Ascoli Piceno remained unbeaten after three starts with a stakes-record performance in the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at a mile on turf at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan on Sunday.
The victory in the $863,300 race assures Ascoli Piceno of the 2-year-old filly championship.
Ridden by Hiroshi Kitamura, Ascoli Piceno ($10.90 in American pools) closed from the middle of a field of 18 to lead in the final sixteenth, holding off a late threat from 7-1 Stellenbosch to win by a neck.
Golden Sixty was the horse of the day but the Hong Kong Cup was the race of the day, local hero Romantic Warrior edging Luxembourg by a nose in the Group 1 fixture Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse.
The Japanese 7-year-old Hishi Iguazu, second in the 2021 Cup, also was part of a three-horse photo finish, falling a neck short of the top two.
Romantic Warrior won the $4.61 million Cup for the second year in a row, while the Aidan O’Brien-trained, Ryan Moore-ridden Luxembourg nearly became the 2,000-meter race’s first European winner since Snow Fairy in 2010.
Reasonable critiques can be applied to Golden Sixty’s status as an historically great horse. He never has raced outside Hong Kong, nor has the level of his competition always been elite. But that Golden Sixty, to whatever extent, is great seems undeniable at this point. On Sunday at Sha Tin, he won the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile for the third time and did so with a breathtaking turn of foot and under difficult conditions.
The benefit of a recent prep race may help October Revolution overcome a hefty weight assignment in a five-furlong handicap at Tuncurry Racecourse in Australia on Sunday evening.
A winner of 3 of 19 starts, with six second-place finishes, October Revolution finished third by slightly more than a half-length in a handicap at 6 1/4 furlongs at Taree on Nov. 27 in his first start since late August.
October Revolution fought for the lead in the final sixteenth, but could not keep pace with race winner Obelius, who carried 11 fewer pounds.
The foundations are in place. The Japanese 2-year-old fillies Ascoli Piceno, Corazon Beat, and Culture Day have all won at least twice, and are graded stakes winners.
One of them could become a Grade 1 winner in Sunday’s $863,300 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at a mile on turf at Hanshin Racecourse. The race drew a full field of 18, all Japanese-breds.
The French-bred gelding Aristonous has had a diverse career in 11 starts since October 2021.
Aristonous won his fourth start in France in early 2022 and later that year was third in a hurdle race at about 2 1/4 miles at Fontwell Park in Britain.
Since June, Aristonous has run in flat races in Australia, with success. He won his first two starts in the country in June, and appears well-placed in his first start since early August in the Nowra Cup at tiny Nowra Racecourse on Saturday evening.
From one lucrative mile handicap to another, the New Zealand-bred gelding Detonator Jack is finishing 2023 in the best form of his career in Australia.
A 5-year-old, Detonator Jack won the richest race of his career in the $650,600 The Gong Stakes at a mile at Kembla Grange Racecourse on Nov. 25 by 2 1/4 lengths.
He can win a bigger prize in the Group 2 Ingham Handicap, a $1.32 million race at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Friday evening.
Romantic Warrior on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse will be favored to become just the second two-time winner of the Group 1, $4.61 million Hong Kong Cup.
He’ll be hard-pressed to top his 2022 performance, a 4 1/2-length blowout while facing 11 rivals, but Romantic Warrior appears to be just as good now as he was a year ago.
