Mikki Queen (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Japan's champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, looks to record her first win since the G1 Shuko Sho in October while dropping back in distance for Sunday's G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo Racecourse. Mikki Queen won when it mattered most through the early part of last season, landing the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) over 2400 metres at Tokyo and, after a second in the G2 Sho Rose S., she took the 2000-metre Shuka Sho. Mikki Queen was eighth but far from disgraced, beaten just 2 1/2 lengths, when pitched against males and elders in the Nov. 29 Japan Cup, and was given a winter holiday thereafter. The bay resumed with a second to Smart Layer (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) over this distance in the G2 Hanshin Himba S. Apr. 9, and assistant trainer Tatsuhiko Kawai said, “The Hanshin Himba S. was her first mile race in a while, and so she raced from a rear position. But even though the pace was advantageous to the frontrunners, she really showed her speed in the end. And she did it carrying 56kg. I think it was quite a race.”
Smart Layer has not enjoyed good fortune in this race in the past, having finished eighth and 10th previously, but a change in tactics this year from closer to front-runner have seen the 6-year-old bag her only two tries this year: the G3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai and the Hanshin Himba.
Last year's Japan Cup winner, Shonan Pandora (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), is likely short of her best distance here, having won that showpiece over 12 furlongs and the 10-furlong Shuka Sho as a 3-year-old, but her class could see her through. She was third first-up behind Ambitious (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}))–the latter of which went on to win the G1 Tenno Sho Spring–closing into a slow pace first-up in the 2000-metre G2 Sankei Osaki Hai Apr. 3.
Queens Ring (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}) has decent form behind Mikkie Queen, having been beaten just a neck by her when second in the Shuko Sho, and she resumed a winner over seven furlongs in Kyoto's G3 Himba S. Feb. 20.
Two high-class fillies on recovery missions are Let's Go Donki (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), last year's G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) winner who has failed to hit the board in three tries since that win; and Rouge Buck (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}), the daughter of Ginger Punch (Awesome Again) who started her career with three straight wins against colts. Rouge Buck finished second as the favourite in last year's Yushun Himba and, after a fever forced her to miss the autumn, she finished fourth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup Nov. 15 and 10th in the G1 Arima Kinen Dec. 27. She was a much more promising second to Sundarbans (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in the G3 Nakayama Himba S. Mar. 13.
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