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JRA Blackbook: progressive son of dirt star wins again at Tokyo
Brian Sense's sire was a three-time G1 winner on the dirt and the three-year-old looks ready to tackle better company following a convincing Class 1 win at Tokyo.
Brian Sense finished strongly on the Tokyo dirt. (Photo by @minamo_thr)
Brian Sense (R6 Tokyo, Class 1 Win, 1600m, Dirt, 6 May)
The Makoto Saito-trained Brian Sense looks a horse to follow after the three-year-old recorded an impressive win at Tokyo on Saturday.
Saito sits equal-third in the JRA trainer’s rankings with 16 winners for the season to date, two of which have been provided by Brian Sense, who broke his maiden at Nakayama back in April.
A son of standout dirt performer and two-time G1 Tokyo Daishoten winner Hokko Tarumae, Brian Sense was beaten a nose by the talented Paraiba Tourmaline over the Tokyo mile on April 22, but atoned with a dominant victory sticking to the mile.
Jumping smartly before settling mid-pack for jockey Takeshi Yokoyama, Brian Sense produced the fastest final three furlongs of the race to finish in 37.0s, displaying a handy turn of foot to justify his 1.7 favouritism and defeat valiant runner-up Blazest by two-and-a-half lengths. Significantly, there was a further margin of six lengths back to third, emphasising the superiority of the winner.
Dirt group races around the mile may well prove within Brian Sense’s scope if he can continue on his current upward spiral.
A Shin Spotter (R11 Kyoto, Class Open, 1200m, 7 May)
Unplaced in his first four career starts at distances ranging between 1400 meres and 1800 metres, A Shin Spotter has altogether turned things around since being kept to the sprint distance of 1200 metres.
The son of A Shin Hikari made it five wins from his past nine starts – all at 1200 metres – at Kyoto on Sunday, running right up to his strong last-start performance when third behind Vento Voce in the G3 Ocean Stakes.
