Sunday's G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen is Japan's first Group 1 on turf this season, and the third leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, and it has drawn a full and competitive lineup of sprinters. The race was tainted somewhat by the withdrawal of defending winner Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins {Aus}) due to a bout of colic earlier this week, and Hakusan Moon (Jpn) (Admire Moon {Jpn}), second to that Hong Kong-based star 12 months ago, will look to step up and go one better. The 7-year-old has not won a race since 2013, but was second to A Shin Bullseye (Belgravia) in the G3 Yukan Fuji Sho Ocean S. Mar. 5. His task is made more difficult by the fact that he will exit from the extreme outside gate 18.
The 5-year-old Mikki Isle (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) has been a stalwart of the Japanese sprinting/miling division over the last two seasons, his biggest win coming in the 2014 G1 NHK Mile Cup. He finished third in his last year and has the benefit of a first-up win in the G3 Hankyu Hai over a furlong longer than this Feb. 28.
The 4-year-old filly Albiano (Harlan's Holiday) displayed top-class form last season, finishing second in the NHK Mile Cup before winning the G2 Mainichi Broadcast Swan S. over seven furlongs later in the season. She was a respectable fifth in the G1 Mile Championship to round out her 3-year-old campaign and filled the same position behind A Shin Bullseye in the Ocean S. after missing the break.
Let's Go Donki (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) won last year's G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) but failed to hit the board the remainder of the season when mostly tried over longer distances. She finished sixth, albeit beaten just 1 1/2 lengths, behind Mikki Isle in the Hankyu Hai, and trainer Tomoyuki Umeda said, “with the race she ran last time out, she looks like she'll be able to handle 1200 meters.”
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