The Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby took a sideways turn Dec. 11 as a filly, Myriad Love, scored her third win without loss in the series' second leg, the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, at Kawasaki Racecourse.
Myriad Love earned 20 points to jump to the top of the leaderboard. Natural Rise, winner of the first race, finished fourth in the Zen-Nippon, adding four points to his previous 10 to stand in second place.
Series newcomers Happy Man and Soldier Field were second and third in the Zen-Nippon, earning 10 and six points, respectively.
The series offers a guaranteed spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1) starting gate to the horse with the most points. Fillies are not excluded but the rules specify connections could opt to use the invitation instead for the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Myriad Love thrashed nine colts and one other filly fairly comprehensively in the Zen-Nippon. After tracking in second place down the backstretch, jockey Atsuya Nishimura smoothly moved her to the lead turning for home exiting the left-handed turn and she quickly opened a big advantage.
Happy Man was closing late but fell three-quarters of a length short as Myriad Love finished the 1,600 meters (about one mile) on a fast track in 1:42.4.
"I was not very much sure if the distance suits her," Nishimura said, "but it proved that it was an unnecessary worry. She had a very strong run today. I settled her so that she would relax in the early going but she had a very good response. Then I let her run the way she wanted to run, and it worked well."
Myriad Love is a daughter of New Year's Day, a son of Street Cry who won the 2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) in just his third—and, thanks to a sesamoid chip, final—career start. Her dam, Ladybird, is by Smart Falcon, a grandson of Sunday Silence.
She won at first asking on the Chukyo Racecourse dirt Sept. 16 going 1,400 meters (about seven furlongs) and backed that up with a victory in the listed Edelweiss Sho at Mombetsu at 1,200 meters (about six furlongs).
Neither owner nor trainer commented on the possibility of moving forward through the series but Nishimura, understandably, was enthusiastic.
"She is a wonderful horse and she has a lot we look forward to," he said. "I would like her to be like Forever Young," third-place finisher in this year's Kentucky Derby.
Eight horses based in Japan have run in the Derby. Forever Young and T O Password, who qualified through the 2023-24 Road to the Kentucky Derby series and finished fifth at Churchill Downs, have been the most successful.
The series moves on to the Hyacinth Stakes Feb. 16 at Tokyo Racecourse with 30 points credited to the winner and concludes with the Fukuryu Stakes March 22 at Nakayama Racecourse with the winner getting 40 points. The first three races are at 1,600 meters with the Fukuryu at 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles).
