Meisho Tabaru

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...

Now carrying four stars on his saddle cloth for each lifetime Group 1 victory, Croix Du Nord accumulated the most votes for Sunday's 2200-metre G1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin. The 2024 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) victor is riding a two-race winning streak, having defeated the re-opposing Meisho Tabaru (Gold Ship) in the 2000-metre Osaka Hai in April. Upped to 3200-metres for the first time on May 3, he won the G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) as well. The son of Kitasan Black will earn a berth in the GI Breeders' Cup...

Billed as Japan's richest race, the ¥960,040,000 (€5.2m) G1 Arima Kinen sees a slew of Group 1 winners vying for its ¥500,000,000 (€2.7m) first-place prize. Leading the way in the advance markets and by total votes delivered by the voting public is four-year-old mare Regaleira. The three-time Group 1 winner by Suave Richard will carry the silks of Sunday Racing. Christophe Lemaire will ride the daughter of Roca (Harbinger), who claimed the 2023 Hopeful Stakes--won today by Lovcen--the 2024 Arima Kinen, and last month's Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Assistant trainer...

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...