Unbeaten Contrail sweeps Japanese Triple Crown

Contrail completed a sweep of the Japanese Triple Crown with a hard-fought victory in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese St. Leger at 1 7/8 miles at Kyoto Racecourse.

Ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga, Contrail (1-10) held off a sustained threat from 22-1 Aristoteles to win by a neck. The two ran together through the final furlong, and finished 3 1/2 lengths in front of Satono Flag in the field of 18.

Unbeaten in seven starts, Contrail is the third undefeated winner of the Japanese Triple Crown, preceded by Symboli Rudolf in 1984 and Deep Impact in 2005. The champion 2-year-old male of 2019 in Japan, Contrail is by Deep Impact.

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Contrail is the first winner of the Japanese Triple Crown since Orfevre in 2011.

Earlier this year, Contrail won the Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas in his 2020 debut in April and the Grade 1 Japanese Derby in May, the first two legs of the Triple Crown series. As a prep for Sunday’s Japanese St. Leger, Contrail won the Grade 2 Shimbun Hai at 1 3/8 miles at Chukyo Racecourse on Sept. 27.

Trained by Yoshiti Yahagi for owner Shinji Maeda, Contrail is out of Rhodochrosite, an Unbridled’s Song mare who was sold for $385,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2011. Rhodochrosite, who was winless in seven starts in Japan in 2012 and 2013, is out of Folklore, who won the Eclipse Award as the champion 2-year-old filly of 2005.