Isla Bonita wins third consecutive graded stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Isla Bonita won his third consecutive graded stakes in Sunday’s $1,973,447 Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse, a victory likely to lead to a start in the Japanese Derby at Tokyo Racecourse on June 1.

Isla Bonita, the 4-1 second choice, won the Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas by 1 1/4 lengths over 5-2 favorite To the World. Win Full Bloom, a 23-1 shot, was third in the field of 18. Isla Bonita rallied from mid-pack to reach contention in early stretch. Ridden by Masoyashi Ebina, Isla Bonita took the lead in the final furlong.

The Japanese 2000 Guineas was run over 1 1/4 miles, a different distance than most guineas races around the world, which are run over a mile.

Isla Bonita, a winner of five of six starts, races for Shadai Race Horse Co. and trainer Hironori Kurita. The colt is by the Sunday Silence stallion Fuji Kiseki and is out the Cozzene mare Isla Cozzene.

A 12-year-old, Isla Cozzene was bred in Kentucky and won 2 of 11 starts and $214,205 racing in the U.S. in 2005. Isla Cozzene won the Hawthorne Oaks and was second in the Grade 2 Mrs Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs in her final start.

Isla Cozzene was purchased for $77,000 by Nobuo Tsunoda at the 2009 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.