Last year's Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) earned a fifth Group 1 win when besting G1 Dubai Turf winner Real Steel (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho Autumn at Tokyo Racecourse. Settling three deep and about four lengths off the lead down the backstretch under Ryan Moore, Maurice was set down at the top of the stretch and had to dig deep out in the middle of the track and ultimately prevailed by 1 1/2 lengths from Real Steel, who was also doing his best running late, and Staphanos (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). G1 Hong Kong Cup and G1 Prix d'Ispahan winner A Shin Hikari (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) set the pace but faded in the stretch and beat just three home in the 15-horse field. The win quells any distance queries for the 5-year-old, whose four previous wins at the highest level had all come over a mile, and he has the option of the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup over 2000 metres at the Hong Kong International Races Dec. 11.
Sunday, Tokyo, Japan
TENNO SHO AUTUMN-G1, ¥290,500,000, Tokyo, 10-30, 3yo/up, 2000mT, 1:59.30, fm.
1–MAURICE (JPN), 128, h, 5, by Screen Hero (Jpn)
1st Dam: Mejiro Frances (Jpn), by Carnegie (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mejiro Monterey (Jpn), by Mogami (Fr)
3rd Dam: Mejiro Quincey (Jpn), by Fidion (Fr)
(¥1,575,000 Ylg '12 HOKSUM; ¥10,500,000 2yo '13 HOK2YO)
O-Kazumi Yoshida; B-Togawa Farm; T-Noriyuki Hori; J-Ryan
Moore. ¥153,150,000. Lifetime Record: Horse of the Year, Ch.
Sprinter, Ch. Miler-Jpn, MG1SW-HK, 17-10-2-1. Werk Nick
Rating: D+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]2–Real Steel (Jpn), 128, c, 4, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Loves Only Me,
by Storm Cat. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm.
¥60,900,000.
3–Staphanos (Jpn), 128, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–
Kokoshnik (Jpn), by Kurofune. O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern
Farm. ¥38,450,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]Margins: 1HF, 1 1/4, 1. Odds: 2.60, 12.00, 10.20.
Also Ran: Ambitious (Jpn), Logotype (Jpn), Admire Deus (Jpn), Rouge Buck (Jpn), Historical (Jpn), Lovely Day (Jpn), Satono Noblesse (Jpn), Clarente (Jpn), A Shin Hikari (Jpn), Comfy (Jpn), Satono Crown (Jpn), Yamakatsu Ace (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart and video.
Maurice earned the crown of Japan's Horse of the Year, as well as champion sprinter and miler, of 2015 on the merit of an outstanding season where he went six-for-six, including four Group 1s over a mile. He took his first Group 1 in his first attempt at that level when winning the Yasuda Kinen June 7, and returned from a break to take the Mile Championship in November, after which he traveled to Hong Kong to win Sha Tin's G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile in December. Maurice returned to the scene of that success to scoop the G1 Champions Mile off a lengthy holiday May 1, but had his streak snapped when second when trying to defend his Yasuda Kinen title. Given a short freshener thereafter, Maurice warmed up for this with a second in the G2 Sapporo Kinen Aug. 21. The Tenno Sho was Maurice's first win beyond a mile, and trainer Noriyuki Hori had previously indicated he could try the G1 Hong Kong Cup in December rather than defending his title in the mile. Rider Ryan Moore was full of praise for the bay post-race, saying, “He's a very good horse, he's strong at a mile and very hard to beat. Today I thought 2,000 metres was probably
his best performance. He's very strong, he's got a good turn of foot and he was dominant today. He couldn't have
been more impressive. He has a big heart and big lungs.”
Jockey Yutaka Take said of A Shin Hikari, who was fractious in the race preliminaries, “It turned out that we led the field, but he wasn't in his usual spirit today. He's a complicated horse
and I hope we'll do better in our next start.”
Pedigree Notes…
Maurice is the sixth foal out of Mejiro Frances, whose last recorded progeny is a 3-year-old colt by Danon Chantilly (Jpn) named Pittsburgh (Jpn). Maurice's second dam is the multiple stakes winner Mejiro Monterey (Jpn) (Mogami {Fr}), who also produced the stakes-placed Mejiro Atlas (Jpn) (Mejiro McQueen {Jpn}). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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