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Homan Ho

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JRA Blackbook: Heart’s Cry filly takes luck out of the equation

A pair of talented two-year-old fillies feature as our horses to follow in this week's edition of JRA Blackbook.

Rouge Suerte (R6 Tokyo, 2YO, Class 1 Win, 1400m, 22 Oct)

This daughter of Heart’s Cry had shown exceptional ability on the training track prior to debuting with a shock loss over 1800 metres at Tokyo – when the 1.4 favourite settled back in the field – but that did not deter punters from ‘stepping in’ again at her next two starts.

A drop back in distance and change in tactics has since done the trick for Sakae Kunieda’s two-year-old and her supporters, with the half-sister to 2021 G2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai winner Red Genesis winning consecutively over 1400 metres at Niigata and Tokyo respectively. 

Both of Rouge Suerte’s victories have been achieved via dominant front-running displays, first beneath Christophe Lemaire (at 1.5) and more recently for Kazuo Yokoyama, this time at an even more prohibitive quote of 1.1.

Yokoyama and the favourite never had a moment’s concern at Tokyo on Sunday however, cruising along in front before coasting clear in the straight to win by five lengths, still recording a race-fastest 33.4s for her final 600 metres when subjected to only minimal pressure.

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Despite the visually impressive style of the win, Yokoyama indicated that his filly still had some areas to work on: “although there are some things to be improved, it was a good win anyway.” 

Rouge Suerte (‘suerte’ is Spanish for ‘luck’) looks a promising sprinter-miler and can make her presence felt in Group races towards the back end of 2023.

Cave Pearl (R4 Kyoto, 2YO Newcomer, 1400m, 21 Oct)

Another two-year-old filly features this week after registering an impressive victory at Kyoto, this time with a strong closing effort in a 1400 metre Newcomer on Saturday.

Cave Pearl, a daughter of American stallion Bricks And Mortar, was ridden quietly by Kota Fujioka before being produced up the middle of the track to reel off an impressive turn of foot and score by half a length. Her last 3F time was 34.0s, the fastest in the race and 0.9s faster than the second fastest in the race.

“She looks good in trackwork but she is thin,” said Fujioka. “Her turn of foot is good. As she matures she will perform better in the future.”

Watch this week’s JRA Blackbook, also including our ‘Dirt Monster of the week’: 

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