“I think we did a really good job. It was a last minute race, but I’m happy we were able to deliver the result. Before the race, I had a long discussion with trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka and he told me, ‘We’ve been training him so he can stick on even if he races forward.’ I rode him with the image of the horse at his very best in mind.”

Yutaka Take after the results of the Yasuda Kinen, translation by Netkeiba.

The ideal racehorse is able to work regardless of the jockeys, but sometimes it takes just one to help unchain their full potential. In a tale as old as the race itself, the victor finally claimed their trophy that they are destined to take even under the most unexpected of circumstances. The best miler doesn’t always boast a flawless race record nor are they the fastest. They do however always step up at the highest of stakes.

Final Results (In a Nutshell)

Finish in Order

The champion of the Yasuda Kinen proves to be the longest shot both in terms of betting odds and in favouritism ranking out of the Grade 1 winners so far this year. Sixpence is successfully able to tail World’s End without any other opponents throughout the race right until the final corner. While World’s End is able to maintain his lead, Sixpence finally catches him in the last metres to beat him by a neck. A seeming distraction on the final straight might have cost Gaia Force the win, but he’s able to pull off a sharp spurt to dead-heat World’s End for a shared 2nd/3rd place.

Positions at Bends

Sectional Times

Amateurish Analysis (Top 3)

Well, there has to be something about the best-performing racehorses in the race to warrant a deeper look into why they are able to excel as well as they did. In focusing on the top 3, we can look into both the moves made and the context surrounding their pedigree and their race records.

Sixpence

It’s really hard to talk about the winner of the Yasuda Kinen without a compliment to his jockey Yutaka Take who’s his last-minute substitute. Few jockeys even around the world are able to blend both the public celebritydom and the proven credentials for what is almost their entire career since their late teens like him. He now enjoys the record of being the oldest jockey in the Japan Racing Association to win a G1 race alongside an impressive total of 4 wins for the same race which ties him with long-retired legend Yukio Okabe and short-distance maestro Yuga Kawada. And that’s on top of helping a racehorse accomplish his first G1 despite this being their first time together!

Sixpence’s performance in the Yasuda Kinen have shown big changes in how well he’s able to do. His race records typically show him running in all kinds of positions from being a pacesetter to tailing the leader all the way to midfield surges. Here, he seems different. His form looks more disciplined and focused towards optimising his pathing for both avoiding the rough turf on the final straight and in being able to steer via use of whips. Note on the final straight that Take used his whip to first move him away from the rougher terrain close to the inside, then used it frequently (without excessive force) to get him to pick up speed and soon edge out World’s End for the win. 

The strong showing is going to be helpful for the racehorse as questions arose on what to do next. His connections have pre-registered him to run in France’s G1 Prix Jacques le Marois where he’ll be putting both the full extent of his spurting ability to the test due to the designated racecourse in Deauville’s elongated straight being its layout. The Yasuda Kinen also typically acts as a berth for the United States’ G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile in November should an additional bit of overseas campaigning be of interest. 

I do feel however that Sixpence’s success can be attributed to Take’s talent in knowing how to make the best use of his ride’s abilities through a bit of intuition and homework around their past performances. Prior to the race, Admire Zoom was supposed to enter as a hyped-up favourite only to be pulled out due to an injury which then led to a last-minute partnership between Take and Sixpence. If not for the injury, I can see Admire Zoom do well under similar jockeying. For Sixpence himself, he’ll be rooting for another jockey who’s able to understand how to best ride him should he be vying for yet another upset in his future major races.

World’s End

World’s End has done remarkably well as a frontrunner and similar to Take’s jockeying of Sixpence, you can thank Akihide Tsumura for riding him to the best of his ability. From the beginning to the end, he held on to his position as the main pacesetter without seemingly tiring out from running at a fast tempo from the undulations until the final furlong of the race when he got overtaken. In a sense, it’s the best-case implication for his G2 Keio Hai Spring Cup win coming true, which is that he’s really good when it comes to not letting the final straight get the best of him.

The running itself also looks as optimised as it could’ve been. Tsumura always kept World’s End hugging the inner rail throughout the race which allows him to run in near-top speed without tiring out which makes for what fans would’ve hoped for the best of Lord Kanaloa’s progenies. The final corner saw him slow down which let Sixpence catch up to him, but he then catches himself up to run in full speed for the final straight. These bits of efficiency allow him to put on a strong performance that mirrors the likes of Realize Sirius and perhaps Mystery Way. And he’s able to do so in a smaller window of time due to the short distance.

I can’t say for certain where World’s End will head to next, but I think that you can see where the next steps are for his upcoming starts should he be running for another year. His performance is solid and Tsumura’s mastery in frontrunning is so notable that he could pull off a showing of that calibre again on a good day and should he not get into any severe injuries. I can see both the G1 Sprinters’ Stakes and the G1 Mile Championship be a good destination for him domestically with the former race being in case he’s able to step down 2 furlongs to essentially be able to manage spurting for just over 1 minute. Given his pedigree, it’s definitely not out of the box for him to do well in both.

Gaia Force

The G1 quest continues on, but Gaia Force proves to be a recipient of one of the funniest events of the year for Japan’s horseracing scene. I’ll explain more in detail later on because I want to talk about how the Yasuda Kinen actually shows on an individual basis that Gaia Force is actually still great as a miler. He spent much of his time running from an outside without seeming getting tired out on the final straight given that he’s able to pull off the fastest L3F time of 33 seconds, he’s able to accelerate immediately when needed to, and he’s able to sidestep quickly without losing his speed instantly.

