Stellenbosch, Bellagio Opera, Sixpence and Lord Del Rey are expected to fight out the Group One Osaka Hai (2,000m) at Hanshin on Sunday in Japan’s second top-tier turf event of the spring – a race regarded as a breakthrough opportunity at the elite level.
Joao Moreira will ride the expected favourite Stellenbosch as he goes for two Group One wins in a row after claiming the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1,200m) at Chukyo on Satono Reve last weekend.
A four-year-old Epiphaneia filly, Stellenbosch has yet to finish out of the top three in eight career starts, with her last five all at Group One level, including four of them against her own sex.
She was first, second and third in the filly Classics and has excelled in the 1,600m-1,800m range. Third in December’s Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m) at Sha Tin, she’s had some rough runs, some poor luck in the draw and this could be her chance to bag her second big win.
Last year’s Osaka Hai winner Bellagio Opera aims to become the first horse in the race’s history to win consecutive versions.
The Lord Kanaloa-sired five-year-old has posted a decent, but not brilliant, third, sixth and fourth since. They were all in Group Ones and two over more ground than his best 2,000m. Unlike last year, however, he’ll be heading into the Osaka Hai first up.
Stellenbosch gallops under Joao Moreira at Sha Tin in December.
Things get more interesting when one considers the growing reputation of the Osaka Hai as the place to land a horse’s first Group One.
Four other horses still chasing that prize are attracting extra attention due to a growing trend with the past four Osaka Hai winners all scoring the first Group One victory of their careers in this race – Lei Papale (2021), Potager (2022), Jack d’Or (2023) and Bellagio Opera (2024).
Sixpence, a Kizuna four-year-old, hails from the Miho barn of Sakae Kunieda and has won five of his six starts, with three of them Group Twos.
Though he has won racing to the right, it will be Sixpence’s first time at Hanshin and his first long haul from home. And, having last raced on March 2, this time will be his shortest time between races.
Lord Del Rey, also by Lord Kanaloa, is five years old and based at the western Japan training centre of Ritto near Hanshin. Highly consistent over 1,800m-2,200m, he has finished first or second in all but one of his nine races.
He won his first Group race, a Group Two at Chukyo in January, and has finished first and fourth at Hanshin. Last year, he didn’t make the final field.
“He couldn’t get in last year, but he has come along well without mishap this year and I think he has a chance,” said trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida.
Yoho Lake, a Deep Impact seven-year-old from Ritto, shares his owner, trainer, and sire with Potager, the 2022 Osaka Hai winner.
Four of his five wins have come over right-handed courses (including Hanshin) in the 1800m-2200m range and, with rain forecast leading in to the race, Yoho Lake may prove an ace in the pack.
