Hiroyuki Uemura

Bellagio Opera (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) earned a slice of history at Hanshin on Sunday as the five-year-old became the first back-to-back winner of the G1 Osaka Hai, blitzing his 14 rivals in a time of 1:56.20--a new course record for the 2,000-metre distance to boot. Trained by Hiroyuki Uemura, Bellagio Opera was a narrow winner of last year's Osaka Hai but failed to add to his tally in three subsequent starts at the top level in 2024, finishing third in the Takarazuka Kinen, sixth in the Tenno Sho (Autumn)...

Looking for his first Group 1 tally following a productive second-place effort in the Feb. 11 G2 Kyoto Kinen, Bellagio Opera (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) got up in time to land Sunday's G1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin. A winner in last season's 1800-meter Spring S., he was a well beaten 10th in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) prior to finishing fourth in the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) over 2400 meters. He concluded his 3-year-old season with a victory in Hanshin's G3 Challenge Cup in December. Breaking sharply...