Japan: After missing Breeders’ Cup, Songline wins Victoria Mile

Fourth choice Songline (6-1), who missed the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Mile because of throat trouble, won Sunday’s rain-soaked Grade 1, US$983,503 Victoria Mile for older fillies and mares, registering her second Japan Grade 1 triumph.

This win on the left-handed turf track at Tokyo Racecourse marked trainer Toru Hayashi’s second Japan Racing Association Grade 1 title after last year’s Yasuda Kinen with the now 5-year-old mare. Jockey Keita Tosaki claimed his 10th Japan Grade 1 victory following his win in the 2021 Shuka Sho with Akaitorino Musume and his third Victoria Mile title after his wins with Straight Girl in 2015 and 2016.

Songline broke smoothly from post 6 and settled in mid-pack, around ninth from the frontrunner. Advancing to sixth entering the stretch, the Kizuna mare surged out behind favored Stars on Earth (3-2), running strongly on the rain-soaked inner track with the second fastest closing speed. She passed Stars on Earth before the eighth pole and, after dueling strongly with Sodashi (7-2) in the last sixteenth of a mile, managed to cross the wire a head in front to win the race.

“Though we had to race farther back and inward than planned, we were able to race in good position while eyeing the race favorites,” Tosaki said. “The track was a little heavy due to the rain, but she responded strongly in the straight. It was a close race, but I was pretty sure we crossed the wire in front. I knew that Songline has a strong ability, so I’m really happy we were able to win the race."

Defending winner and third pick Sodashi made headway from the widest draw to chase the pacesetting Lotus Land in second, taking command an eighth of a mile out and sustaining the bid for her fourth Grade 1 victory, but she was denied by Songline just before the wire, while holding off the race favorite by three-quarters of a length for a runner-up result.

Race favorite Stars on Earth settled around fifth, entered the straight in third behind Sodashi and, though overtaken by Songline, ran tenaciously to finish third.

After claiming the Yasuda Kinen (G1) at one mile last year, Songline finished fifth in the six-furlong Centaur Stakes (G2) and was scheduled to run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile but had to cancel her trip due to an epiglottis inflammation. She was unable to defend her title, finishing 10th in her previous start, in the 1351 Turf Sprint (G3) on Feb. 25 in Saudi Arabia.