Gran Alegria Rises to the Challenge in Yasuda Kinen

Gran Alegria  takes on a challenge June 6 at Tokyo Racecourse that proved too much a year ago even for superstar Almond Eye —winning the Yasuda Kinen (G1) on just three weeks' rest.

A year ago, Almond Eye tackled the Yasuda Kinen just three weeks after winning the Victoria Mile (G1), the shortest turnaround of her career, and came up wanting, finishing second. The winner that day was Gran Alegria, who now shoulders the same burden, also on career-shortest rest.

Trainer Kazuo Fujisawa acknowledged the challenge after Gran Alegria and jockey Christophe Lemaire drew the No. 5 gate in a field of 14 for the race, which is a Breeders' Cup Challenge event, offering a guaranteed spot in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) in November at Del Mar.

"I was very happy about the Victoria Mile win," Fujisawa said. "Due to the lack of time between races, we've just focused on getting her recovered and tuned up. She hasn't had that many races overall but has come along well nonetheless.

"Last year in this race, the jockey (Kenichi Ikezoe) said she'd run into trouble (getting hit with turf under way) and it'd been a tough race. This year, she's had a 2,000-meter race before this and was calm and able to wait for instructions. So that's reassuring."

Gran Alegria enters the 1,600-meter (about 1 mile) Yasuda Kinen as the likely favorite with four wins from her last five starts, all of which came in grade 1 events. Overall, the 5-year-old Deep Impact  mare out of multiple grade 1-winning 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Tapitsfly, has eight wins from 12 starts.

As is often the case with this race, the field is a mixed bag with contenders of both genders, ranging in age from 3 to 7, coming by different paths.

Indy Champ , a 6-year-old by Stay Gold , won both the Yasuda Kinen and Mile Championship (G1) in 2019. He was third in the 2020 Yasuda Kinen behind Gran Alegria and Almond Eye and trainer Hidetaka Otonashi said he hopes Indy Champ can find enough of the Fountain of Youth to do better.

"He's very young for his age, so 6 isn't old," Otonashi said, cryptically. "It won't be easy to beat the Victoria Mile winner. I'm hoping he'll rise to the challenge. I've tried many different things, many distances, and find ourselves back at the mile. I want him to go out there and win."

Youth is well represented in the race in the form of Schnell Meister, a 3-year-old by Kingman , and Salios, a 4-year-old son of Heart's Cry .

Schnell Meister makes just his fifth career start and his first against older horses. His only loss came in the Hochi Hai Yayoi Sho Deep Impact Kinen (G2) in May when he was asked to go beyond a mile for the first time. He rebounded from that with a victory in his first grade 1 effort, the NHK Mile Cup over the Toyko layout May 9.

Trainer Takahisa Tazuka said Schnell Meister "has gotten stronger and stronger with each race. The Yasuda Kinen is a big challenge and though 3-year-olds have won before, it's often a tough race. But he has potential. I'm hoping he can made the best of the lighter weight he'll be racing under."

Salios won all three starts as a 2-year-old, winding up with a win in the Asahi Hai Futurity (G1). He was second, both times behind champion 3-year-old Contrail, in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas, G1) and Yushun Himba (Japanese Derby, G1). Tossed into deeper waters, he finished fifth in the Mile Championship (G1) at Hanshin in November, a race won by Gran Alegria.

Another 4-year-old, Lauda Sion, a Deep Impact colt, won the 2020 NHK Mile Cup but hasn't made much impact since.

The race starts on the backstretch of the sprawling Tokyo Racecourse, continues around one huge turn into an uphill stretch climb, and finishes in front of the grandstand, which remains mostly empty as Japan continues to struggle with pandemic containment.