Jo Strong In NHK Mile

Trainer Hisashi Shimizu enjoyed success in last weekend's G1 Tenno Sho Spring with Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}), and he will attempt to record a big-race win on back-to-back weekends when he sends out Jo Strictly (Jpn) in Sunday's G1 NHK Mile at Tokyo Racecourse. Jo Strictly is a son of Jo Cappuccino (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}), who won this race in 2009 at odds of 39-1, and Jo Strictly was an even greater longshot when he won the G2 New Zealand Trophy over this trip at 50-1 in April. Yutaka Take, who partnered Kitasan Black last weekend, takes the ride.

The morning line favourite is Red en Ciel (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}), who has won two of four outings and was second in the G3 Arlington Cup over this trip when last seen in February.

Last year's renewal was won by the filly Major Emblem (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}), and Aerolithe (Jpn) (Kurofune) will look to make it back-to-back victories for the girls. The grey was a last-out fifth in the G1 Oka Sho on Apr. 9, and trainer Takanori Kikuzawa said, “She ran pretty well last time, finishing off strongly. After that she had her usual stint at Northern Farm Tenei, where things have gone well and she's recovered her condition. She did some training at the farm and came back to Miho Training Center on Apr. 26.”

Outliers (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}) has been off the board just once in six tries, and that was when he was 12th in the G1 Satsuki Sho on Apr. 16. Although he had previously won over that Classic's 2000 metre trip, trainer Shigeyuki Kojima put that poor effort down to the distance, saying, “Last time he failed to get a finish in, and the jockey said he just didn't run on. The reason for the loss would seem to be the distance. Even though the horse won over 2,000 meters early in his career, we are looking at him as more of a miler.”