Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Preview: Experience is Often a Factor

On Sunday, December 14, the Japan Racing Association's top-level race is hosted by Hanshin Racecourse. The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies is back at its usual venue, after renovations moved the race to Kyoto Racecourse in 2024. 

This race is a perfect leadup to the first of the filly classics, the Oka Sho, also held over 1,600 meters at Hanshin and set for April 12, 2026.

Twenty-six promising 2-year-old fillies, all Japan-based, have been nominated for Sunday's Grade 1 event. It carries a first-place prize of ¥65 million JPY (roughly $416,000 USD), and a total purse of over ¥140 million (nearly $900,000).

This year, 2025, marks the 77th running of a race that has undergone numerous changes over the decades. In its present form, the race is a Grade 1 turf event over 1,600 meters. It's been restricted to fillies since 1991, and open to competitors from overseas since 2010, although none are participating on Sunday.

Info on the 77th Running of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies 

Artemis Stakes winner Firostefani has retired due to injury and the talented Festival Hill (1-3-1, the most recent two starts at the Grade 3 level) is sidelined, also due to injury. That makes for a mysterious mix this year.

Attention could revolve around a trio of fillies ― the unbeaten Alankar, Margot Love Me (also undefeated) and Arbanne. But it's looking to be quite a tossup, with any number of candidates easily envisioned amid the eventual top three finishers.

Fifteen of the nominees are tied for earnings, but by luck of the lottery, only seven of those will win a berth in the gate. And, being so early in their careers, it goes without saying that predicting the top finishers is difficult. Eight of the nominees have only two starts behind them, four have only one. 

Also, for the first time since 1997, there will be no graded-stakes winners in the field. Even so, the favorite, often the most experienced horse in the field, often wins. And there are often a couple darkhorses among the top three. Longshots, however, are rare in the winner's circle. As said, it's a tossup.

All fillies will carry 55 kg. The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies is the No 11 race on Hanshin's Sunday card of 12. Post time is 3:40 PM.

Some of the likely popular picks are:

Alankar Has Had Success Early in Her Career

The Epiphaneia-sired Alankar debuted over 1,800 meters at Fukushima in early July and blew away the all-filly field of seven to win by a four-length margin. She leapt to the open-class level and followed up her debut dazzler with victory in the September 20 Nojigiku Stakes at Hanshin over 1,600 meters. The field was small with only six members, but it also included colts. Though she was relatively slow away, her late speed (33.3 seconds over the final three furlongs) flew her home and into the winner's circle. 

Her dam Sinhalite finished her career with five wins and a second, including a win of the 2016 Grade 1 Japanese Oaks and a second in the Grade 1 Oka Sho. A blue-blooded filly, slight at only 430 kg, Alankar has the physique of her grandsire on her dam's side, the legendary Deep Impact. 

Expectations are high and hopes are for a fast track.

Can Star Anise Handle the Distance?

A daughter of the American sprint champion Drefong, and a dam (Epice Arome) with the speed that topped Lord Kanaloa in the 2012 Grade 2 Centaur Stakes, the main issue will be whether Star Anise can handle the distance. She heads into the race with more experience than most, having posted 5-1-2 in her three starts thus far, and returns from a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Chukyo Nisai Stakes. There she competed in a mixed field of her age group and finished only a neck behind the colt Candide (who won the race in record time). But she was an incredible seven lengths ahead of the third-place finisher Michael Barows, who went on to finish fifth in the Grade 2 Daily Hai 2 Stakes over 1,600 meters. 

Star Anise has power, not a lightning-fast turn of foot, but the ability to run at top speed over distance. It will be her first time at Hanshin. And with the additional 200 meters this time, the key will be how well she can handle an expected slower pace.

Taisei Vogue Vying for Another Hanshin Triumph

With even more experience behind her is Taisei Vogue. She is a first-crop daughter of Indy Champ, who aced both the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen and the Grade 1 Mile Championship in 2019. After winning her debut over the Hanshin 1,400, Taisei Vogue jumped to the open class, then took on two Grade 3 events over the mile, from which she posted a total 2-2-3, all three over left-handed tracks. 

In the all-filly Artemis Stakes, she was a bit slow at the break and likely hampered by the slightly slow going. And in the race prior to that, the Niigata Nisai Stakes, she lost to the unbeaten colt Realize Sirius. But she topped the filly Festival Hill, who went on to capture the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes.

Read the rest of this article about the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and the Japanese horses in contention on JRA News.

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Author: JRA News