Christophe Lemaire
On 19 April Duramente was ridden by Mirco Demuro when he was one of fifteen colts to contest the 75th running of the Grade 1 Satsuki Sho over 2000 metres at Nakayama Racecourse. The Italian Demuro had recently become one of the first two foreign jockeys (alongside Christophe Lemaire) to receive a full license from the Japan Racing Association. Duramente started 3.6/1 third choice in the betting behind Satono Crown (also trained by Noriyuki Hori) and Real Steel. After racing towards the rear of the field he made a forward move approaching the final turn but veered left, interfering with several other horses when Demuro moved him up to challenge entering the straight. In the closing stages the colt produced a strong burst of acceleration to take the lead 100 metres from the finish and won by one and a half lengths from Real Steel with Kitasan Black two and a half lengths back in third. Demuro, who received a suspension for causing interference said, "He was easy to ride early in the race but he's very highly strung, it was his first time going right-handed and the crowd was very loud too so he may have over-reacted at the fourth corner—he gave me a bit of a fright".