Having tasted defeat only once in her five-race career, Major Emblem (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) is strictly the one to beat in Sunday's G1 Oka Sho over the metric mile at Hanshin Racecourse.
The comfortable winner of her first two starts at two last season, the chestnut filly tasted defeat for the first and only time in her career in the G3 Artemis S. at Tokyo last October, going down narrowly at the hands of 81-1 Denko Ange (Jpn) (Meisho Samson {Jpn}). The filly's backers refused to lose confidence, however, and made her the 3-2 favorite for the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Dec. 13 and she duly obliged to defeat Win Fabulous (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) by two lengths, with Blanc Bonheur (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) a further 1 1/4 lengths back in third. Major Emblem made a smashing return to the races with a towering five-length tally as the 3-10 favorite in the G3 Daily Hai Queen Cup at Tokyo Feb. 13 and looks tough to oppose here.
“She won the Juvenile Fillies and then the Queen Cup at the beginning of the year,” explained trainer Yasuhito Tamura. “After that, we decided on a rotation that would lead her to the Oka Sho. We don't want to over use her in case she becomes unwound. She's a very capable 3-year-old and she's really changed in this last month. After her last race, it gave us some leeway, and she came back from Northern Farm Tenei [training farm] better than ever.”
Solveig (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) has been slower to come to hand than the favorite, but can complete the quinella for their sire. A close third in her seasonal debut at Kyoto Jan. 31, she regressed a few spots to be fifth Feb. 20, but most recently belied odds of 26-1 to take out the G2 Hochi Hai Fillies' Revue going 1400m of this track Mar. 13. She accounted for favored At the Seaside (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) by a little more than a length, with Candy Barows (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) third after setting the pace.
Sinhalite (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) puts her undefeated record at stake as she looks for a fourth consecutive success. The daughter of US MGISP Singhlalese (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) won her first two outings at Kyoto and most recently rattled home from nearer the back of the field to nose out Jeweler (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}) in the G3 Tulip Sho over this course and distance Mar. 13.
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