Fine Needle gives Godolphin first big win in Japan

Fine Needle won Sunday’s Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen for turf sprinters at Chuyko Racecourse in Japan, giving Sheikh Mohammed’s world-famous Godolphin Racing its first win at the highest level of Japanese racing.

Fine Needle, the 9-2 second choice in a field of 18, is trained by Yoshitada Takahashi. The $2.053 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs was the first Grade 1 stakes win for Fine Needle, a 5-year-old Japanese-bred horse by Admire Moon.

Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has a breeding farm in Japan, where Fine Needle was bred. Fine Needle won the 2007 Japan Cup for Sheikh Mohammed.

Sheikh Mohammed’s stable previously raced under his name in Japan before a recent transfer to the Godolphin Racing name.

Ridden by Yuga Kawada, Fine Needle closed from mid-pack to win by a nose over 5-1 Let’s Go Donki, a 6-year-old mare who was second in the 2017 Takamatsunomiya Kinen. Nac Venus, a 40-1 outsider, finished third.

Red Falx, the winner of the Grade 1 Sprinters’ Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse last October, finished eighth as the 6-5 favorite, closing from the back of the field to miss by about two lengths.

Fine Needle has won 8 of 24 starts, but has not always performed at his best in top-class races. He was 12th in the Sprinters’ Stakes last October, but did win the Grade 3 Silk Road Stakes earlier this year in a prep for Sunday’s race.

Takahashi said Fine Needle will be considered for the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on April 29.