Japan's sole Grade 1 juvenile fillies only event takes place at Hanshin on Sunday with a field of eighteen 2-year-olds going to post. Vodka (Jpn) (Tanino Gimlet {Jpn}) and Buena Vista (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}) are just two of the star names on the roll of honour for this race and whoever is victorious on Sunday can expect to be a leading Classic contender next season. Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) gets another chance to get a Group 1 winner from his first crop with his daughter Soul Stirring (Jpn) who bids to make it three from three in Sunday's 1600m event. The daughter of MGISW Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) made a winning debut at Sapporo in July over nine furlongs before following up over the same trip in the Ivy S. at Tokyo Oct. 22. Despite dropping back a furlong on Sunday connections are confident of a bold show from Christophe Lemaire's mount. “We knew a change to the wide track at Tokyo would benefit her and she ran a race just as we had imagined,” said assistant trainer Daisuke Tsumagari. “Even then, she was still wandering around in the end, so she still probably had a lot more left in the tank. This will be her first mile race, but she has the speed and racing sense to adjust to it. She will bring herself up to par even in this strong field, he added.”
With so many unexposed fillies in the lineup a case could be made for many, including Jeune Ecole (Jpn) (Kurofune) who is unbeaten in three starts. She is probably the highest achiever of the field so far courtesy of her last time out win in the G2 Daily Hai Nisai S. at Kyoto Nov. 12. On that occasion she had another of Sunday's runners Dipavamsa (Jpn) (Deep Brillante {Jpn}) back in fourth and her trainer Takayuki Yasuda is hoping a tough season hasn't taken its toll on his filly. “She is mentally in racing mode, and heading into a Grade 1 race, I think they should be a bit on their toes. The last thing we want is for her to get too worked up come race time, so we'll loosen up on her training a little bit this week – but applying just enough to get her physically ready.” Another filly with proven stakes form is U Carrot Farm's Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). She beat an 18-strong field when winning the G3 Artemis S. at Tokyo Oct. 29 having previously set a track record when breaking her maiden at Hanshin over Sunday's distance in September. “I am looking forward to a good race,” said her trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “The mile distance may be a bit short for her – I think her ideal is around 2,000 meters,” he added.
Reine Minoru (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) has shown the talent required to be a force in a race of this standard but the big question mark over her is the race distance. She won the G3 Kikoura Nisai S. over 1200m at Kokura Sept. 4 but when upped a furlong in the G2 Keio Hai Nisai S. at Tokyo Nov. 5 she was caught close home by Monde Can Know (Jpn) (Kinshasa No Kiseki {Aus}) having traveled like the winner until the latter stages. How she copes with an extra furlong on Sunday is open to debate.
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