May Day Ready Set for Grade 1 Test in Japan

Overseas visitors seldom find the going easy in Japanese racing but May Day Ready  might be the exception when she lines up against a full field of local rivals in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) Dec 8 at Kyoto Racecourse.

The 2-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit  , the first overseas contender in the history of the race, will be taking on 17 Japanese-trained fillies who show plenty of promise but lack experience.

By contrast, May Day Ready reports for overseas duty with a record of three wins from four starts back home. She opened with a hard-fought victory at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 4, won the $997,200 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes with a strong stretch run in her second start, and followed with a win in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, putting a nose in front of Totally Justified  at the finish despite losing her right front shoe.

A runner-up showing behind European star filly Lake Victoria  in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), her first defeat, was no disgrace. Aided by the Kentucky Downs state-bred supplement, her earnings already top the $1 million mark.

Add to that record a solid training regimen since she arrived in Japan Nov. 30, per trainer Joseph Lee, and with regular rider Frankie Dettori booked to ride, the Japanese fillies will have to bring it to win it.

"The horse's movements were very good and she seems to be very happy so we're satisfied so far," Lee said after light workout action Dec. 6

The only issue might be the gate 17 barrier draw.

"We've been given an outside draw and where she'll be positioned and how she'll race from there will all be up to Frankie now," Lee said.

May Day Ready, out of the More Than Ready mare Nemoralia , was bred by White Birch Farm, and sold to current owner, KatieRich Stables, at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training for $325,000.

After May Day Ready, there were 27 nominees seeking to fill the other 17 spots in the gate. Many have only two previous starts. Two have only one. With results scarce, a lottery determined which nominees run. In similar situations in past years, eventual superstars Vodka and Buena Vista  needed a good lottery draw to make the field.

Among those who have some experience, Run for Vow is a grade 2 winner and Brown Ratchet has won at the grade 3 level.

Run for Vow, by Lord Kanaloa , became a winner in her second start Oct. 6 at Kyoto and immediately backed that up with a victory in the Daily Hai Nisai Stakes (G2) Nov. 9 over the same course while stretching out to 1,600 meters (about one mile). Brown Ratchet, a Kizuna  filly, won her debut Sept. 16 and conquered the Artemis Stakes (G3) Oct. 26.

Christophe Lemaire rides Brown Ratchet for Sunday Racing. Kohei Matsuyama has the mount on Run for Vow, owned by Yoshiro Kubota.

Despite the name, the race is No. 11 on the Kyoto Racecourse program as Hanshin's facilities are closed for upgrading. The Juvenile Fillies is seen as a stepping stone to the first of the following year's filly classics, the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas, G1).

The 1,600 meters starts with a 500-meter run down the backstretch into a sharp climb, then sees an equally sharp drop as the horses swing into the straight.