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Sent to post race favorite in her first G1 test against male foes, Major Emblem won wire-to-wire to become only the fourth female runner to win the NHK Mile Cup—the last female winner was Pink Cameo in 2007.
Named Best Two-Year-Old Filly of 2015, the Daiwa Major filly kicked off her three-year-old campaign with an overwhelming victory in the Queen Cup but was unable to meet expectations when heavy favorite in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) finishing fourth. Trainer Yasuhito Tamura collected his second G1 title—the first also with the chestnut filly in the 2015 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies—while jockey, Christophe Lemaire marked his first G1 of this season and seventh overall with the win.
Major Emblem popped out of the gate smoothly this time and was allowed to set a brisk pace along the rails, maintaining a clear lead along the backstretch. While briefly contested bySigerunokogirizame rounding the final turn, the powerful filly, unfazed by her male foes, showed no signs of slowing down, continued to pull away along the homestretch and managed to rebuff the late charging Lord Quest and Rainbow Line for a 3/4-length win.
“She broke sharply today and I was able to place her in front. She has good speed and having already won a G1 title last year and another graded race earlier this year, I would say that she has confirmed her position as the top of her class with this G1 win,” commented Christophe Lemaire.
Second favorite Lord Quest was a fraction slow out of the gate and positioned well off the pace third from last to start. The Matsurida Gogh colt made headway along the outside, swung wide into the lane then showed a tremendous late charge that marked the fastest finish over the last three furlongs to cross the wire in second.
Lightly regarded Rainbow Line was also impressive in his third-place finish. Positioned three-wide in mid-division from a wide draw, the Stay Gold colt was forced to pitch out even more after entering the lane but sustained his bid while most of his foes tired from the uphill stretch, and only gave way to Lord Quest in the final strides.