Keiai Nautique Upsets in Tokyo's NHK Mile

Keiai Nautique rallied from next to last with a furious stretch run to post a narrow upset May 6 in the NHK Mile Cup (G1) for 3-year-olds at Tokyo Racecourse.

The bay son of Deep Impact was up in the final strides to defeat Gibeon by a neck, giving his sire an exacta. Keiai Nautique is out of the Smarty Jones  mare Keiai Gerbera, while Gibeon is out of the Ghostzapper  mare Contested.

Keiai Nautique was slow out of the gate for jockey Yusuke Fujioka and was unhurried down the backstretch and around the turn. Swinging around the field, Fujioka found clear sailing and timed the late effort perfectly. Keiai Nautique finished the mile in 1:32.80.

"He was a bit slow to pick up speed, so we had to race from behind," said Fujioka, who scored his first Japan Racing Association grade 1 win. "But he more than made up (for it) with his speed and sheer determination. His potential is so great, and I think he can handle longer distance."

The favorite, Godolphin-owned and Darley Japan-bred Tower of London, stumbled at the start under jockey Christophe Lemaire, raced mid-field while saving ground, and was hopelessly bottled up on the rail through the stretch run. The Raven's Pass colt, whose owners have Royal Ascot aspirations, finished 12th in the field of 14 colts and four fillies.

The winner was bred by Queens Ranch and trained by Osamu Hirata for owner Kazuhiro Kameda. The NHK Mile Cup was his third win from seven starts. He finished fourth in the Dec. 17 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1) at Hanshin in his 2-year-old finale and came into the Tokyo race off a second-place finish in the April 7 New Zealand Trophy (G2) at Nakayama.

All of his starts have been at the 1-mile distance.