Takarazuka Kinen (Group 1)

THE was a shock win in the big Japanese Group 1 last weekend when Blow The Horn made a Grade 1 breakthrough in the Takarazuka Kinen over 11 furlongs at Kyoto on Sunday.

On soft ground and in rainy conditions, the five-year-old was settled towards the rear under Akira Sugawara from stall 12, as Karate went forward, before Rouge Eveil took up the running out of the home straight.

Sol Oriens, one of the favourites who won last year’s Japanese 2000 Guineas, was raced towards the middle of the pack with Deep Bond, while the favourite Do Deuce was held up alongside Blow The Horn.

The Tatsuya Yoshioka-trained Blow The Horn came with a sustained run on the outside of the 13-runner field to come through to win by a comfortable two lengths, with Sol Oriens in second and Bellagio Opera in third.

The winner is a five-year-old son of Epiphaneia.

“We were able to win the race because the horse ran really hard despite the heavy going,” Sugawara said to media afterwards. “Although we were positioned further back than planned and took the widest route, the horse seemed to have plenty of strength left when we turned the fourth corner. I urged him to go at the stretch and he responded with a remarkable turn of speed.”

Blow The Horn had previously won the Group 2 Nikkei Shinshun Hai at the track in January before being placed twice behind T O Royal in the Group 2 Hanshin Daishoten and two-mile Group 1 Tenno Sho (Spring) in April.

The win earns him a place in both the Breeders’ Cup Turf and the Cox Plate.