Three-Year-Old Persian Knight Reigns as Champion Miler in This Year's Mile Championship|Racing News|Japan Horse Racing Tips-Umanity.jp

Fourth pick Persian Knight claimed this year’s Mile Championship to land his first G1 and second graded victory. Scoring two wins out of three starts in his debut season as a two-year-old, he kicked off this season with a third in his first grade-race challenge in the Shinzan Kinen (G3) then registered his first graded win in the following G3 Arlington Cup. The son of Harbinger was second and seventh in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1), respectively, then switched to mile races from autumn where he was fifth in his latest start in the G3 Fuji Stakes. This win marked trainer Yasutoshi Ikee’s 19th JRA-G1 win following the Yasuda Kinen with Satono Aladdin. Jockey Mirco Demuro claimed his 24th JRA-G1 title following the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Mozu Katchan just last week while marking a tie record of six G1 annual wins with Yutaka Take (2005, 2006), Katsumi Ando (2007), Kenichi Ikezoe (2011) and Yasunari Iwata (2012).

Fourth pick Persian Knight broke sharply from the outermost stall and settled third from the rear while Maltese Apogee immediately rushed to the front to set the pace. As the field crowded in entering the lane, the dark bay colt threaded between horses and found space behind Air Spinel who had pulled away from the pack, chased the chestnut with a powerful late charge while dueling with Sungrazer and nailed the leader just before the wire for a photo-finish win.

“We were a little worried about the farthest draw but he always breaks well so we weren’t that concerned. The colt was responding really well especially around the third corner. Being still a three-year-old, he seemed a bit nervous entering the lane but ran really well to the wire. He’s a great horse,” commented Mirco Demuro.

Second pick Air Spinel was rated around eighth from the front in midfield, surged out entering the lane to take command 200 meters out and further accelerated but was unable to fend off the strong challenge by Persian Knight before the wire to succumb to second.


Seventh choice Sungrazer traveled around tenth from the front in mid-division, inside odds-on-favorite Isla Bonita. Meeting traffic entering the lane, the son of Deep Impact angled out and dueled strongly with Persian Knight in the last 100 meters but weakened in the last strides to finish half a length behind the runner-up in third.

Race favorite Isla Bonita traveled around eighth from the front, was checked at the top of the stretch but diligently chased the leaders behind Sungrazer to finish fifth.