Japan: Embroidery will be hard to handle in Victoria Mile

Embroidery, the 2025 champion 3-year-old filly in Japan, will be difficult to defeat in Sunday’s Grade 1 Victoria Mile for fillies and mares at Tokyo Racecourse, a course she adores.

Embroidery has won 2 of 4 starts at Tokyo, including a Grade 3 at a mile in February 2025. One of the losses was a ninth-place finish in last May's Grade 1 Japanese Oaks at 1 1/2 miles, a distance arguably beyond Embroidery’s best trip.

A winner of 6 of 10 starts, Embroidery has won her last two starts in Japan – the Grade 1 Shuka Sho for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles last October and the Grade 2 Hanshin Himba Stakes at a mile at Hanshin Racecourse on April 11, her only start this year. Last December, Embroidery finished 11th of 14 against males in the Group 1 Hong King Mile at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

The $1.83 million Victoria Mile drew a field of 18. Embroidery, who will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire for trainer Kazutomo Mori, starts from post 12, which should help her stalking style.

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Kamunyak, winner of the 2025 Japanese Oaks, and Queen’s Walk, second in the 2025 Victoria Mile, are two runners capable of challenging Embroidery.

Kamunyak, a winner of 4 of 8 starts, has finished behind Embroidery in her last two races – a 16th-place finish of 18 in the Shuka Sho and a neck loss in the Hanshin Himba Stakes in her first start this year.

Queen’s Walk is winless in three starts since a win in a Grade 2 at 1 1/4 miles in March 2025. She was third by a half-length as the 5-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Kinko Sho at 1 1/4 miles at Chukyo Racecourse on March 15 in her first start of the year. In the 2025 Victoria Mile, Queen’s Walk closed from well off the pace to lose by a neck.

The Victoria Mile has a post time of 2:40 a.m. Eastern on Sunday.

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