Contrail Prevails in the Battle of the Titans

Mark Smith - Sunday April 19

The highly anticipated clash between two star three year old colts yet to taste defeat, the Deep Impact colt Contrail and the Heart’s Cry colt Salios, lived up to all expectations in an epic renewal of the Group 1 The Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (2000m) at Nakayama on Sunday.

Damian Lane was the first to make a move on Salios before Yuichi Fukunaga presented Contrail at the perfect time to edge past the Heart’s Cry colt by half a length with the Kinshasa no Kiseki colt

Galore Creek three and a half lengths back in third.

 

Making his 2020 debut, Contrail extends his winning sequence to four having been crowned the Champion 2yo colt last year with his highlight coming over the same course and distance in the Group 1 Hopeful Stakes.

By contrast all three wins by Salios at two were over 1600 metres and the last little bit may have found him out on Sunday.

Advertisement

A homebred for North Hill Farm’s Shinji Maeda, Contrail is a son of the perennial champion sire Deep Impact out of the Unbridled's Song mare Rhodochrosite, who was a $385,000 Keeneland September Sale yearling purchase by Koji Maeda, who was placed in four of her seven starts in Japan.

Rhodochrosite is a daughter of the Tiznow mare Folklore who was voted the champion American two-year-old of 2005 following her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Rhodochrosite has a yearling colt from the final full crop of Deep Impact and was covered by Heart’s Cry in 2019.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Breeding To Win – 2025 G1 Tatts Tiara
With Royal Ascot done and dusted for another year, let's turn our attention to the final G1 of the Australian racing season as some very expensive mares seek to land that elusive G1 and three runners will carry the Yulong colours!
Blueblood Filly a Third Winner for Tagaloa
Group I MRC Blue Diamond Stakes winner Tagaloa is one of the more affordable sires on the Yulong roster and he sired his third winner at Bendigo on Thursday when well bred filly Teine Aulelia made a winning debut.
Profondo Weanlings Impress
The first progeny of Windsor Park Stud stallion Profondo made a favourable impression during the NZB National Weanling Sale at Karaka on Thursday.
$190,000 Per Incanto Colt Heads Vibrant Weanling Sale
The  2025 National Weanling Sale saw its first dual-code weanling session in play at Karaka, with a total aggregate of $2,410,000 outlaid across 84 lots by a strong domestic buying bench plus international support from Australia, Hong Kong and China.
Do Early Winners Equate to Long Term Stud Success?
As we move towards the end of the racing season, attention invariably focuses on first season sires and who will be the leader of the cohort by winners and it’s a close run race this year, but does any of it matter in the grand scheme of things?
Mulberry Racing Secure Everest Slot
Racing NSW today announced that Mulberry Racing has secured a slot in the $20 million TAB Everest for a term of three years commencing with the running of this year’s race.
Kaha Nui Swoop on Pinhook Prospects
Successful pinhookers Kaha Nui Farm were to the fore at Karaka on Thursday, and were rewarded with the crown of leading buyer at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale.
$190,000 Per Incanto Colt Tops NZB Weanling Sale
Little Avondale stallion Per Incanto’s outstanding season carried on in the Karaka sale ring on Thursday, where his weanling colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 in the opening hour of the NZB National Weanling Sale.
Contrail Rises to the Occasion in Japan Cup
After the champion Deep Impact mare Gran Alegria (JPN) bowed out of racing triumphant in the Group 1 Mile Championship at Hanshin seven days back, Deep Impact’s champion son Contrail followed suit at Tokyo on Sunday with a commanding performance in the $7million Group 1 Japan Cup (2400m).
Contrail Becomes the Third Undefeated Winner of the Japanese Triple Crown
He needed to dig deep in Sunday’s Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) at Kyoto, but it was mission accomplished for the superstar Contrail who became the third undefeated Triple Crown winner in JRA history.