Liberty Island grabbed the Japanese filly Triple Crown with a confident victory in the Shuka Sho (G1) Oct. 15 at Kyoto Racecourse, joining the ranks of such notable Japanese distaffers as Almond Eye , Gentildonna , and Daring Tact .
The Shuka Sho was her fourth consecutive grade 1 triumph and positioned her to double up on her honors as Japan’s top 2-year-old filly of 2022.
Jockey Yuga Kawada, himself in a hot battle for the Japanese jockey title, voiced the obvious, saying the Duramente (JPN) filly’s “dreams for the future are wide open.”
It was a straightforward task for Liberty Island’s regular rider. After a clean break from the No. 6 gate in a field of 18, Kawada kept the heavy favorite out of trouble, about six spots back of pacesetter Kona Coast.
Swinging into the stretch, Liberty Island opened a big advantage and was coasting to the wire through the late uphill climb. The only threat was a belated but impressive late turn of foot by Masked Diva. The daughter of Rulership had only two rivals beaten at the top of the lane but her late rush found her second, just one length short of Liberty Island, at the finish.
Harper, always prominent, finished third. Kona Coast faded to finish eighth as Liberty Island completed the 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) on good turf in 2:01.1.
“I’m grateful that we were able to achieve the Triple Crown,” Kawada said. “She is a horse with great ability so I placed top priority on letting her run comfortably and finding a good path for her. I was confident of her victory when we had an open space at the third corner.
“She has great potential, and her dreams for the future are wide open. But first of all, I would like to praise her for achieving the Triple Crown.”
Liberty Island, bred by Northern Racing and carrying the familiar colors of Sunday Racing Co. Ltd., is the seventh filly to accomplish the task. Daring Tact was the most recent, in 2020.
She won her first start July 30, 2022, at Nigata Racecourse, then finished second in the Artemis Stakes (G2) Oct. 29 at Tokyo Racecourse, her only loss. She rebounded from that to win the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Dec. 11 by an authoritative 2 1/2 lengths, claiming the 2-year-old filly championship.
Her 3-year-old campaign has skipped the minors, consisting solely of the three legs of the filly Triple Crown.
Coming off four months in drydock, she got a bad start in the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas-G1), was last turning for home, and was all out to chase down Kona Coast and win by one length. At that point, all four of her races had been at 1,600 meters (about 1 mile) and there were questions about how she would handle the 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) of the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks-G1) May 21.
The answer: Quite nicely, thank you. Around the final turn, Kawada waited patiently behind the leaders, hit the button some 200 meters out, and Liberty Island shot away to win by six lengths with Harper second and Kona Coast seventh.
While Liberty Island was dominating things at the top of the class ladder, Masked Diva was working her way up, winning two of her first three starts, including the Sept. 17 Rose Stakes (G2) at Hanshin. Her remarkable stretch run in the Shuka Sho stamps her as one to watch, as trainer Yasuyuki Tsujino predicted before the race.
“Her ‘on and off’ switch is excellent,” Tsujino said. “She’s smart and is continuing to mature. If she keeps on like this, I think we can look forward to a lot.”
Leave feedback about this