France: Vazirabad continues rise by taking Prix Royal-Oak
A maiden race winner in July, Vazirabad won his Group 1 debut and fifth consecutive stakes in Sunday’s $385,000 Prix Royal-Oak at 1 15/16 miles on turf at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris.
Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, Vazirabad (12-5) closed from the back of a 13-horse field to take the lead in the final sixteenth. Vazirabad won by a length over Siljan’s Saga, who was eighth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse on Oct. 4.
Cirrus des Aigles, the 9-year-old gelding with 22 wins, finished fourth in the longest race of his career.
Vazirabad, a 3-year-old gelding by Manduro, races for the Aga Khan and trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre. Vazirabad, won the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay at 1 /7/8 miles on turf at Longchamp on Oct. 3, has won 5 of 7 starts in his career. He was one of two 3-year-olds in the Prix Royal-Oak field.
Japan: Kitasan Black upsets Japanese St. Leger
Kitasan Black showed on Sunday that his win in the Japanese St. Leger Trial at Nakayama Racecourse in September was not a fluke.
In his third start in a Japanese classic, Kitasan Black (12-1) scored a breakthrough win in Sunday’s $1,922,398 Japanese St. Leger at Kyoto Racecourse. Kitasan Black won the race at 1 7/8 miles on turf by a neck over 3-1 Real Steel. Lia Fail, the 2-1 favorite, was third, beaten three-quarters of a length.
Kitasan Black has won 5 of 7 starts in his career. He was third in the Japanese 2000 Guineas and 14th in the Japanese Derby earlier this year. Kitasan Black, a colt by Black Tide, is owned by Japanese pop singer Saburo Kitajima and trained by Hisashi Shimizu. Hiroshi Kitamura trains Kitasan Black.