Gran Alegria Upsets Almond Eye in Yasuda Kinen

Gran Alegria surged to the lead well down the long Tokyo Racecourse stretch in the June 7 Yasuda Kinen (G1), and the favorite, Almond Eye, could only chase her home for second after missing the start.

The impressive victory was worth a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" bid to the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Keeneland in November. The top three finishers—Indy Champ was third—also earned entry to the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1), normally run in August at Deauville.

Gran Alegria, a 4-year-old filly by Deep Impact, was away smoothly from the start on the backstretch, raced midpack to the sweeping turn, and found plenty of room outside rivals heading into the rising ground in the stretch.

With Kenichi Ikezoe riding confidently, Gran Alegria hit the front with some 200 meters left and was home free thereafter, winning by 2 1/2 lengths. She completed the 1,600 meters (about one mile) in 1:31.60.

Almond Eye, as she has occasionally in the past, missed the break and was forced to run well off the pace and in some traffic by the top of the lane. The seven-time grade/group 1 winner found her explosive turn of foot too late, and she could only nip Indy Champ for runner-up honors.

Indy Champ ran a stakes-record 1:30.9 in the 2019 Yasuda Kinen, with Almond Eye third after a rough start.

"I was focused on keeping her in a good rhythm and in a good position, which all worked out beautifully," Ikezoe said of the winner. "She just gave her best with such a tenacious run down the stretch."

Still, he admitted he was never sure of the win against a field that included nine other grade 1 winners.

"I was afraid up to the line that we were going to be caught, especially by Almond Eye," the rider said. "I hurt myself when a chunk of grass hit my eye at the third corner, but it doesn't hurt at all now."

Jockey Christophe Lemaire said Almond Eye, running back on just three weeks' rest after winning the Victoria Mile (G1), gave it her best under the circumstances.

"We had a poor break, but I think we recovered well and made a smooth and strong bid turning for home with Gran Alegria in aim," Lemaire said. "She showed her good turn of foot, but she could have done better. The winner was just so strong. It wasn't our day."

Gran Alegria is out of the Tapit  mare Tapitsfly, whose graded stakes wins include the 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Tapitsfly was purchased for $1.85 million by Katsumi Yoshida in 2012 from The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky fall mixed sale. Gran Alegria was bred by Yoshida's Northern Farm and races for Sunday Racing.

The filly has five wins from eight starts, but trainer Kazuo Fujisawa noted before the race that Gran Alegria's previous grade 1 victory, the 2019 Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas), came against other females.

"She hasn't done well up against male horses," the trainer said. "The bar is high this time."

Although Japanese racing continues without spectators, remote-only viewing did not cut too deeply into turnover for the race. In 2019, with 74,008 fans in the stands, approximately US$186.7 million was wagered on the Yasuda Kinen. This year, US$173.7 million was wagered.