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Champagne Color wins this year’s NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo.
Ninth favorite Champagne Color claimed his first graded win in this year's NHK Mile Cup while notching his third mile-race victory at Tokyo Racecourse. After claiming back-to-back wins in his two starts last season, both over the mile distance at Tokyo, the Duramente colt was sixth in the Keisei Hai (G3, 2,000m) in January and then turned in a third-place finish in the New Zealand Trophy (G2, 1,600m) in April. For trainer Tsuyoshi Tanaka, this marks his sixth JRA-G1 victory (including two G1 steeplechase titles) and first since his Yasuda Kinen win with Logotype in 2016. Jockey Hiroyuki Uchida picked up his 13th JRA-G1 victory, his latest being the 2018 February Stakes with Nonkono Yume, and celebrates his second NHK Mile triumph after claiming it with Pink Cameo in 2007.
Breaking from stall 11, Champagne Color was settled in third to fourth from the rear and three-wide before coming into the lane. Steadily gaining on the leaders in the stretch and rallying with Danon Touchdown at the furlong pole, the chestnut colt took over the lead 100 meters out and pulled away strongly while holding off a fierce late charge by the runner-up.
"The plan was to keep him in about fifth to sixth from the pace, but the competition to position him forwardly was intense and the going was soggy so I didn't force him to move up front. He came out of the last turn smoothly and responded incredibly well. While waiting for the right moment and watching out for the other runners, I just drove him to the line hoping to reach it first. It's his third win here at Tokyo—he enjoys the wide and spacious course—and we're looking forward to seeing him develop with every race he runs this season," commented Hiroyuki Uchida after the race.
Full sister to 2018 Mile Championship victor Stelvio, eighth pick Umbrail was unhurried in second from the rear early, angled out for a clear path and with the fastest late kick, powered home strongly with every stride but was a head short at the line and was second.
The Arlington Cup victor Obamburumai settled near the rear just behind Champagne Color and in front of Umbrail, circled wide into the lane and picked off his foes one by one with the second fastest late speed. While trying to catch the eventual winner, the third favorite surrendered the runner-up seat just before the wire and finished third.
Race favorite Carro Veloce, under jockey Damian Lane, ran in mid-field in the backstretch, rallied briefly with the winner climbing the stretch hill but failed to keep up in the last furlong and while showing effort, finished fifth.
Other Horses:
4th: (18) Danon Touchdown—raced 4-wide around 8th, rallied for lead passing
400m pole, took brief lead 200m out but soon overtaken by winner then
3rd-place finisher and runner-up in last 100m
6th: (2) Moryana—sat near winner on rails, angled out at early stretch, improved
position
7th: (17) Mississippi Tesoro—traveled 3-wide around 11th, switched further out at
early stretch, showed effort
8th: (9) Navona—trailed in rear, showed belated charge to pass tiring rivals
9th: (6) Eeyan—saved ground around 9th, found little room at early stretch, even
paced
10th: (16) Tamamo Black Tie—settled around 6th, led 400m out, weakened in last
200m
11th: (5) Sing That Song—sat around 5th on rail, met traffic at early stretch, lacked
needed kick
12th: (13) Dolce More—ran around 6th, outrun turning final corner, showed little
13th: (8) Session—tracked leaders around 3rd, failed to sustain bid
14th: (14) Yurisha—raced around 4th, remained in contention until 300m out
15th: (4) Shomon—traveled around 12th near winner, never fired
16th: (7) All Parfait—pressed pace in 2nd, used up due to early effort
17th: (1) From Dusk—set pace, faded after 400m pole
Scratched: (12) Cruzeiro do Sul—due to sickness
