Horse Racing

Costa Nova and Rachel King Team Up for February Stakes Triumph

Riding Costa Nova to a three-quarter length victory in the February Stakes, King became the first female jockey to win a flat Japan Racing Association G1 race.

by
JRA News
February 24, 2025

Second favorite Costa Nova successfully held off a strong challenge by Sunrise Zipangu from the inside to earn a three-quarter length victory in the February Stakes on Sunday, February 23.

It was the Japan Racing Association's first Grade 1 race of 2025. At Tokyo Racecourse, Rachel King became the first female jockey in JRA history to win a flat G1 race. (Rochelle Lockett was the first female jockey to win JRA's jump G1 event in the 2002 Nakayama Daishogai with Gilded Age.)

King, a 34-year-old British jockey, spoke about her historic achievement after the race, which attracted an announced crowd of 50,317.

"I'm very proud to be the first female jockey [to have won a G1 title], but also proud that Japan has welcomed me as a jockey and not just a 'female' jockey, something that I've always strived to be," King said in her post-victory interview.

She added, "I'm one of everyone and we're treated the same, so I'm always thankful to Japan and all the supporters for welcoming me like that. They've given me huge support last year and also this year so it's nice to be able to repay them with a Group 1 [victory]."

Costa Nova now has six wins in as many starts on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse, including his previous start, the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400 meters) just three weeks earlier.

Trainer Tetsuya Kimura registered his 12th JRA G1 title, his first since the Arima Kinen in December 2024 with Regaleira.

How the February Stakes Unfolded

Costa Nova was a fraction slow out of the gate but quickly found his rhythm to position himself among the front between rivals and not far from the leaders in the sixth position.

Continuing to travel smoothly behind a moderate pace led by Mitono O (Hironobu Tanabe) and closing in on the leader with several other rivals towards the final corner, King urged the son of Lord Kanaloa into contention with 400 meters to go and edged forward to take command passing the furlong pole.

Strongly driven to the wire, Costa Nova sustained his bid and successfully held off a strong challenge by Sunrise Zipangu (Hideaki Miyuki) from the inside to a three-quarter length victory.

Fifth choice Sunrise Zipangu was unhurried out of the gate. He continued to travel off the pace along the backstretch while shifting to the inside before the third corner. Hugging the rails and taking an economic route to move up rounding the final corner, the Kizuna colt waited patiently behind a crowd of horses rallying for the lead while still stuck along the rails. The eventual runner-up then swiftly advanced through an opening with the fastest finishing speed (35.2 seconds for the final three furlongs).

Mikki Fight Settles for 3rd in the February Stakes

Race favorite Mikki Fight (Keita Tosaki) was sharp out of the gate and appeared very keen while being held back in midfield by the jockey. Traveling wide throughout, the Drefong colt had much ground to cover, just managing to reach contention at the furlong pole. And while continuing to show good effort to the wire and overtaking a couple of rivals for third, Mikki Fight was unable to cause a serious threat to the winner.

The 2024 February Stakes winner Peptide Nile (Yusuke Fujioka) finished fourth, only a neck's length behind Mikki Fight.

Emperor Wakea (Takeshi Yokoyama) placed fifth.