By Alan Carasso
Flora de Mariposa (Aus) (Frankel {GB}), one of three Japanese-raced winners for her sensational young sire, gets back to work Saturday at Tokyo Racecourse.
A 2-year-old filly bred by Cressfield Stud on Southern Hemisphere time, the daughter of New Zealand Group 2 winner Jeu de Cartes (NZ) (Stravinsky) was consigned by the nursery to the 2016 Inglis Easter sale and was knocked down to Kazumi Yoshida for A$750,000. Despite spotting her Northern Hemisphere-bred counterparts six months on the calendar, the bay was made the 19-10 favorite for her seven-furlong debut Apr. 23, but raced greenly to finish 14th of 18, albeit beaten just four lengths. A 9-1 chance for her second trip to the races back at Fuchu May 14, she settled better than midfield, switched out in upper stretch and came away in the final 50 yards to graduate by 1 1/4 lengths (video, gate 5).
Trained by Noriyuki Hori, Flora de Mariposa has drawn barrier nine and will be ridden once again by Hiroyuki Uchida. She is currently the third choice in ante-post markets at 19-5 for the 1600-metre test, which jumps at 2:35 p.m. local time (3:35 p.m. AEST).
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