Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1) - Review

Kinshasa no Kiseki finally reached the Grade 1 winner’s circle on Sunday afternoon as the betting favorite stormed to victory in the 40th Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo Racecourse.

The 7-year-old Kinshasa no Kiseki held off the fast coming B B Guldan by a nose to win his first Grade 1 title after seven tries at the top level. The Katsumi Ando-ridden B B Guldan suffered yet another painfully narrow defeat, following his photo-finish loss to Laurel Guerreiro in last year’s Sprinters Stakes which he also lost by a nose.

The Nobuyuki Hori-trained Kinshasa no Kiseki, with Hirofumi Shii in the irons, cut a winning time of 1 minute, 8.6 seconds – 1.5 seconds off the race record held by 2008 champion Fine Grain, who on this day came in eighth among a full field of 18.

Kinshasa no Kiseki collected 95 million yen for winning the Japan Racing Association’s first turf Grade 1 race of 2010, taking his career earnings to more than 550 million yen. Shii won his second Takamatsunomiya Kinen title, the trainer his long-awaited first. Defending champion Laurel Guerreiro was absent, having raced in the Dubai Golden Shaheen the night before (he was fourth).

Shii, who rode the horse for his second time after winning the Grade 3 Ocean Stakes over 1,200 meters at Nakayama on March 6, said he had his doubts as to who had finished first as a cluster of horses hit the wire virtually at the same time.

Third favorite A Shin Forward took third a neck behind B B Guldan, 4-year-old colt San Carlo fourth another neck behind and the retiring Ultima Thule filled out the board a further nose back. The top eight horses were separated by just three-tenths of a second.

“Ando’s horse had a lot more steam at the end, so I wasn’t completely sure,” Shii said of B B Guldan. “But everyone else was saying that I had won, and I’m glad it turned out that way. The straight isn’t very long here, but it sure felt long today.

“Sure, there’s always pressure in a Grade 1 race but you deal with it the best you can. He started really well and felt great during the trip – too well as a matter of fact, because I was having a hard time holding him back.

“He was real smooth around the last turn and you have to give him credit because he hung on until the end.”

Added Hori: “The horse was a lot more relaxed than I thought he would be. It was a heck of a race, really close, but I wasn’t that worried. I had faith in him.”

The Australian-bred Kinshasa no Kiseki, by Fuji Kiseki out of Keltshaan, is now 10 for 26 for his career. The Takamatsunomiya Kinen was his fifth graded victory. His next start is undetermined.