Gran Alegria wins 2019 JPN 1,000 Guineas breaking Almond Eye 2018 record time

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http://japanracing.jp/_news2019/190407.html

Second Favorite Gran Alegria showed a performance of another class in this year’s Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), the first leg of the fillies Triple Crown, to exceed Almond Eye’s accomplishment just a year ago and renew the race record by 0.4 seconds. Winning her two-year-old debut in June last year while beating Danon Fantasy by two lengths, the Deep Impact filly promptly scored her first grade-race title in her next start in the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup (G3, 1,600m) in October and finished third against boys in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, 1,600m) in December and hadn’t raced since until the Oka Sho which was her first start of her three-year-old campaign. Trainer Kazuo Fujisawa won his second Oka Sho title—his first being with Dance in the Mood in 2004—and 27th JRA-G1 overall while Christophe Lemaire also won his second Oka Sho title after Almond Eye last year and is now with 23 JRA-G1 titles.

Gran Alegria was allowed to settle close to the pace in fourth position, two wide, behind Pourville who set an easy going pace in the first half of the mile distance but Christophe Lemaire let the powerful filly unleash her exceptional speed after that and was already taking command before the 600-meter pole then continued to pull away uncontested to the finish line for a 2-1/2 length victory.

“She certainly won strongly today. I was a little bit worried as it was her first time out after a long break (111 days). She was unable to make use of her speed in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (3rd) so I made sure this time to secure a good position early on and from there I had every confidence in her exceptional speed. The extended 2,400 meters in the Yushun Himba though is going to be a tough race for us,” commented Christophe Lemaire.

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