The lone three-year-old sent into battle against the elders in Saturday’s $1,726,000 Group II The Sapporo Kinen (2000m), glamour filly Sodashi was flushed out to take the lead at the 600m and did not look back.
The snow-white daughter of Kurofune bounced back from her first defeat in six starts when unplaced behind Uberleben (Gold Ship) in the Group 1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) over 2400m at Tokyo on May 23.
With Hayato Yoshida in the saddle, the Naosuke Sugai-trained filly was content to lob along behind Taurus Gemini for the first part of the race. When Yasunari Iwata made a lightning mid-race move on Blast Onepiece, it forced Yoshida’s hand.
Vigorously ridden before the home turn, Sodashi held on bravely to turn back the challenge of the favourite Loves Only You (Deep Impact) by three-quarters of a length with Persian Knight (Harbinger) a head back in third.
There will be few more competitive Group II’s around this season, with the first three proven Group 1 performers.
Sodashi advances her record to six wins from seven starts.
The Champion 2YO Filly in Japan in 2020, Sodashi is the first foal of the King Kamehameha mare Buchiko, a three-quarter sister to Group III winner Hayayakko and a half-sister to triple Listed stakes winner Yukichan (Kurofune), the granddam of Group II winner Meikei Yell (Mikki Isle).
