Japan: Satono Reve starts his 2025 with Grade 1 sprint victory

Satono Reve scored his first Grade 1 victory by starting his 2025 season with a win in the US$2,464,972 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, a nearly six-furlong turf sprint for older horses racing on the left-handed turf course at Chukyo, Japan.

After breaking smoothly from 10 in the field of 18, Satono Reve (5-2) was eased back to around ninth making the turn. Meeting traffic at the top of the homestretch, jockey João Moreira steered to the outside to make his bid, and the 6-year-old entire by Lord Kanaloa responded willingly. Satono Reve unleashed an impressive late charge to take the lead with a sixteenth of a mile to go before holding off late-closing Namura Clair (5-2) at the finish line.

“The horse gave me a beautiful ride,” Moreira said. “He behaved very well from the gate, traveled nicely on the bend. I angled him out as we approached the homestretch, and from there he showed that he has an amazing ability.”

The winning time on the good to firm turf was 1:07.9 without a run-up covering 1,200 meters, eight yards short of six furlongs. The early fractions were 22.5, 45.4 and 56.7 seconds.

Narrow favorite Namura Clair settled in 14th, entered the stretch in mid-pack, surged through a narrow space behind Satono Reve a furlong out and threatened the winner with the fastest closing speed. He came up three-quarters of a length short, resulting in a third consecutive runner-up finish in this race.

Mama Cocha (13-1) traveled wide around ninth after breaking sharply from post 15, came out of the turn to briefly take command at the eighth pole and, while overtaken by top two finishers in the last sixteenth, managed to hold off the late chargers to secure third place by a neck.

Trained by Noriyuki Hori, Satono Reve finished his 2024 season with a third in the Hong Kong Sprint (G1). Sired by 2013 Takamatsunomiya Kinen victor Lord Kanaloa, the bay colt was 4: 3-1-0 in his debut season at 3 and marked another win in his first start the following season before being sidelined for 10 months due to a leg problem. He returned to racing in February 2024 with the first of three consecutive victories that included two Grade 3s.

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen, one of Japan’s two Grade 1 sprints, was named to honor prince Takamatsu Nobuhito, emperor Hirohito’s younger brother who presented the trophy to the race’s first winner Shunsakuo in 1971.