TOKYO Racecourse stages a high-class Group 1 in the Victoria Mile tomorrow for females of four years and upwards.
The all white Sodashi will be the focus of attention as she will attempt to score back-to-back victories.
Sodashi faces tough competition though. Three other runners have won Group 1s and dual classic winner Stars On Earth is her biggest rival.
Songline, winner of the 2022 Yasuda Kinen also boosts very strong form while Stunning Rose excelled in winning the Shuka Sho, and Namur, who has yet to capture a Group 1 but has been close many a time, are both formidable contenders.
The now five-year-old Sodashi is aiming for her fourth Group 1 victory and returns to the turf for the first time since late November when she finished third less than two lengths behind colts in the Group 1 Mile Championship. Sodashi has finished in the top three in all her six starts over a mile and won four of them. Damien Lane replaces regular rider Hayato Yoshida
Stars On Earth, by Duramente, has not been out of the first three in her nine career starts. Last year, she won the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), and the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), and in the third leg of the fillies’ Triple Crown, the Shuka Sho over 10 furlongs at Hanshin, she finished third, only a half-length and a nose behind Stunning Rose and Namur.
Last time out in the Group 1 Osaka Hai her late kick took her to a second-place finish only a nose behind the front runner, the five-year-old Jack d’Or.
The now five-year-old Kizuna mare Songline achieved her first Group 1 victory from a good field in the mile Yasuda Kinen last summer. She is returning from Saudi Arabia, having finished 10th in the seven-furlong Turf Sprint in February.