Victoria Mile - Preview

Tokyo Racecourse

The fourth Victoria Mile (G1) is shaping up to be its best race yet.

The Victoria Mile, for fillies and mares 4-year-olds & up, to be held on Sunday at Tokyo will feature a total of five Grade 1 winners: Kawakami Princess, Pink Cameo, Little Amapola, Reginetta and the Japan Racing Association's 2008 Horse of the Year, Vodka. While the race has been won by non-Grade 1 champions the last two years - Koiuta in 2007 and Asian Winds in 2008 - all signs point to the new winner emerging from the aforementioned five.

The massive renovation project at Tokyo Racecourse was completed in April 2007 and is widely regarded as the fairest track in Japan. Held under the same terms as the Yasuda Kinen in June, the Victoria Mile starts at the beginning of the backstretch for a straight run of more than 500 meters, before turning left over 400 into the punishing homestretch of 525 meters at the state-of-the-art Fuchu course. The first 225 meters of the straight slopes upward, the hill taking such a toll on the runners that it usually invites a lead change over the final 100 meters.

The Victoria Mile was set up in 2006 (won by Dance in the Mood) to give female horses an opportunity to win a Grade 1 race in the spring. While the competition is open to a maximum nine entries from overseas, the field again will be made up of Japanese-bred horses only.

The following are the early favorites for this year's Victoria Mile. Post time is 15:40, and a full field of 18 is expected:

VODKA: The reigning horse of the year is out to make more history as trainer Katsuhiko Sumii's 5-year-old shoots for her third Grade 1 title. Just as she did last year when she took second in the race behind Asian Winds, Vodka heads into the Victoria Mile after running in the Dubai Duty Free in which she went under the wire seventh. Most likely the favorite at the morning line, the star mare has a lot working in her favor. The 1,600 meters appears to be Vodka's best distance; in seven previous races, she has won five and finished second twice. The daughter of Tanino Gimlet will be ridden by Yutaka Take, who, with victory on Sunday, can complete a career sweep of the six Grade 1 races for fillies and mares. And Tokyo is clearly Vodka's preferred course, as both of her Grade 1 wins (Yasuda Kinen and Tenno Sho (Autumn)) have come at the track. Her training crew claims she has been in incomparable form since returning to Japan, so much so that they wonder why Vodka did not win the Dubai Duty Free. If there's such a thing as a sure bet, this is it.		Vodka
KAWAKAMI PRINCESS: It's been almost two years and seven months since she won the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and Shuka Sho with a perfect record. Now 6 years old, Kawakami Princess' two starts this year have been admirable, coming in fourth in the 2,200-meter Kyoto Kinen and third in the 2,000-meter Sankei Osaka Hai against the boys; against the females in November, she was a narrow runnerup to Little Amapola in the 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup. The Katsuichi Nishiura-trained Kawakami Princess finished 10th in the Victoria Mile two years ago under Koshiro Take as the favorite, but there is no comparing her form then and now. To end the nine-race drought, a lot will be in the hands of the nation's current leading jockey, Norihiro Yokoyama, who led Red Spata to a silver medal in a wild, wild NHK Mile Cup (G1) last weekend. Vodka looks formidable, but Kawakami Princess should give her more than a run for her money.		Kawakami Princess
LITTLE AMAPOLA: The holder of the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup had a lukewarm start to the new year, taking seventh in the Yomiuri Milers Cup under new partner Yuichi Fukunaga at Hanshin on April 18. But considering that it was her first race since November and her first race ever against male horses, cut the 4-year-old filly some slack; Little Amapola, trained by Hiroyuki Nagahama, is all but guaranteed to improve her finishing in the Victoria Mile. Last year, the Agnes Tachyon daughter dominated to win the Grade 3 Queen Stakes, which is also held at Tokyo over 1,600 meters and should certainly prove to be a plus. With the first race jitters out of the way, Fukunaga should know what to do with Little Amapola, who should be among the top three picks on race day, although she has yet to match up against Vodka.		Little Amapola
REGINETTA: Last year's Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas) champion is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Sankei Sports Hai Hanshin Himba Stakes at 1,400 meters last month, her first race of 2009 under a hefty 57 kilograms. But whatever the odds on Sunday, do not let them fool you; with also a bronze to show for in the Japanese Oaks, the 4-year-old filly by French Deputy, owned by the Shadai Race Horse group, remains one of the most talented in her class. With a race under her belt, and returning to her best distance at 1,600 meters at 55 kilograms, Futoshi Komaki's mount could pull off another shocker - just like she did in the Oka Sho as the 12th favorite. Reginetta must be respected.		Reginetta
JOLLY DANCE: Set to make a third consecutive appearance in the Victoria Mile, the 8-year-old was reportedly set to retire after her last race, the Hanshin Himba Stakes. But surprise, surprise, the Dance in the Dark mare went on to win for her first victory in two years in a new partnership with Hirofumi Shii. Jolly Dance was fifth in 2007 and seventh in 2008 in the Victoria Mile, but she goes into the race in the best shape yet over the last three years. Asian Winds won the Hanshin Himba Stakes before winning last year's Victoria Mile, which bodes well for this veteran. Sunday will be her eighth shot at a Grade 1 title; but considering the way the Tenno Sho (Spring) and the NHK Mile Cup turned out, who knows, maybe the eighth time is the charm.		Jolly Dance
PINK CAMEO: Hot off a victory in the Tenno Sho (Spring) with long-shot Meiner Kitz, the folks at Sakae Kunieda's stable are eyeing another shock win this weekend with the NHK Mile Cup champion from two years ago. In her past two starts, Pink Cameo has abandoned her old stretch-running style for a more aggressive race from early on, a change that has resulted in the 5-year-old daughter of French Deputy posting finishes of fourth and second place in a pair of Grade 3 races - the Fukushima Himba Stakes and the Laurel R.C. Sho Nakayama Himba Stakes, respectively. Back at the Tokyo mile, can Pink Cameo stun the field again? That's what Kunieda and jockey Hiroki Goto are counting on.		Pink Cameo
BELLA RHEIA: Eighth in the Victoria Mile last year, the window of opportunity for this 5-year-old closer could be starting to close. Bella Rheia became a name two years ago, when she was second in the Japanese Oaks and took fourth in the Shuka Sho behind now retired Arima Kinen champion Daiwa Scarlet. While the daughter of Narita Top Road came in third in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in November as the second choice, Bella Rheia's last victory goes all the way back to April 2007 in the 2,000-meter Flora Stakes, a Japanese Oaks trial. She was seventh in her first race this year - the 1,800-meter Fukushima Himba Stakes - on a very wet surface, but the excuses are beginning to run out. Bella Rheia will likely be among the favorites on Sunday, but Shinichiro Akiyama's mount will need more than an impressive performance to keep her reputation as a potential Grade 1 winner intact.		Bella Rheia
BOUQUET FRAGRANCE: If there's anyone in the field with a winning pedigree, then it has to be this 4-year-old filly out of Scarlet Bouquet - the reputed dam of Daiwa Major and Daiwa Scarlet, who between the two of them, have won five Grade 1 titles. Bouquet Fragrance, trained by Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Katsuhiko Sumii, will face her first Grade 1 test in the Victoria Mile, which should shed some light on her true qualities. She is hard to pass up for the gambling man, with her bloodlines, her trainer, her owner (Shadai Race Horse) and her jockey Kosei Miura, named the top rookie in 2008 after rewriting Yutaka Take's record for most wins by a first-year rider. It would not be too much of a surprise if Bouquet Fragrance ran the biggest race of her career yet.		BOUQUET FRAGRANCE