BRINGING ASIAN RACING TO THE WORLD
The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies is the race that most often crowns the divisional champion and claiming the prize is never an easy feat with a big field of up to 18 runners engaged in a searching tussle around Hanshin’s left-handed mile course.
Needless to say, the race has been contested and won by a host of stars. In the past 30 years a total of five fillies have won the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and then followed up in the first Classic, the Oka Sho, while the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies-Yushun Himba double has been completed six times. The double of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and the final leg of the three-year-old fillies’ triple crown, the Shuka Sho, has been achieved three times. Apapane bagged the fillies’ triple crown after her success in the race, while Buena Vista won the first two fillies’ Classics after her Hanshin Juvenile Fillies’ win.
A comfortable win in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies of 2008 ensured Buena Vista was that year’s JRA champion two-year-old filly. The Hiroyoshi Matsuda-trained galloper was a genuine star but not a dominant champion. Buena Vista won the first two fillies’ Classics, the Oka Sho and the Yushun Himba, defeating Red Desire, only to suffer a surprising reversal to that rival in the Shuka Sho, a result that cost her the fillies’ triple crown.
She raced for two more seasons, earning further Grade 1 wins in the Victoria Mile, Tenno Sho Autumn and the Japan Cup. The tough and talented mare also placed second in the Arima Kinen in 2009 and 2010, and filled the same position behind Britain’s Dar Re Mi in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic. Buena Vista was crowned Japan’s Horse of the Year in 2010 and retired with nine wins and 11 placings from 23 starts.
Buena Vista winning the 2008 G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Photo: JRA).
