Kentucky Derby prep: Filly wins bellwether race in Japan

Myriad Love, one of the two fillies in the field of 11 juveniles, stalked the early pace, took the lead in the second turn and ran on to a three-quarter-length win Wednesday in the listed, US$467,948 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, whose 2022 and 2023 winners went on to finish in the top five of the Kentucky Derby.

Owned by Asuka Shiraishi and trained by Koichi Shintani, the undefeated daughter of New Year’s Day veered outward at the break from post 10, bumping the other filly Holy Grail before the two of them got to the front the first time past the finish line.

Holy Grail, a Nadal filly, led out of the first turn on the good-rated dirt at Kawasaki Racecourse. Myriad Love raced a widening four lengths behind in second with Happy Man and Copano Vincent about 2 1/2 more lengths up the track in third and fourth.

The two fillies drew even coming out of the backstretch. Jockey Atsuya Nishimura guided Myriad Love to the outside of tiring Holy Grail and into the lead early in the second turn. Happy Man, a Danon Legend colt, moved forward into second turning for home.

Responding to Nishimura’s right-handed urging, Myriad Love drew away near the rail before Happy Man, ridden by Ryusei Sakai, showed one last burst of speed before settling for second place. Soldier Field finished another 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Post-time favorite Natural Rise was a neck behind in fourth. It was a head back to Jugemoon in fifth.

Will Aureole, Gran Giorno, King Minister, Holy Grail, King Minister and Kamuy Kar finished sixth through 11th in that order.

The winning time was 1:42.4 without a run-up for the 4-1 second choice. It was 1.1 seconds faster than the victory last year by Forever Young, whom Sakai would ride to a third-place finish in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. Derma Sotogake, who finished fifth in the 2023 Derby, won the Nisai Yushun two years ago with a time of 1:43.3.

Myriad Love, a filly bred at Japan’s Northern Farm out of Smart Falcon mare Ladybird, won her Sept. 16 debut in a top-level, seven-furlong race for first-time starters at Chukyo. As a 2-5 favorite, she won Oct. 31 in an allowance race going six furlongs at Monbetsu on Japan’s second-level racing circuit.

With the 20 points she earned Wednesday, Myriad Love moved to the front of the Japan road to Kentucky Derby 2025. Natural Rise, who won last month’s Cattleya Sho to begin the qualifying process, added four points to bring his total to 14. Happy Man is third with 10 points and Soldier Field next with six. One of the 20 places in the gate for the Derby is available to a qualifier from the four Japan preps. The Hyacinth in February and Fukuryu in March are the last two races in the series.