Let's Go Donki leads throughout to capture Japanese 1000 Guineas

Let’s Go Donki led throughout Sunday’s $1,533,842 Japanese 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies at Hanshin Racecourse, the first leg of the year-long Japanese Triple Crown.

Ridden by Yasunari Iwata for trainer Tomoyuki Umeda, Let’s Go Donki (9-1) won by four lengths over the 22-1 Culminar, who finished three-quarters of a length in front of the 26-1 Contessa Thule in third. Rouge Buck, the 3-5 favorite, could only finish ninth, her first loss in four starts.

Two other fillies were beaten for the first time in their fourth career starts: Queens Ring (8-1) was fourth, while Cat Coin (17-1) finished seventh.

Let’s Go Donki, by the Kingmambo stallion King Kamehameha, has won 2 of 6 starts for owner Toshihiro Hirosaki. The filly was second in the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last December. She was third in the Grade 3 Tulip Sho in March in a prep for the 1000 Guineas.

The Triple Crown for fillies continues with the Japanese Oaks at Tokyo on May 24 and the Shuka Sho at Kyoto on Oct. 18.