With a bold late move, Arma Veloce got the best of a full field of largely inexperienced locals and one highly regarded American invader to win the Dec. 8 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Kyoto Racecourse.
The Harbinger filly, making just her third start, raced comfortably behind the leaders down the Kyoto backstretch before taking a wide swing into the stretch under jockey Mirai Iwata. With much of the field still ahead and to her inside, Arma Veloce hit another gear and outfinished Vip Daisy by 1 1/4 lengths, giving Iwata his first grade 1 win.
Arma Veloce finished the 1,600 meters (about 1 mile) on good to firm turf in 1:33.4.
Teleos La La, completed an all-longshot top three finish, not surprising in a race where most of the field had only two previous starts. Iwata sounded a bit surprised he had won.
"It feels great to be able to stand here as a grade 1 winner after six years of waiting," Iwata said. "I was too occupied in driving her to the finish so I didn't know until I had crossed the wire, but with no horse next to me then, I felt I had done it."
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The disappointment in the race was American invader May Day Ready. The Tapit filly, trained by experienced international hand Joseph Lee, entered off a second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), her first defeat after three victories including the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes and Keeneland's Jessamine Stakes (G2T). With regular rider Frankie Dettori in the irons, May Day Ready got away well but, from the No. 17 gate, was never able to establish position. She ran competitively around the turn, then faded to 13th.
Dettori said the turf and a long season contributed to May Day Ready's disappointing performance.
"She prefers really fast ground," Dettori said. "It was a little bit loose, and the first time right-handed confused her a little bit. So, the combination of the three things was why she ran no race today. And also, it's the fifth run in four months so she's tired. It was a long way here."
Lee said, "It wasn't the result we wanted of course but we tried. We'll give her a little break now and then come back and hopefully run as well as she did before."
Ama Veloce, bred by Northern Racing and owned by Teruo Ono, won at first asking Aug. 4 at Sapporo, then finished second behind Magic Sands in the Sapporo Nisai Stakes (G3) Aug. 31 while racing against colts.
The race favorite, Brown Rachet, missed the break slightly, raced farther back than jockey Christophe Lemaire planned and finished 16th after being caught in traffic entering the stretch run. Second-favorite Shonan Xanadu reported fourth.
The race is an important pointer to future success and even stardom. Past winners include Vodka, Buena Vista and Liberty Island. The latter went on to win the 2023 Japanese filly Triple Crown.
