Four Graded Stakes Winners in Hanshin Juvenile Fillies

A deep field of 18, including four graded stakes winners, one of them undefeated, is set for the Dec. 12 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Hanshin Racecourse.

The undefeated member of the quartet, Water Navillera, a daughter of Silver State, comes off a win in the KBS Kyoto Sho Fantasy Stakes (G3) over the Hanshin course going 1,400 meters (about seven furlongs). She also has won at the 1,600 meters of the Juvenile Fillies.

Her ascent into the top level might not have been predicted by her pedigree.

Freshman sire Silver State, by Deep Impact , had four wins and a second from five starts. But the wins all came in minor events during a career that included a 19-month gap through all of 2016. Water Navillera's dam, Shining Sayaka , spent most of her career racing on dirt, frequently at Japan's regional tracks.

Circle of Life, an Epiphaneia filly, arrives at the Juvenile Fillies with a 2-for-3 record and comes off a victory in the Artemis Stakes (G3) at Tokyo Racecourse.

Namura Nycoris and Namura Clair are both bred and owned by the Mutsohiro Namura and have two wins apiece.

Namura Clair, by Mikki Isle, won the Sept. 5 Kokura Nisai Stakes (G3) while Namura Nycoris, by Jo Cappucino, has been off the track since winning the July 17 Hakodate Nisai Stakes (G3).

All the connections said their fillies have questions to answer despite their early accomplishments.

Water Navillera's trainer, Koshiro Take, said his filly has been thriving as her year progressed.

"She's getting a lot more work than she had in the beginning but she hasn't lost weight," Take said. "That's her strong point and she also is a lot more muscled than she was in the summer. She had a bit of time off and things have gone smoothly since she came back."

But, Take added, "She does tend to get agitated once out on the track but before going to the gate there are some other things to worry about. But once she's racing, she does well."

Yutaka Take will ride, starting from the No. 13 gate in a field of 18.

Circle of Life's conditioner, Sakae Kunieda, said she "broke well in the Artemis Stakes and went with the flow, then in the stretch showed some very sharp footwork. Her win at Nakayama when she broke her maiden wasn't that exciting, but it was good she won in an orthodox way here.

"I think the distance she gets will get longer in the future but she won her last start over the mile and a long stretch suits her," Kunieda said.

Circle of Life starts from gate 10 under Mirco Demuro.

Namura Clair and Namura Lycoris drew the No. 1 and No. 2 gates. 

Namura Clair was idle for two months after her Kokura win, then finished second to Water Navillera in the Fantasy Stakes and trainer Kodai Hasegawa blamed that on the long layoff between races.

"I'd never worried about that before," Hasegawa said. "She lost the race but she was a bit keen in the first half and I think that was a factor. Her last race allowed her to let off some steam and I think the short time between races this time is a good thing." 

Namura Lycoris' victories both came at Hakodate Racecourse after a debut start at Sapporo. Assistant trainer Masahiro Maruta admitted that after the Sapporo race, "she did look like she could run well but winning a graded stakes race was better than we had imagined she could do."

The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies is run right-handed on the outer turf course. The course dips about two meters from the 600-meter mark to the 200, then rises again approaching the finish. The race has produced some of Japan's most noted female horses including Vodka , whose record winning time of 1:33.1, set in 2006, still stands. The noted all-white filly Sodashi won last year's edition.