Japan: Seiun Kosei scores in Takamatsunomiya Kinen
Seiun Kosei won the first graded stakes of his career, and sixth race overall, in Sunday’s Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs on turf at Chuyko Racecourse in Japan.
The $1.733 million race was the first Grade 1 turf race of the year in Japan.
Seiun Kosei (7-1) closed from fourth with a wide rally to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Let’s Go Donki in the field of 18. Let’s Go Donki, the winner of the Japanese 1000 Guineas in 2015, was the 4-1 second choice and finished a neck in front of Red Falx, the 5-2 favorite who won the Grade 1 Sprinters’ Stakes last fall.
Seiun Kosei, who was ridden by Hideaki Miyuki, was timed in 1:08.7 on a good turf course. Miyuki told Japan Racing Association publicity that he got to know the colt in a recent training session.
“I was told by the trainer that he handled the soft ground well,” Miyuki said. “He ran comfortably in the forward position.
“He felt really good from the beginning, and although I was afraid that I may have slipped him out too early, I believed in him and urged him to go until the wire.”
A 4-year-old colt by Admire Moon, Seiun Kosei has won 6 of 15 starts for owner Shigeyuki Nishiyama and trainer Hiroyuki Uehara. Seiun Kosei has won three of his last four starts, all in turf sprints. The only loss in that span was a second by a neck in the Grade 3 Silk Road Stakes at Kyoto on Jan. 29.