The big action moves from Nakayama to Kyoto Racecourse, with the spotlight on the 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 1 Shuka Sho on Sunday, October 13.
A 2,000-meter turf event, the Shuka Sho wraps up the three races that comprise Japan's Triple Crown for fillies.
This is the 29th running of the Shuka Sho and this race boasts a purse of nearly ¥239 million JPY ($1.6 million USD) and carries a first-place prize of ¥110 million (about $740,000). Fifteen 3-year-olds are set to race on Sunday.
Unlike in 2022 and 2023, when a Shuka Sho victory held the key to the Fillies' Triple Crown, the first two filly Classics were split in 2024. The Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) laurels went to Stellenbosch on April 7, and Cervinia claimed the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) on May 19. They are both returning from five-month layoffs on Sunday.
The Shuka Sho is held over Kyoto's 2,000-meter inner A course. This race starts on an upward slope before the grandstand and from the backstretch the track is relatively flat. And the field picks up speed as the track dips around the bend. Into the straight, it only rises gently, making for a far less grueling test than many of the other venues.
Post time is 3:40 PM for the Shuka Sho, Kyoto's 11th race on a card of 12.
Here's a look at the expected popular picks:
Stellenbosch Brings Lofty Credentials into the Shuka Sho
This daughter of Epiphaneia, slight though she is, is a force to be reckoned with. From her six career starts with three of them in top-level races, Stellenbosch, fielded by the Miho-based trainer Sakae Kunieda, has never finished further back than second place.
She has recorded three wins and three seconds so far. And even more laudable is the fact that the three races she has won have been those where she either broke a bit late or encountered interference.
This will be her first time at Kyoto, but she is a seasoned traveler, having raced at both Hanshin (twice) and Sapporo. More importantly, she has already been training at Ritto (as she did prior to the Oka Sho) ahead of Sunday's race.
Though Stellenbosch's three wins have been over distances from 1,600 to 1,800 meters, her second-place finish in the Japanese Oaks (an admirable performance even though she'd lost a shoe) indicates the Shuka Sho distance shouldn't pose a problem.
Kunieda believes she's prepared for the race.
"Last week, she worked hard up the hill course despite the bad going," Kunieda said. "Mentally, she is calmer, and physically she has filled out. We'll just have to see how she handles the inner course at Kyoto."
Cervinia Has a Knack for Finishing Strong
Harbinger-sired Cervinia has a tendency to be a beat or two slow at the break. But she has gotten splendid results in all but one of her five starts thus far, and the one blemish on her record was the Oka Sho.
In the April race, Cervinia ran strongly after breaking from the far outside gate, but was blocked in the stretch and unable to get a clear run. As a result, she finished 13th of 18.
Not a reflection of her ability, but her poor showing was due more to the high pace, bad starting position (18th) and the fact that she was returning after over five months off. It spotlighted just how gutsy this filly is.
In April, still with only a Grade 3 win to her name, Cervinia triumphed in the Japanese Oaks, another 18-horse event.
"Just before returning to the training center, she had been feeling a bit off," said Yu Ota, an assistant to trainer Tetsuya Kimura. "But once back at [Miho] she's been improving every day and has handled long fast work for three weeks in a row. Her balance and breathing are good. If she can break well, she'll travel just fine."
Queen's Walk is Familiar with Longer-Distance Races
Unlike Stellenbosch and Cervinia, Queen's Walk heads into the Shuka Sho prepped with a win in the Grade 2 Rose Stakes at Chukyo in September. It was a win that saw her beat Regaleira, a filly that had run fifth in May's Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby).
With only one previous Grade 3 win (the Queen Cup over 1,600 meters at Tokyo), the Rose Stakes win over 2,000 meters is expected to put this filly right back up there in the popularity polls with Cervinia and Stellenbosch. Due to the rain-affected ground and slow pace of the Rose Stakes, Queen's Walk wanted to move, but she listened to rider Yuga Kawada and waited for the final stage to unleash what she had and win by a length and a half.
Eighth in the Oka Sho, a 1,600-meter race, and fourth in the Yushun Himba, contested over 2,400 meters, Queen's Walk has demonstrated she can handle the distance. Though both her graded wins have been over left-handed tracks, the Kizuna-sired filly has posted a first at Hanshin and debuted at Kyoto with a second-place finish over 1,800 meters.
If Queen's Walk is anything like her half-brother Grenadier Guards, winner of the Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes in 2020, she'll be exhibiting new maturity just about now.
In 2023, trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida and Kawada paired up to bring Liberty Island to the Shuka Sho winner's circle, and they will aim to repeat the feat on Sunday.
Read the rest of this article about the Shuka Sho and the Japanese horses in contention on JRA News.
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Author: JRA News
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