Duramente bested a number of proven grade-race winners in the first leg of the three-year-old Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), to claim his first G1 title and grade-race victory. Missing by half a length to Real Steel in his previous start, the Kyodo News Service Hai (G3, 1,800m), the King Kamehameha colt turned the tables this time, giving his trainer Noriyuki Hori his first Classic title and sixth G1 title (JRA only) overall—the last being in the 2012 Yasuda Kinen with Strong Return although Hori has saddled Real Impact to victory in the George Ryder Stakes in Australia last month—while jockey Mirco Demuro claimed his first G1 victory since becoming a regular JRA jockey in March this year. Demuro’s G1 victory count has totaled to 11 among which four are titles claimed in the Satsuki Sho which places him as the only jockey to have won as many Satsuki Sho titles. Sent to post third choice in his first start going right-handed after two wins and two seconds out of four career starts, all at Tokyo Racecourse, Duramente was unhurried early, traveling near the rails about three horses from the rear and gradually made headway approaching the last corner. As Mirco Demuro attempted to slightly angle his horse to the outside for a clear path, the highly-strung colt took him by surprise and literally jumped way out, causing some interference to his foes which led to Mirco’s suspension until May 3 while losing a fair amount of ground himself, but made up for that and then some with an explosive turn of foot which instantly carried him to contention and in level with the leaders with a little less than 100 meters to go. In an instant he had drawn away for a 1-1/2-length victory. “He felt good in his workout before this race and I thought he felt very much like Neo Universe (with whom he won the 2003 Satsuki Sho). He was easy to ride early in the race but he’s very highly strung, it was his first time going right-handed and the crowd was very loud too so he may have over-reacted at the fourth corner—he gave me a bit of a fright. We’ll have to work on that towards the Derby but he certainly is a very strong colt,” commented Mirco Demuro. Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1) The Satsuki Sho, which is the first of the three legs of JRA’s Triple Crown Classics for three-year-olds including the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m), is comparable to British Two Thousand Guineas. The “Yokohama Norinsho Shoten Yonsai Yobiuma”, the precursor of the Satsuki Sho, was first run over 1,850 meters at Yokohama Racecourse in 1939 then moved its venue to Tokyo Racecourse four years later before given its current name and shifted again to Nakayama Racecourse in 1949—the distance was also altered to 2,000 meters in the following year. Recent winners of the Satsuki Sho include subsequent JRA Award winners such as Victoire Pisa (JPN, by Neo Universe) whose success in the 2010 Satsuki Sho, the 2010 Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m) and the 2011 Dubai World Cup (G1, AW, 2,000m) earned him two consecutive JRA Awards—Best Three-Year-Old Colt in 2010 and Best Older Colt or Horse in 2011, and Orfevre (JPN, by Stay Gold) who was named 2011 Horse of the Year for his achievement in sweeping all three Triple Crown titles—the first since Deep Impact (JPN, Sunday Silence) in 2005—as well as the Arima Kinen title that year. He also finished second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1, 2,400m) in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 winner Gold Ship (JPN, by Stay Gold) also became the 2012 Best Three-Year-Old Colt by capturing the Kikuka Sho as well as the Arima Kinen against older horses the same year. Last year’s Best Two-Year-Old Colt and 2014 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, 1,600m) winner Danon Platina had come off a third-place finish in his three-year-old debut, the Spring Stakes (G2, 1,800m) on March 22. Kitasan Black won that race and was unbeaten in all three career starts since his debut in January this year while Kyodo News Service Hai (G3, 1,800m) victor Real Steel came in second with Beruf, also a grade-race winner in the Keisei Hai (G3, 2,000m) early this year in fourth. Satono Crown came off his second grade-race victory in the Yayoi Sho (G2, 2,000m) on March 8—his first being in the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,800m) in November last season. Bright Emblem, winner of the Sapporo Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,800m) last September, was the runner-up in the Yayoi Sho with Tagano Espresso in third, Clarity Sky in sixth and Bell Lap in ninth. Tagano Espresso, Clarity Sky and Bell Lap were also grade-race winners as a two-year-old in the Daily Hai Nisai Stakes (G2, 1,600m), the Icho Stakes (1,600m) and the Kyoto Nisai Stakes (G3, 2,000m), respectively. Other notable runners included Wonder Atleta who had come off a runner-up effort in the Satsuki Sho trial, the Wakaba Stakes (2,000m) on March 21 and Musee Alien, winner of the Mainichi Hai (G3, 1,800m) on March 28. The race record of 1:58.0 was set by the winner of the 2013 edition of this race, Logotype (JPN, by Lohengrin).