Deep Brillante wins Derby by a nose

One of the most thrilling finishes in the Japanese Derby history was produced this afternoon at Tokyo when Deep Brillante and Fenomeno got to the finishing line at the same level. As a result of the photo inspection, Deep Brillante beat Fenomeno by a nose. A 3/4-length behind, Tosen Homareboshi was third with favorite World Ace finishing another neck away in fourth. Another neck further back, Gold Ship ran fifth in the field of 18.

Yasunari Iwata drove home Deep Brillante in 2 minutes 23.80 seconds on firm ground.


Within 200 meters from the finish, Deep Brillante got past Tosen Homareboshi to take a lead. Fenomeno swiftyly drew close on the outside, but his challenge did not prevail.


Deep Brillante has now recorded three wins, two seconds and a third in six starts in the color of Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. and the saddle of Y. Yahagi. With the 187+ million jp yen first prize of the Derby, his career earnings brought to 292+ million jp yen.


Bred in Niikappu, Hokkaido by Love and Bubbles Partnership, Deep Brillante is a 3-year-old bay colt by Deep Impact out of the Loup Sauvage mare Love and Bubbles.

World Ace Early Favorite For Derby

After closing Saturday betting round, World Ace has been installed as the favorite for the 2012 Japanese Derby(Tokyo Yushun) at odds of 2.9(19/10). Gold Ship was the second favorite at 3.1(21/10) followed by Deep Brillante at 8.9(79/10).

2012 Japanese Derby

A total of 18 colts will go for the Tokyo Yushun(known as the Japanese Derby).


Gold Ship comes straight from an outstanding victory in the Satsuki Sho(Japanese 2000 Guineas) and is looking for the second classic glory. He has raced at Tokyo earlier this season when he won the Kyodo News Service Hai.

World Ace, who finished a 2 1/2-length second in the Satsuki Sho, has classic material with his explosive late surge which could prevail at the long Tokyo stretch.

Deep Brillante, third in the Satsuki Sho and Fenomeno, winner of the Aoba Sho, are in the hunt of an upset run.

The 79th Tokyo Yushun(Japanese Derby), Grade One
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Tokyo Race-11
3yo c&f 2,400-meter turf left-handed
weight: 57 kgs for colt, filly allowed 2 kgs
post time: 3:40 p.m. JST

H#(pp)/HorseName(Sire)/Rider
1/Spielberg(Deep Impact)/Norihiro Yokoyama
2/Historical(Deep Impact)/Katsumi Ando
3/Zelos(King Kamehameha)/Yuga Kawada
4/Just a Way(Heart's Cry)/Shinichiro Akiyama
5/Veiled Impact(Deep Impact)/Yusuke Fujioka
6/Gold Ship(Stay Gold)/Hiroyuki Uchida
7/Cosmo Ozora(Roses in May)/Daichi Shibata
8/World Ace(Deep Impact)/Yuichi Fukunaga
9/Etendard(Deep Impact)/Masami Matsuoka
10/Deep Brillante(Deep Impact)/Yasunari Iwata
11/Fenomeno(Stay Gold)/Masayoshi Ebina
12/Trip(Kurofune)/Hironobu Tanabe
13/Clarente(Dance in the Dark)/Futoshi Komaki
14/Tosen Homareboshi(Deep Impact)/Craig Williams
15/Brightline(Fuji Kiseki)/Tetsuzo Sato
16/Monstre(Admire Max)/Yoshitomi Shibata
17/Grandezza(Agnes Tachyon)/Kenichi Ikezoe
18/Alfredo(Symboli Kris S)/Yutaka Take

Gentildonna romps Japanese Oaks

Gentildonna won the Yushun Himba(Japanese Oaks) today at Tokyo to make a Oka Sho - Oaks double. The final time was the new Oaks record of 2 minutes 23.60 seconds The winning rider was Yuga Kawada, who was aboard on her for the first time in the absence of Yasunari Iwata.

Gentildonna was held far off the pace early on. As the field entered into the stretch, Kawada took her to the outside and made up lots of ground. Gentildonna put her neck into front at around 200 meters from home, and yet she won the classic race by 5 lengths.


Verxina finished a 3/4-length in front of third-placed Ice Folies to get second. I'm Yours was, another nose behind, fourth place in the field of 18.

Trained by S. Ishizaka and owned by Sunday Racing Co. Ltd., Gentildonna has now won 4 of her six races with 292+ million j yen in career earnings. Northern Racing was the breeder of Gentildonna, a 3-year-old bay filly by Deep Impact out of the Bertolini mare Donna Blini.