By Daithi Harvey
The G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies S. on Sunday is the only Grade 1 event for 2-year-old fillies in Japan and the result should provide some clarity in assessing a pecking order among the nation's top juveniles. 18 fillies go to post and currently heading the market is Rock This Town (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) one of two fillies in the race to represent her first crop sire. The Yoshitaka Ninomiya trained runner will have the assistance of Christophe Lemaire and she is currently two from two, stepping up from her debut win at Niigata in August to win the G3 Sapporo Nisai S. at Sapporo in September. The filly does have a three month break and some tough opposition to contend with though and that opposition could be headed by the similarly unbeaten Lily Noble (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}). While Lily Noble has won her only two starts, the most recent being a conditions event at Kyoto Nov. 26, this will be her first taste of stakes opposition. Her jockey Yuga Kawada however feels she merits her place in the lineup. “She's a very good horse and I think she has a great career ahead of her,” he said.
Another to have made her mark already at stakes level is Lucky Lilac (Jpn), the other starter by dual G1 Prix de l'Arc runner up Orfevre (Jpn) who went so close to giving Japan a much coveted Arc success back in 2012. Lucky Lilac made a winning debut at Niigata in August and proved well able for the step up in grade when accounting for the re-opposing Sayakachan (Jpn) (Reach The Crown {Jpn}) in the G3 Artemis S. at Tokyo Oct. 28. Also among the vanquished that day were Lathyros (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Tosen Bless (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and High Heel (Jpn) (Tosen Homareboshi {Jpn}) so that race would appear to provide some key form lines for Sunday.
The race appears to have a lot of depth and another who could figure is Mau Lea (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), yet another challenger unbeaten in two starts. While her form to date has been at a lower level her full-sister Ayusan (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was a group 1 winner and Mau Lea certainly has the potential to reach similar heights.
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