FROM: Media & Publicity Department, THE JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION (JRA)DATE: April 7, 2024

SUBJECT: RESULTS OF THE 84TH OKA SHO (JAPANESE 1000 GUINEAS, G1)
The Oka Sho, which is the first of the five JRA Classics held during the year, determines the champion
three-year-old filly possessing the fastest speed running over 1,600 meters and serves as an opportunity toscout potential broodmare talents. The Japanese equivalent to the One Thousand Guineas originated inEngland, the Oka Sho was first held at Nakayama Racecourse in Chiba, run over 1,800 meters and under
the name “Nakayama Yonsai Himba Tokubetsu”, then changed its distance and venue under the newname, “Oka Sho” (Oka, meaning cherry flower which is in full bloom at this time of the season). With theentire graded races opening its doors to foreign-trained horses in 2010, the three-year-old Classics
including this race entered a new phase with international G1 status. While speed is a much required
ability to win this race, the extension of the homestretch as well as a deeper turf surface and an uphill
stretch at Hanshin after the track renovation in 1991 has added “stamina” as an added qualification—anewly added outside turf track further extended the homestretch in 2006.
The Oka Sho, together with the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1, 2,400m) and the Shuka Sho (G1,2,000m), is also widely considered as the fillies’ version of the “Triple Crown”, a title which has been
claimed by seven fillies in the past including Almond Eye (JPN, by Lord Kanaloa) who concluded herstellar career with her ninth G1 triumph in the 2020 Japan Cup (G1, 2,400m), Daring Tact (JPN, byEpiphaneia) who became the first undefeated filly to complete the sweep in 2020, and Liberty Island (JPN,by Duramente) last year.
This year’s Oka Sho field featured 2023 Best Two-Year-Old Filly Ascoli Piceno and Stellenbosch, thetwo top finishers in last year’s Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1,600m), as well as Artemis Stakes (G3,1,600m) winner Cervinia, all of whom made their three-year-old debut in this classics’ G1 race. Those
who earned tickets to run by their endeavors in trial races were Sweep Feet, Sekitoba East andHawaiian Tiare, the top three finishers in that order in the Tulip Sho (G2, 1,600m, Mar.2); winner
Catfight and runner-up Teumessa in the Anemone Stakes (Listed, 1,600m, Mar.10); and Etes Vous
Prets, Corazon Beat and Cecilie Plage, the top three dominating the Fillies’ Revue (G2, 1,400m,Mar.10). The field also included Ipheion, Light Back and Queen’s Walk, respective winners of theFairy Stakes (G3, 1,600m, Jan.7), the Elfin Stakes (Listed, 1,600m, Feb.3) and the Queen Cup (G3,1,600m, Feb.10).
THE 84TH OKA SHO (JAPANESE 1000 GUINEAS, G1)3-year-olds, Fillies, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Hanshin Racecourse
11th Race
Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 302,400,000 (about US$ 2,145,000 <US$1=¥141>)
3-y-o: 55kg (about 121 lbs), 2kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2021
Course Record: 1:31.1
Race Record: 1:31.1 [Sodashi (JPN, by Kurofune), 2021]
Safety factor: 18 runners
Going: Good to Firm
Weather: FineFP

BKPP

HorseJockey

1612

Stellenbosch (JPN)
Joao Moreira259

Ascoli Piceno (JPN)
Hiroshi Kitamura

3611

Light Back (JPN)
Ryusei Sakai

447

Sweep Feet (JPN)
Yutaka Take

5715

Etes Vous Prets (IRE)
Katsuma Sameshima

S&AColor
Wgt

F3b.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3ch.
55.0
F3g.

Odds
(Fav)

Margin(L3F)

4.3(2)

1:32.2(33.4)

3.5
(1)

3/4(33.5)

14.6(7)Neck(32.8)

11.4
(6)
61.8
(9)

Sire
Dam(Dam’s Sire)

Owner
BreederTrainer

1/2(33.0)

Epiphaneia
Bloukrans(Rulership)
Daiwa Major
Ascolti(Danehill Dancer)
KizunaIn The Spotlight(Exceed And Excel)
Suave Richard
Bijou Tosho(Deep Sky)

Katsumi Yoshida
Northern Farm
Sakae Kunieda
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Yoichi Kuroiwa
Kazuhiro Masuda
Lake Villa FarmTaiki Chaki
YGG Horse Club Co., Ltd.
Seishindai Stud Ranch
Yasushi Shono

Neck(34.2)

