Seventh pick Fierement claimed this year’s Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), the last leg of the Triple Crown, and captured his first graded victory in his only fourth career start, to become the the Kikuka Sho champion with the least career starts. The son of Deep Impact broke his maiden in his debut start just this January and marked another win in the following Yamafuji Sho (Allowance) in April. His first grade-race challenge in the following Radio Nikkei Sho (G3) in July resulted in a runner-up effort. All his past three races were raced over 1,800 meters. This win marked trainer Takahisa Tezuka’s fourth JRA-G1 win following the 2013 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes with Asia Express. For jockey Christophe Lemaire, it was his 19th JRA-G1 title following his Shuka Sho victory with Almond Eye just a week ago and his second Kikuka Sho title following his win with Satono Diamond in 2016.
Breaking smoothly from stall 12, Fierement traveled wide, settling around eighth from the front runner Generale Uno while Etario, breaking slowly from stall 9, steadily advanced forward in the first lap to position himself behind the subsequent winner. As the field of 18 crowded together rounding the last corners, Etario, under Mirco Demuro, took a wide turn and advanced to the front entering the homestretch while Fierement threaded through the horses and exerted a powerful late charge to catch up with the Stay Gold colt in the last 200 meters. The two colts dueled fiercely to the wire with Fierement claiming the race with a photo-finish win.
“I had confidence in him as he felt good during the training. We briefly met traffic in the straight but my mount stretched really well with his bursting kick. I congratulated Mirco right after crossing the wire, thinking that we had lost, so it’s unbelievable that we were able to win the race,” commented Christophe Lemaire.
You Can Smile hugged the rails inside Fierement at the stretch in the first lap, switched to the outside in the backstretch, positioning himself behind Fierement and inside Etario. Though briefly meeting traffic at the top of the stretch, the son of King Kamehameha found a clear path and surged out with Fierement in chase of Etario but weakened in the last 100 meters to finish 1-1/2 length behind in third.
Race favorite Blast Onepiece traveled in mid-pack, switched to the outside at the backstretch, advanced through the outer route after the third corner and ran willingly but failed to threaten top three finishers, crossing the wire in fourth.
Other Horses:
5th: (18) Glory Vase—sat towards rear, showed impressive late drive after turning wide
6th: (13) Time Flyer—raced in mid-pack, turned final corner behind Etario, showed effort
7th: (17) Chardonnay Gold—ran 3rd from rear, angled wide and timed tied fastest over last 3 furlongs, belatedly
8th: (5) Epoca d’Oro—chased leaders in 3rd or 4th, ran gamely until 200m pole, outrun by rivals thereafter
9th: (4) Generale Uno—set pace, overtaken by Etario at early stretch, gradually fell back
10th: (2) Grail—settled 2nd from rear, passed tired rivals at stretch, never a threat
11th: (16) Stay Foolish—positioned towards rear, even paced and unable to reach contention
12th: (10) African Gold—raced 3-wide in mid-pack, turned to lane in good striking position, lacked needed kick
13th: (14) Grandiose—traveled in mid-division, switched to outside at early stretch, never fired
14th: (6) Meisho Tekkon—sat 5-6th, found little room at early stretch and lost momentum, faded
15th: (11) Cosmic Force—tracked leaders in 3rd or 4th, ran out of steam 300m out
16th: (1) Aithon—saved ground in mid-group, dropped back at stretch
17th: (8) Kafuji Vanguard—chased leader in 2nd, faded after final corner
18th: (15) Oken Moon—was off slow, trailed in rear, no factor
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