Three Japanese tracks offer high-class races this weekend as on Saturday; the Nakayama Racecourse welcomes the G3 Nakayama Himba Stakes participants, where older fillies and mares will meet at the distance of a mile and a furlong. On Sunday, three-year-old fillies will head to the G2 Fillies’ Revue at the Hanshin track, while some brilliant older horses are about to line up for the G2 Kinko Sho at the Chukyo Racecourse.
Nakayama Himba Stakes
This G3 race is open to four-year-old fillies and older mares who will clash on the turf surface while covering the distance of a mile and a furlong. With the purse of 72,800,000 Yen being up for grabs, 16 participants are about to line up here, including Fairy Polka, who scored the race in 2020, she doesn’t belong among victory candidates this time, though.
There are plenty of contestants who could strike gold here as several fillies and mares have decent results under their belts, but in terms of form, it’d make sense to stick with five-year-old Ruby Casablanca. The Naosuke Sugai bound mare has been a very consistent performer for the connections, while in 2021, she climbed up from smaller races to a Graded Stakes victory, to which she added a G3 win in January. She triumphed narrowly but defeated some fine G3 mares.
Donna Attraente has hit the track in 2022 as well, finishing fifth in the G3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai; moreover, she took second at the G2 stage in October. Still, she doesn’t pose as the most reliable participant in the field as in December; she utterly failed to deliver in another G3 event where Miss New York didn’t give her a chance. Both of them are considered here, which also applies to Ablaze, Shamrock Hill, and Terzetto , who has performed well at the G3 stage.
Our Nakayama Himba Stakes betting pick is:
Ruby Casablanca because she’s shown to be in fine form in 2022 and should benefit from the previous start.
| Horse | Jockey | Horse Racing Odds courtesy of JazzSports |
| Rose Amour | H.Kitamura | +4000 |
| Sing for You | K.Tosaki | +1200 |
| Miss New York | M.Demuro | +350 |
| Donna Attraente | T.Yokoyama | +900 |
| Juranville | F.Matsuwaka | +6000 |
| Cool Cat | T.Ono | +1200 |
| Shamrock Hill | T.Danno | +2000 |
| Gold Berg | A.Tsumura | +800 |
| Terzetto | H.Tanabe | +500 |
| Rosa Noir | K Tanaka | +1200 |
| Ruby Casablanca | Y.Take | +400 |
| Smile Kana | D.Shibata | +2000 |
| Slyly | Y.Ishikawa | +3000 |
| Ablaze | A.Sugawara | +2500 |
| Fairy Polka | K.Miura | +1200 |
| Kurino Premium | M.Matsuoka | +5000 |
Kinko Sho
The G2 turf race often attracts a very classy field, which is the case of the 2022 edition, too. Thirteen four-year-old and older horses are about to cover the distance of a mile and a quarter on the turf surface while vying for the purse of 129,040,000 Yen.
Once again, it could be useful to focus on horses that have already hit the track in 2022, so we should mention Gibeon, who won this race in 2021. He’s about to face a rather compelling competition, including Sanrei Pocket trained by Yoshitada Takahashi. The seven-year-old participant displayed some class in the past years when collecting fine places at the Graded scene, however, it seems as he reached the peak of his career in 2021 when Sanrei Pocket won his first G3 race in front of Potager.
During autumn, he finished fourth in the G1 Tenno Sho and Japan Cup and especially the second form got a great boot after Authority, second in the Japan Cup, won a rich race in Riyadh. In the new season, Sanrei Pocket took third place in a G2 event and suggested he could continue in his great efforts also in 2022.
The other mentioned duo of older horses can have a say here, too; however, the race attracted some strong older mares that met up in the G1 Queen Elizabeth 2 Cup. Surprisingly, Akai Ito scored the race in November and subsequently finished seventh in the Arima Kinen.
To some extent, her victory could still be perceived as a fluke, so both Akai Ito and second Stellaria need to prove that they are capable of delivering consistently good results at the G2 stage at least to play an impactful role in the Kinko Sho. Soft Fruit took fourth place in the Queen Elizabeth 2 Cup, while Lei Papale was sixth, recording the same place in the G1 Hong Kong Cup.
Although Rambling Alley was second behind Gran Alegria in the G1 Victoria Mile in May, her following results didn’t indicate she should belong among the favourites for Sunday’s race. As the field is so competitive, we might mention four-year-old Jack d’Or as well, given he’s about to face the Graded company for the first after bagging a Listed victory. There definitely should be some room for improvement.
Our Kinko Sho top betting pick is:
Sanrei Pocket, who is a hard trying specimen capable of winning a G2 race. He might not be as classy as some of the mares heading into the race, but honestly, their forms are so unpredictable that sticking with an old veteran seems more reasonable here.
| Horse | Jockey | Horse Racing Odds courtesy of JazzSports |
| Shonan Bardi | Y.Iwata | +2500 |
| Gibeon | A.Nishimura | +10000 |
| Jack d’Or | Y.Fujioka | +120 |
| Soft Fruit | M.Iwata | +2000 |
| Potager | H.Yoshida | +800 |
| Akai Ito | H.Miyuki | +1200 |
| Shadow Diva | Y.Fukunaga | +1600 |
| Arata | T.Ono | +2000 |
| Sifflement | K.Ogino | Scratched |
| Lei Papale | Y.Kawada | +300 |
| Stellaria | K. Matsuyama | +1200 |
| Rambling Alley | K.Fujioka | +1300 |
| Sanrei Pocket | K. Sameshima | +600 |
The Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue
The G2 turf race is meant only for three-year-old fillies who will line up at the distance of seven furlongs. The purse of 100,540,000 Yen attracted a field of fifteen contestants, including some with the G1 experience.
We’re talking mainly about Namura Clair, who finished fifth in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in December, and because the victress of the race placed third in last weekend’s Classic trial, Namura Clair seems to have a solid chance on Sunday. It definitely suggested the form wasn’t bad at all, so after bagging a G3 victory in September, the Kodai Hasegawa trained filly could add another Graded triumph to her record, given she should also benefit from the shorter trip than last time out.
In the mentioned G1 race, Kimiwa Queen and Anegohada failed to impress but have some alright G3 experience under their belts, while the latter scored a Class 1 race in February, so there’s some form about her, too. Sri Pada finished second in a G3 race Namira Clair scored, while Conch Pearl won a Class 1 race in February, and T M Spada looks promising as well after her triumph in Kokura in a Stakes race at the distance of six furlongs.
Our top choice for the Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue is: Namura Clair due to her fine experience with the G1 company.
| Horse | Jockey | Horse Racing Odds courtesy of JazzSports |
| Advice | R.Wada | +3800 |
| Namura Clair | S.Hamanaka | -110 |
| My Symphony | Y.Take | +450 |
| Sublime Anthem | K.Ikezoe | +750 |
| Loveliness Over | F.Matsuwaka | +2500 |
| Anegohada | M.Sakai | +1200 |
| Conch Pearl | F.Izumiya | +7500 |
| T M Spada | K.Kokubun | +400 |
| Bush Garden | A.Tomita | +7500 |
| Kimiwa Queen | H.Uchida | +7500 |
| Zero Dragon | N.Yokoyama | Scratched |
| Sri Pada | R.Sakai | +2500 |
| Sound Clare | T.Danno | +2500 |
| Willin’ | Y.Hishida | +3700 |
| Motivation | T.Akiyama | Scratched |
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