Too Darn Hot
Nahoodh

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohd
Al Maktoum

(Clodovil)

55.0

611

Wide Latour (JPN)
Yuichi Kitamura

7510

Sekitoba East (JPN)
Yusuke Fujioka

812

Queen's Walk (JPN)
Yuga Kawada

9713Teumessa (JPN)
Mirai Iwata

1036

Hawaiian Tiare (JPN)
Kenichi Ikezoe

1123

Ipheion (JPN)
Atsuya Nishimura

1235

Chicago Sting (JPN)
Suguru Hamanaka

13818

Cervinia (JPN)
Bauyrzhan Murzabayev

14817

Mask All Win (JPN)
Akihide Tsumura

15816

Cecilie Plage (JPN)
Mirco Demuro

1648

Corazon Beat (JPN)
Takeshi Yokoyama

17714

Shonan Manuela (JPN)
Yasunari Iwata

1824

Catfight (JPN)
Kohei Matsuyama

F3b.
55.0
F3b.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3ch.
55.0
F3g.
55.0F3g.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3b.
55.0
F3ch.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3ch.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0
F3d.b.
55.0

208.5
(16)

Neck(33.5)

80.2
(10)

1-1/2(34.4)

5.7
(3)

Neck(34.1)

147.1
(15)

Nose(33.7)

102.6
(12)

Neck(33.7)

31.1
(8)

Head(34.2)

215.2
(17)

1-1/2
(34.6)

6.1
(4)

1-1/2
(34.8)

109.4(13)

Neck(34.2)

122.2
(14)

Neck(34.4)

California Chrome
Wide Sapphire(Agnes Tachyon)
Declaration of War
Barefoot Lady
(Footstepsinthesand)
KizunaWavell Avenue(Harlington)
Harbinger
Prokris(King Kamehameha)
Lord Kanaloa
Moani Ke'ala(Manhattan Cafe)
Epiphaneia
Ichiokuno Hoshi(Zenno Rob Roy)
Logotype
Multi Screen(Screen Hero)
Harbinger
Cecchino(King Kamehameha)
Drefong
Chica Alegre(Heart's Cry)
Bricks and Mortar
At the Seaside(King Kamehameha)

7.7
(5)

3/4
(35.0)

Suave Richard
Le Ciel d'Or
(Orfevre)

340.2
(18)

2-1/2
(35.9)

99.1
(11)

1/2
(35.6)

Just a Way
Diagonal Cloth(Symboli Kris S)
Discreet Cat
Flammable(Pyro)

GodolphinKenichi Fujioka
Masanobu Habata
Masanobu Habata
Hideaki Fujiwara
TN Racing
Taihei Stud Farm Co. Ltd
Hirofumi Shii
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Mitsumasa Nakauchida
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Racing
Takashi Kanari
Nagoya Yuho Co., Ltd.
Nagoyayuho Co., Ltd.
Mikio Matsunaga
Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.
Shadai Farm
Yoshiaki Sugiyama
Hiroshi Tsujikawa
Shadai Farm
Yasushi Shono
Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.
Northern Farm
Tetsuya Kimura
Miya Racing
Shadai Farm
Koji Maki
Teruya Yoshida
Shadai Farm
Naoya Nakamura
Thoroughbred Club RuffianCo., Ltd.
Big Red Farm
Shizuya Kato
Tetsuhide Kunimoto
Tetsuhide Kunimoto
Tomokazu Takano
Godolphin
Godolphin
Hiroyuki Uehara

FP: Final Position / BK: Bracket Number / PP: Post Position / S&A: Sex & Age / Wgt: Weight (kg) / L3F: Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m)
Color: b.=bay / bl.=black / br.=brown / ch.=chestnut / d.b.=dark bay / d.ch.=dark chestnut / g.=gray / w.=white
NOTE 1: No Foreign Contenders.
NOTE 2: Figures quoted under Odds are shown in form of decimal odds (single unit is ¥100), and Fav indicates the order of favorites.