The funny event might have prevented him from going under 33 for his L3F time and clinch out the fabled win. On the final straight, Gaia Force’s window for spurting might have been delayed because right at the start does he appear to be leaning towards Stellenbosch as if to give her a smooch. This in turn means that he wouldn’t be able to squeeze out a win against World’s End and Sixpence. While he’s able to at least pull a deadheat for 2nd/3rd, the latter racehorse is able to enjoy the lack of distraction to make his moves and seal the win all the while fans despair (and laugh) at the prospect of victory being thrown before their eyes. 

The big worry surrounding Gaia Force prior to the Yasuda Kinen is that this is his easiest chance at winning a G1 title without a major rival in Jantar Mantar in sight. His aforementioned flirtation with Stellenbosch (by horse standards) shows that despite years of experience, he’s vulnerable to juvenile willies that would have other unfortunate horses be gelded in the worst-case scenario. As someone who’s rooting for him for a very biased reason in that everyone loves a good fairytale run, I’m still not counting out on him winning a G1 especially if his connections had opted to maybe just add in 1 more year. I do think however that should he stand stud when he retires this year that he’ll most likely be hanging out in a smaller operation like East Stud where he’ll be hanging out with T O Royal and Potager as newer additions.

Amateurish Analysis (Other Competitors)

For the rest of the entrants, some have made moves that might have shaped the very way the race is run which makes for unexpected leanings that play to the advantage of others. This section is for those who either had done better than expected even if outside the top 3 or have shaped the race in a way that might have tilted the results in favour of others.

Seiun Hades and Panja Tower

Another day, another respectable top 5 placement as a minimum for Seiun Hades and Panja Tower. The consistency the two are able to display when they’re at their best (especially Panja Tower) are remarkable as they always find a way to squeeze in to earn a good bit of money from the purse. Seiun Hades, who got 4th place, is similarly capable of pace chasing to the point where you can see why a specific part of his training involves disciplining him to not frontrun at his own will given how his attempts to do so on the actual race is more bound to backfire. Case in point, the G2 Nakayama Kinen where he practically charged up Lebensstil’s spurt while gassing out hard on the final corner. Here, he’s able to look sharp with the additional note that he placed 5th in the Osaka Hai. Keep up the good work, king!

As for Panja Tower, yet another top 5 placement is going to be annoying for his connections to say the least. At least there’s a good deal of consistency to be had, but it must have been frustrating for him to be seen as an upcomer in Japan when it comes to short distances only for him to struggle with actually coming truly close to winning a G1. At the very least he has the NHK Mile Cup on his belt and that no one will take it away from him. Yet, surely there must be changes made with regards to how he’ll be able to perform to the point where he can add in another lucrative G1 to his belt…

Off Trail

As a minor shoutout, Off Trail had just finished outside of the top 5 in credit to his jockey Akira Sugawara. He rode him to his second graded win in the G2 Swan Stakes last year following a change in main jockey from Yuji Hishida and is more broadly ranked with Daisuke Sasaki and Atsuya Nishimura as the rising stars among those who are born in 1999 or over. Worries surrounding his career trajectory due to an injury might be reassured for a short while especially given his plans to ride in Australia on a short-term license. Hopefully it’s a good bit of success to build on later on and that on his return, he will bring Off Trail a G1 victory.

Lebensstil

As for Lebensstil himself? Another day, another heartbreak as he finished outside yet another top 5 while being a good bit away from it as well. Goodness knows why he always tends to struggle with running in G1 races himself given that he already carries around 5 graded titles. Is he jinxed to never carry the most valued title while he delivers in any distance that’s not a multiple of 400m? Or could his most optimal range really be 2000m? That might explain in part his success in winning races that are 1 furlong longer or shorter than it and how his most impressive G1 showing happens to be in the Osaka Hai if mostly due to how you can at least play the blame game. He’ll continue to trudge along although more superstitious or galaxy-brained fans would point him towards running in Australia where G1s that are at 1800 or 2200m are commonplace.

Trovatore

The second betting favourite was able to clock in the second fastest L3F time of 33.1 at the very least. He placed a painful 9th despite his best endeavours. He’s placed too far from the back to be able to make a strong contention when the frontmost runners aren’t calling quits on their positions on the final straight. Fans of Regaleira who’ll be running in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen this coming Sunday will ring big alarm bells regarding Lemaire given his feast-or-famine performances on similar positions given that he has a track record of putting her towards the back. If Trovatore was unable to place well in the Yasuda Kinen as an end closer, let alone win the race, due to the strong frontrunners, how will Regaleira be able to perform after a long layoff if the likes of Meisho Tabaru and Mystery Way are at their very best condition?

Stellenbosch

On the most tragic note, Stellenbosch placed in the double digits with a relatively lacklustre spurt of 33.9 seconds for her L3F time. Worries surrounding her fall from grace will continue to tick even though she had a change in stable and her form in the G3 Epsom Cup appeared to look very good for a moment. The best-case scenario as a takeaway would be that her development might see her “grow out” of mile races after her G1 win in the Oka Sho 2 years ago. It doesn’t help as well that pre-race reports claimed that her condition might be looking spotty given that she appeared to be sweating… 

She’ll likely retire at the end of this year to stand as a broodmare. However, whether she’ll be able to improve from here will dictate how fans will see her. You will hope that she’ll climb her way out and add in at least another graded title to her belt to show that she’s still able to perform without the cursed “Epitimer” lingering on her. If not, critics will forever brandish her downfall as the warning on how her father’s siring records often carries a ticking clock on when his foals will start to flounder. At least Danon Decile is able to avert the claims with his rock-steady showings, but what of Byzantine Dream who bombed out of the G2 Amir Trophy as his last start? What about the younger names like Alankar who are already struggling to win a graded title as is?