Durezza Dominant in Japanese St Leger

Mark Smith - Sunday October 22

Antipodean mares are enjoying a jolly old time of it of late in Japan, and the latest high-level success came at Kyoto on Sunday when Durezza, a son of More Than Ready’s Group 1 NZ Oaks heroine More Than Sacred, powered to a three and a half-length triumph in Sunday’s Group 1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger).

Advertisement

It rounded out an enormous weekend for Yulong Stud, which houses More Than Sacred, as well as the dam of Caulfield Cup hero Without A Fight.

Ridden by Christophe Lemaire for Tomohito Ozeki, the son of Duramente, was in a race of his own over the final 100m.

The Satono Crown colt Tastiera, winner of the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), was second, with the favoured Kitasan Black colt Sol Oriens, hero of the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), was a length and a half back in third.

Durezza claims the Japanese St Leger (image JRA)

“He made a flying start and was keen to go, so I decided to let him take the lead,” Christophe Lemaire said.

“He responded well between the third and last corner, which made me confident that he was going to close strongly.

“When he accelerated in the stretch, I knew we were going to win. To see him beat such a strong field today over the 3,000-meter distance means we can look forward to him doing well among Group 1 company over 2,000 and 2,400 meters also.”

Third in a Newcomers race at Nakayama at two, Durezza has reeled off five consecutive wins, but this was his first stakes.

More Than Sacred was trained by Tony Pike In NZ for Raffles Racing and spent a short time in Australia when trained by Robert Smerdon for Katsumi Yoshida.

More Than Sacred has an unraced 2-year-old filly by Real Steel named Divinest and a yearling filly by Rey De Oro.

The 14-year-old daughter of More Than Ready (USA) is now owned by Yulong Stud, who revealed she had been covered by Frankel to southern hemisphere time.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Divine Prophet’s Fortunate Kiss Captures Elusive Black Type Win
With nine top five finishes in previous black type races, it was better late than never as 6yo Divine Prophet mare Fortunate Kiss charged along the inside to win the $300,000 Listed Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday – her first black type victory.
Sweet Redemption for Stable Favourite Jimmy the Bear
Patrick and Michelle Payne enjoyed a red letter day at Flemington on Saturday with their rising star Buccleuch winning the Listed VRC Taj Rossi Series Final and then later in the day stable favourite Jimmy the Bear won the Listed VRC Winter Championship Series Final (1600m).
Kiwi Bred Good Banter Finds Winning Form
Four-year-old mare Good Banter was back in the winner’s circle when narrowly prevailing in the Catanach's Jewellers Handicap (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday for trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton.
Flemington Victory for Tarzino Mare
Quirky but talented mare Miss Tarzy has come from last win the Leilani Series Final (1400m) under a patient Jett Stanley ride.
Sires With Winners - Saturday July 5
Here is the full list of 112 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Invincible 3YO Wins G3 Winx Guineas
The $300,000 Group III Winx Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday featured a big field of 16 up and comers and following the late scratching of favourite Mister Bianco, Angela Jones took luck out of the equation on I Am Invincible gelding The Three Hundred.
Pride’s Outsider Estadio Mestalla Wins Winter Stakes
The lone stakes race on Rosehill’s ten-race card on Saturday saw Joe Pride’s race outsider Estadio Mestalla (Galileo Gold) take out the $200,000 Listed ATC Winter Stakes (1400m) in a boilover.
Snitzel Filly Bridal Waltz Wins A.R. Creswick Stakes
While many felt the winner of Saturday’s Listed $175,000 VRC A.R. Creswick Stakes (1200m) had raced two weeks prior in the Shop Flemington Handicap (1100m) – and they would’ve been correct – but it was not the result many punters felt it would be!
Marble Nine Brings Up Second SW For Aquis Sire Kobayashi
The withdrawal of the top weight in Saturday’s $175,000 Listed VRC Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final (1200m) at Flemington saw the field down to just six, with Marble Nine continuing his outstanding recent form to secure his first black type victory.
Buccleuch - First Stakes-Winner for Peltzer
The $175,000 Listed VRC Taj Rossi Series Final (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday was won back in 2020 by Cherry Tortoni, who went to on to become a multiple Group winner of nearly $1million and the same colours were carried by this year’s winner Buccleuch.