Gold Ship

Legendary jockey Yutaka Take bettered his own record when winning his sixth G1 Takarazuka Kinen and second aboard Meisho Tabaru (Gold Ship) at Hanshin on Sunday. The 57-year-old previously claimed the race with Inari One (1989), Meijiro McQueen (1993), Marvelous Sunday (1997), and Deep Impact (2006). The "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in October featured a full field of 18, and, shortly before the bell, a deluge turned the course from good to firm to yielding. Second in the betting at 29-10 behind...

A berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf in the autumn was on the line in Sunday's 2200-metre G1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin, and 10-1 chance Meisho Tabaru (Gold Ship) landed a mild upset in pillar-to-post fashion. He is the second Japanese horse to punch his ticket to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar this month, after Jantar Mantar (Palace Malice) won last Sunday's G1 Yasuda Kinen, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. The seventh pick in the 17-horse field, Meisho Tabaru was steered immediately...

While all eyes were on 2-year-old champion and G1 Oka Sho victress Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune) heading into Sunday's G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), it was the punters' third choice Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) who handed the white Sodashi her first defeat, while in the process earning her first stakes win and providing her sire, the six-time Group 1 winner Gold Ship, with his first Group 1 winner. Uberleben was out early for a Japanese 2-year-old, breaking her maiden at first asking last June before finishing a neck second to...