Favorite wins Kikuka Sho

Under the hand of Hiroyuki Uchida, race favorite Oken Bruce Lee produced a sensational run down the stretch to win the Kikuka Sho(Japanese St. Leger) at Kyoto on Sunday afternoon. The Jungle Pocket colt got the better of Flotation by a1 1/4-length at the line. Namura Crescent finished another 1 1/2-length back in third.

Uchida had Oken Bruce Lee settled at the middle of the 18-horse field, and then began to make a move on the final bend for the second time. Around 400 meters from home, Oken Bruce Lee grabbed the lead on his way to winning the 3,000-meter classic in 3 minutes 5.70 seconds.

Quote form winning rider Uchida:
We had a good position as I had expected. Because of the Kyoto flat stretch, I gave the colt an early go-sign. He perfomed a strong race, but he is still open to improve and his best run has yet to come.

The 69th running of the Kikuka Sho
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Kyoto Race-11 3:40pm 18-ran
3yo 3,000-meter turf right-handed firm cloudy
final time: 3m 5.70s
fractional time: 12.90-25.10-36.10-47.80-58.80-1:11.00-1:24.90-1:38.70-1:52.20-2:05.50-2:18.40-2:30.40-2:41.90-2:54.00-3:05.70

14 Oken Bruce Lee 3.7f Hiroyuki Uchida
1 Flotation 37.7 Yusuke Fujioka
5 Namura Crescent 23.4 Ryuji Wada
8 Smart Gear 10.3 Yutaka Take
9 Meiner Charles 6.6 Masami Matsuoka
margins: 1-1/4l, 1-1/2l,3/4l, 2l

also ran: Venture Nine, White Pilgrim, Daiwa Wild Boar, Yamanin Kingly, Dot Com, Lord Aries, Meisho Qualia, Daishin Plan, Shigeru Fuseruto, Mikki Cheerful, Smile Jack, Agnes Starch and Not Alone