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2006 News

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Deep Impact is back!

2005 JRA Horse of the Year, Deep Impact made his first appearance of 2006 in the 54th running of the Group 2 Hanshin Daishoten, over 3000m at the Hanshin Racecourse in Osaka, and what an appearance it was! In a 9-horse field made up of some of Japan's best stayers, the 4yo colt showed he was back as good as ever, with an easy 3 1/2 length win in a time of 3:08.8.

Sent out as a 10/1 on favourite, champion jockey Yutaka Take let Deep Impact find his feet early in the race, settling second last in the field. Tokai Trick, a son of El Condor Pasa who was extremely unlucky in the Group 3 3400m Diamond Stakes at his previous start, led the field at a very good pace - ensuring that the race was a true test of stamina. At one stage, he had opened up a 7 or 8 length break on the rest of the field, headed by 2005 Group 1 Derby placegetter Inti Raimi and 2nd favourite Delta Blues who was the winner of the 2004 Group 1 Kikka Sho (the Japanese equivalent of the St Leger). Deep Impact was kept out of trouble by Take, and although he was approximately 20 lengths off the leader in the middle stages of the race, he made his move with about 1000m left to go.

As always, when asked to go by Take, Deep Impact responded quickly, and he travelled around the field 3 and 4 wide. But it appeared that he responded faster than even Take had expected, and as the field headed into the straight, Deep Impact had already hit the lead. A few shakes of the reins saw Deep Impact put several lengths on the rest of the field, and in the end it was a very soft win by the champion.

The leader Tokai Trick stuck on extremely well - eventually claiming 2nd place, and nothing else could make any ground in the race, with Delta Blues finishing 3rd.

Take has often mentioned that Deep Impact seems to "fly" rather than run, and the Deep Impact presented day was clearly in better condition that the horse that could not quite catch Heart's Cry in the 2005 Group 1 Arima Kinen. Heart's Cry will line up in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic in Dubai, over 2400m on Saturday 25th March, and Japanese racing fans will be looking forward to seeing a rematch between these two great racehorses in the near future.

Deep Impact is a son of Sunday Silence, out of the Alzao mare Wind in Her Hair. He is owned by Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co. Ltd, and was bred by Northern Farm. With his win today, he took his record to 8 wins and a 2nd from 9 starts, and his earning well over 350 million yen.