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 17,999,121,200
Pay-off (for ¥100)
Win No.12
No.12
Place
No.9
No.11

¥ 430
¥ 150
¥ 140
¥ 340

Bracket Quinella
Quinella Place

Turnover for the Day: ¥ 27,463,912,800

5-6
9-12
11-12
9-11

¥ 560
¥ 280
¥ 970
¥ 940

Quinella
ExactaTrio
Trifecta

Attendance: 34,233

9-12
12-9
9-11-1212-9-11¥ 620¥ 1,240¥ 3,260¥ 11,470

Winner= 5 starts: 3 wins & 2 seconds / Added & stakes money: ¥ 166,628,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 215,468,000

Stellenbosch Conquers Oka Sho—First Leg of Fillies’ Triple Crown
Second favorite Stellenbosch used her signature late speed to claim this year’s Oka Sho in her
three-year-old debut and scored her first G1 triumph. After breaking her maiden in her debut start last
July (Sapporo, 1,800m), she was a close second in the Saffron Sho (Nakayama, 1 Win Class, 1,600m) inOctober before notching her second win in the Akamatsu Sho (Tokyo, 1 Win Class, 1,600m) thatNovember. The filly went on to land a neck-second behind winner Ascoli Piceno in the Hanshin JuvenileFillies (Hanshin, G1, 1,600m) the next month. Trainer Sakae Kunieda took home his 22nd JRA-G1 title,
his first since the 2021 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies with Circle of Life, and his third Oka Sho victory—hisfirst with Apapane in 2010 and then with Almond Eye in 2018. For jockey Joao Moreira, who is riding inJapan under a short-term license since April 6, this is his second G1 victory since the 2018 Queen
Elizabeth II Cup with Lys Gracieux.
A touch late out of stall 12, Stellenbosch was sent to settle a half-length behind rival Ascoli Piceno in
mid-pack while the field was led by Shonan Manuela. Making a wide move into the lane, the daughterof Epiphaneia slipped in front of Ascoli Piceno and with a good turn of foot, stormed down the straightpinning the brief leader Etes Vous Prets running on the rails in the last 100 meters while holding off thetenacious race favorite and hard-closing Light Back that followed.
“She didn’t jump very well but she did nothing wrong during the race—she was very impressive. Whenwe were approaching the home turn, we were trapped but as we passed by the 500-meter marker, we wereable to split horses. She went up front a little bit too early and I was worried she couldn’t sustain her
speed all the way to the end but as all good horses, she has proved to be capable and has given me mysecond G1 win in Japan which will be in my heart forever,” commented Joao Moreira in the interview
after the race.
2023 Best Two-Year-Old Filly and race favorite Ascoli Piceno took a wide trip throughout in mid-pack,entered the stretch a beat behind the eventual winner and strived to keep up but finished second 3/4 length
behind while fending off the late charge by Light Back.
Sent off seventh pick, Light Back was eased back to settle second from the rear and after circling wide
into the stretch, launched the fastest late drive but had too much ground to cover, finishing a neck behind
the runner-up in third.
Other Horses:
4th: (7) Sweep Feet—trailed in rear, angled out around 200m pole, showed belated charge
5th: (15) Etes Vous Prets—chased leader in 2nd, took command 300m out, weakened in last 100m
6th: (1) Wide Latour—traveled around 13th, circled wide, showed effort
7th: (10) Sekitoba East—prominent around 3rd, showed tenacity until 200m out
8th: (2) Queen’s Walk—hugged rails around 8th, rallied for lead until 100m out
9th: (13) Teumessa—raced around 13th, angled out at early stretch, lacked needed kick
10th: (6) Hawaiian Tiare—ran in 16th, passed tired rivals, needed more
11th: (3) Ipheion—positioned around 8th, showed brief effort, even paced in last 200m
12th: (5) Chicago Sting—sat 3-wide around 6th, failed to respond at stretch
13th: (18) Cervinia—advanced to 6th from widest stall, met traffic before 200m pole
14th: (17) Mask All Win—raced wide in 15th, unable to reach contention
15th: (16) Cecilie Plage—traveled 3-wide around 11th, never fired at stretch
16th: (8) Corazon Beat—keen to go, tracked leaders around 3rd, remained in contention until 200m pole
17th: (14) Shonan Manuela—set pace, dropped back after surrendering lead
18th: (4) Catfight—chased leaders around 3rd, found little room at early stretch, faded after 300m out
Fractional time (sec./furlong): 12.5 - 10.8 - 11.2 - 11.8 - 11.8 - 11.4 - 11.2 - 11.5
Last 4 furlongs: 45.9
Last 3 furlongs: 34.1
Positions at each corner:

3rd corner
4th corner

14,15(4,8,10)(5,18)(2,3,9)(12,16)(1,13)17,6,11,7
14,15(4,10)(8,5,18)(2,3,12,9)(1,13,16)(6,17)7,11

NOTE 1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse.
NOTE 2: Horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more horses inside
the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse numbers indicate that there isdistance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.