contrail beat third-pick Salios at the wire in the 80th running of the Satsuki-sho on Sunday to capture the first leg of this year’s Japanese triple crown and remain undefeated in four career starts.

Steered by Yuichi Fukunaga, Contrail conserved his energy in the rear and blasted around the pack after the third turn at Nakayama Racecourse, with Salios giving a spirited chase in the final stretch of the 2,000-meter turf event for 3-year-olds.

Contrail crossed first in 2 minutes, 0.7 seconds to claim his second Grade 1 victory and become the 18th unbeaten horse in Satsuki-sho history to win the Japanese equivalent of the 2,000 Guineas Stakes. The colt, sired by Deep Impact, also prevailed at December’s Hopeful Stakes.

Salios, who had also entered the race unbeaten, finished a half-length behind with Damian Lane aboard. Eighth-pick Galore Creek, ridden by visiting jockey Lyle Hewitson of South Africa, took third in 2:01.4.

Christophe Lemaire rode second-favorite Satono Flag, also sired by Deep Impact, to a fifth-place finish.

The Satsuki-sho record was set in 2017 by Al Ain with a time of 1:57.8. The next leg of the triple crown is the Japanese Derby in late May, followed by October’s Kikka-sho.

The Japan Racing Association has been holding its races without spectators since the end of February due to the coronavirus outbreak.

NAKAYAMA, THE SATSUKI SHO (JAPANESE 2000 GUINEAS)(G1)

FP Bk Hs Horse Sex Age Weight (Kg) Finish (1/10s) Margin Win Fav Win Odds 1st 1 1 Contrail(JPN) C3 57.0 2:00.7 1 2.7 2nd 4 7 Salios(JPN) C3 57.0 2:00.8 1/2 3 3.8 3rd 8 16 Galore Creek(JPN) C3 57.0 2:01.4 3 1/2 8 41.2 4th 4 8 Win Carnelian(JPN) C3 57.0 2:01.6 1 1/4 17 360.0 5th 3 5 Satono Flag(JPN) C3 57.0 2:01.8 1 1/4 2 3.6 6th 7 13 Darlington Hall(GB) C3 57.0 2:01.8 NK 6 18.5 7th 2 3 Cortesia(JPN) C3 57.0 2:01.9 1/2 13 100.9 8th 8 17 Weltreisende(JPN) C3 57.0 2:01.9 NS 4 13.0 9th 5 9 Black Hole(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.1 1 1/4 12 99.5 10th 3 6 Deep Bond(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.1 HD 18 360.9 11th 1 2 L’Excellence(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.1 HD 9 62.9 12th 5 10 American Seed(USA) C3 57.0 2:02.2 NK 16 319.1 13th 6 12 My Rhapsody(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.2 HD 7 22.6 14th 8 18 Bitterender(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.4 1 1/4 11 81.2 15th 7 15 Rhinebeck(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.4 NK 14 160.8 16th 6 11 Crystal Black(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.5 3/4 5 14.6 17th 7 14 Chimera Verite(JPN) C3 57.0 2:02.6 NK 10 63.5 18th 2 4 Tempin(JPN) C3 57.0 2:03.3 4 15 237.4

FP	Horse	Sire Dam	Dam’s sire Dam’s dam	Jockey Trainer	Owner Breeder
1st	Contrail(JPN)	Deep Impact Rhodochrosite	Unbridled’s Song Folklore	Yuichi Fukunaga Yoshito Yahagi	Shinji Maeda North Hills Co . Ltd.
2nd	Salios(JPN)	Heart’s Cry Salomina	Lomitas Saldentigerin	Damian Lane Noriyuki Hori	Silk Racing Co. Ltd. Northern Racing
3rd	Galore Creek(JPN)	Kinshasa no Kiseki Gold Relic	Kingmambo Gold Bust	Lyle Hewitson Hiroyuki Uehara	Yukio Mizukami Kasamatsu Bokujo
4th	Win Carnelian(JPN)	Screen Hero Cosmo Crystal	Meiner Love Christian Name	Hironobu Tanabe Yuichi Shikato	Win Co. Ltd. Cosmo View Farm
5th	Satono Flag(JPN)	Deep Impact Balada Sale	Not For Sale La Balada	Christophe Lemaire Sakae Kunieda	Satomi Horse Company Co. Ltd. Northern Farm
6th	Darlington Hall(GB)	New Approach Miss Kenton	Pivotal Do The Honours	Mirco Demuro Tetsuya Kimura	Godolphin Canning Bloodstock Ltd
7th	Cortesia(JPN)	Symboli Kris S Ciel et Mer	Jungle Pocket Ponderosa	Kohei Matsuyama Takashi Suzuki	Koji Maeda North Hills Co . Ltd.
8th	Weltreisende(JPN)	Dream Journey Mandela	Acatenango Mandellicht	Kenichi Ikezoe Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. Northern Racing
9th	Black Hole(JPN)	Gold Ship Viva Bouquet	King Kamehameha Blue Ridge River	Yukito Ishikawa Ikuo Aizawa	Seichi Serizawa Seiichi Serizawa
10th	Deep Bond(JPN)	Kizuna Zephyranthes	King Halo Mogami Hime	Norihiro Yokoyama Ryuji Okubo	Shinji Maeda Murata Bokujo
11th	L’Excellence(JPN)	Deep Impact Xcellence	Champs Elysees Xanadu Bliss	Yuichi Kitamura Manabu Ikezoe	Silk Racing Co. Ltd. Northern Racing
12th	American Seed(USA)	Tapit Sweet Talker	Stormin Fever Another Vegetarian	Genki Maruyama Kenichi Fujioka	Katsumi Yoshizawa Courtlandt Farm
13th	My Rhapsody(JPN)	Heart’s Cry Teddy’s Promise	Salt Lake Braids and Beads	Yutaka Take Yasuo Tomomichi	Kieffers Co. Ltd. Northern Racing
14th	Bitterender(JPN)	Orfevre Bitter Sweet	Afleet Alex Moonlight Gardens	Akihide Tsumura Ikuo Aizawa	K.Hidaka Breeders Union Sakurai Bokujo
15th	Rhinebeck(JPN)	Deep Impact Apapane	King Kamehameha Salty Bid	Yasunari Iwata Yasuo Tomomichi	Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co. Ltd. Kaneko Makoto Holdings Inc.
16th	Crystal Black(JPN)	Kizuna Ash Cake	Taiki Shuttle Keiai Glory	Yutaka Yoshida Fumimasa Takahashi	Isamu Okada Okaribe Bokujo
17th	Chimera Verite(JPN)	Kizuna Lumiere Verite	Cozzene Play School	Kota Fujioka Kazuya Nakatake	Makoto Kato Makoto Kato
18th	Tempin(JPN)	Just a Way Pretty Kapolei	Kurofune Time Fair Lady	Yuji Nakai Takayuki Yasuda	Your Story Niikappu Hashimoto Bokujo

 

fonte : Horse Racing in Japan