Erika Vita steps up in Japanese Oaks

The Japanese stakes-winning filly Erika Vita may have a slight edge over her high-profile rivals in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese Oaks at Tokyo Racecourse.

A winner of 2 of 3 starts, Erika Vita has yet to run in a Grade 1 race, but did win the Grade 2 Flora Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on April 24 at Tokyo in a prep for the $2.39 million Japanese Oaks at 1 1/2 miles. This is a new distance for all 18 fillies in the Japanese Oaks, with several prominent runners racing beyond a mile for the first time.

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Erika Vita, by King Kamehameha, is trained by Sakae Kuneida and has closed from off the pace in her two wins, including a one-mile race at Tokyo last October.

“Her career is still young, and she’s not experienced compared to the others,” Kuneida told Japan Racing Association publicists earlier this week. “But she was regarded highly from before her debut. If she can move up gradually and end with a strong drive, she’ll be able to stay the distance.”

Erika Vita will be ridden for the first time by Yuichi Fukunaga, who has won two Grade 1 races in Japan this year, including the 2000 Guineas with Geoglyph.

In the Japanese Oaks, a race formally known as the Yushun Himba, Kuneida also starts leading contender Circle of Life, the Japanese champion 2-year-old filly of 2021. Circle of Life is winless in two starts this year, including a fourth behind Stars on Earth in the Grade 1 Japanese 1000 Guineas at a mile at Hanshin Racecourse on April 10. Circle of Life closed from well off the pace in that race.

Stars on Earth won her first stakes in the 1000 Guineas. It was her second win in her sixth start. She won a maiden race at 1 1/8 miles at Tokyo Racecourse last October.

Water Navillera, second by a nose in the 1000 Guineas, and Namur, 10th as the favorite in the 1000 Guineas, can win. Namur was beaten for the second time in her fifth start in the 1000 Guineas. Fourth behind Circle of Life in the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last December, Namur won her 2022 debut in the Grade 2 Tulip Sho Stakes at a mile at Hanshin in March.

Post time for the Japanese Oaks is 2:40 a.m. Eastern on Sunday or 11:40 p.m. Pacific on Saturday.