Major Emblem tops Japanese 1000 Guineas

Major Emblem, the Japanese champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, tries to win the second Grade 1 race of her career in Sunday’s $1,840,800 Japanese 1000 Guineas at Hanshin Racecourse.

Major Emblem is part of a field of 18 in the Grade 1 Japanese 1000 Guineas, run at a mile on turf on a right-handed track. Trained by Yasuhito Tamura for Sunday Racing Co., Major Emblem, by Daiwa Major, has won 4 of 5 starts in her career. She finished her 2-year-old season with a victory in the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last December, a race that plays a pivotal role in championship voting.

Major Emblem won her 2016 debut in the Grade 3 Daily Hai Queen Cup at a mile on turf at Tokyo Racecourse on Feb. 13. Christophe Lemaire has the mount on Major Emblem on Sunday.

Win Fabulous and Blanc Bonheur, who were second and third in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, are part of Sunday’s field. The field includes the first three finishers of the Grade 3 Tulip Sho Stakes at a mile on turf at Hanshin on March 5 – Sinhalite, Jeweler, and Lavender Valley.

Sinhalite, by Deep Impact, is unbeaten in three starts, all for U. Carrot Farm and Sei Ishizaka. The filly has a pedigree with an American background. Her dam, Singhalese, won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in 2005 when trained by Jim Cassidy. Singhalese was sold for $1.9 million to Katsumi Yoshida at the 2007 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Three other prominent runners in the field are Solveig, At the Seaside and Candy Barrows, the first three finishers of the Grade 2 Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue Stakes at seven furlongs on turf at Hanshin on March 13.

The lone American-bred in 1000 Guineas is G Plumeria, a Kentucky-bred by Street Sense who was purchased for $200,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale. G Plumeria, who races for Capital System Co. and trainer Katsumi Minai, has won 2 of 5 starts. The Japanese Oaks will be her Grade 1 debut.