The almost two-mile problem of the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1) is designed to check each the velocity and stamina of Japan’s high 3-year-olds after a summertime of bodily maturation and Titleholder handed that check with flying colours Oct. 24 at Hanshin Racecourse.
The Duramente colt was so dominant, winning by five lengths after leading all the way, that his jockey, Takeshi Yokoyama, admitted afterward he was embarrassed for ever having doubted him.
Speed?
Titleholder blasted out of gate 3 like a rocket and set such a blistering early pace that the English-language race caller remarked he was “almost running like it’s a 1,200-meter (about six-furlong) event … They’re going helter-skelter up front.”
Stamina?
After establishing his mount’s function, Yokoyama slowed issues down the primary time by the stretch whereas sustaining a considerable lead. He was challenged briefly halfway by the second tour of the backstretch however, by the point the sector hit the stretch once more, the lead was yawning open once more and the uphill climb to the stretch was no drawback.
After the preliminary burst of velocity, Titleholder dictated phrases so fully that his last time for the three,000 meters (about 1 7/8 miles) was 3:04.6, 2.1 seconds off the course report.
Orthoclase, Divine Love—the one filly within the 18-horse discipline—and Stella Veloce, have been carefully bunched whereas ending second by fourth. The favourite, Purple Genesis, dawdled behind the sector by a lot of the race and completed thirteenth.
Titleholder entered the Kikuka Sho off a dismal, traffic-plagued effort in a grade 2 occasion at Nakayama Racecourse, ending thirteenth in his first begin in almost 4 months.
“We had a horrible race final day trip so I used to be decided to win it this time and I am glad it panned out,” Yokoyama stated. “I personally thought that the gap was perhaps an excessive amount of to ask from this colt however he confirmed in any other case and carried out nicely above my expectations so I am ashamed for doubting in him anyway.”
Regardless of the doubt, Yokoyama confirmed supreme confidence in Titleholder’s means to carry the lead as soon as he asserted himself.
“I concentrated in maintaining him snug in an extended race like this,” Yokoyama stated. “He is an sincere horse—in a manner, too sincere—and at all times provides his full effort. So understanding that when in entrance he would settle, I let him go as he favored and did not attempt to maintain him again an excessive amount of.”
Out of Mowen, a Motivator mare, Titleholder was bred by Okada Stud and races for Hiroshi Yamada. Toru Kurita trains the colt.
Titleholder gave his sire his first grade 1 victory while winning the one leg of the Japanese Triple Crown that was missing from Duramente’s record. In 2015, Duramente won the first two legs, the Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas, G1) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1) but did not go on to the Kikuka Sho, which completes the series.
The Triple Crown title was not available to Titleholder, or anyone else, this year as Efforia and Shahryar split the first two legs of the series. Neither was involved in the Kikuka Sho, opting instead to face older horses in the Tenno Sho (Autumn, G1) Oct. 31 and the Japan Cup (G1) Nov. 28.
Yokoyama indicated Titleholder also might have a say in those races, contested at 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) and 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles), respectively.
“He has a lot to look forward to in the future but it would require a little skill as a rider to conserve his energy depending on the situations,” the rider said.
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