Maurice Bests Field of Fifteen in Tenno Sho
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Photo: Naoji Inada
Maurice after winning his fifth grade I in the Tenno Sho (Autumn)
In front of an overflowing Tokyo crowd, Japan's 2015 Horse of the Year Maurice surged to a clear victory over Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (UAE-I) winner Real Steel in the Oct. 29 Autumn Tenno Sho (The Emperor's Cup, Jpn-I), Japan's premier autumn opener.
Coming off a runner-up finish in the Sapporo Kinen (Jpn-II) at 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) on the turf, Kazumi Yoshida's Maurice finished the same route of ground in 1:59.30 in the Tenno Sho, winning at the longest distance of his career.
Jostled out of the gate, the son of Screen Hero settled into the field of 15, within striking distance. Maurice rounded the final turn and then went wide, and was urged to join the front runners A Shin Hikari and Lovely Day in the center of the track. While Logo Type (JPN) and Ambitious followed suit to the inside, Maurice switched leads and drew away easily for jockey Ryan Moore.
Real Steal and Staphanos ran by the front-runners late to get up for second and third respectively. The 10-length winner of the Prix d'Ispahan (Fr-I), A Shin Hikari finished well out of contention in 12th.
Trained by Noriyuki Hori, Maurice brings his grade I win count to five with the victory and he now has a record of 10-2-1 from 17 starts.