page_title: Shonan Pandora
section_title: 2014: three-year-old season
hierarchical_section_title: Shonan Pandora / Racing career / 2014: three-year-old season
caption_attribution_description: English: Tetsuhide-Kunimoto20110423 日本語: 国本哲秀
context_page_description: Shonan Pandora is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare, best known for her victory in the 2015 Japan Cup. After finishing second on her only start as a juvenile in 2013 the filly made steady progress in the following year and won the Grade 1 Shuka Sho on her penultimate appearance. She reached her peak in 2015 when she finished third in the Takarazuka Kinen, won the Sankei Sho All Comers and ran fourth in the Tenno Sho before defeating a strong international field to take the Japan Cup. Her performances that year saw her being awarded the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare. She was retired from racing after finishing third twice as a five-year-old.
context_section_description: Shonan Pandora recorded her first victory on her three-year-old debut when she won a maiden race over 200 metres at Kyoto Racecourse in January. She was beaten in her next four races when tried against better opposition: she finished second in the Elfin Stakes, fifth in the Grade 3 Flower Stakes, fifth in the listed Sweetpea Stakes and second in the Carnation Cup. The filly then won over 2000 metres at Niigata Racecourse in August and then ran second to Reve dEtoiles in the Listed Shion Stakes over the same course and distance.
  On 19 October at Kyoto, Shonan Pandora was one of seventeen three-year-old fillies to contest the Grade 1 Shuka Sho, the third leg of the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown. The Yushun Himba winner Nuovo Record started odds-on favourite ahead of Red Reveur (Hanshin Juvenile Fillies) with Shonan Pandora being made the 9.1/1 third choice in the betting. Ridden by Suguru Hamanaka, Shonan Pandora raced in mid-division before moving up to track the leaders on the final turn. She moved up on the inside rail to take the lead halfway down the straight and held off the late challenge of Nuovo Record to win by a neck. The winning time of 1:57.0 was a new record for the race. Explaining his tactics Hamanaka said "We got off to a very smooth start and I couldn’t have asked for a better position during the trip. We were able to turn for home without hitting a single bump. The turf on the inside was clearly faster so I was set on taking that route". He went on to say "We’ve always thought the world of her, but she matured a lot both mentally and physically over the summer. You can notice it right away in the workouts, in the races. She’s a G1 winner now so I hope she keeps racing well and lives up to that title from here on".
  On her final run of the year Shonan Pandora was matched against older fillies and mares in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Kyoto in November and finished sixth behind the four-year-old Lachesis.
caption: Shonan Pandora's owner Tetsuhide Kunimoto
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