This should be an exciting race to behold! Finally we get the match up that many people have wanted to see, Buena Vista VS Apapane. Let’s look at how the two match up.

Buena Vista was champion 2 year old in 2008 after she won the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1600m). As a 3 year old she won the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m) and the Japanese Oaks (G1, 2400m) which gave her two out of the three filly triple crown races. She raced against older males over the summer and came in 2nd in the Sapporo Kinen (G2, 2000m) before she came in 2nd (but was disqualified to 3rd) in the third filly triple crown race, the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m). A month later she was 3rd in the Queen Elizabeth II Hai (G1, 2200m) against older females. She ended the year with a 2nd place finish to Dream Journey in the Arima Kinen (G1, 2500m) against older males.

In 2010, she started off the year with a win against males again in the Kyoto Kinen (G2, 2200m) before shipping to Dubai and coming in a thrilling 2nd in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, 2410m). Upon her return to Japan, she claimed the Victoria Mile (G1, 1600m) even though she wasn’t in top form. Her next start she came in 2nd to Nakayama Festa in the Takarazuka Kinen (G1, 2200m). She rebounded that fall with a smashing victory in the Emperor’s Cup Fall (G1, 2000m) and basically did it again in the Japan Cup (G1, 2400m) a month later but was (In my opinion: WRONGFULLY) disqualified back to 2nd for interfering with runner up Rose Kingdom at the top of the stretch. She finished the year with a super close 2nd place finish to Victoire Pisa in the Arima Kinen (G1, 2500m)

2011 has not been kind to Buena Vista yet, she was a very VERY disappointing 13th in the Dubai Wold Cup (G1, 2000m, AW). She has not raced since, so this will be her first start back. It is unclear if they are aiming her at Europe later or if they will run her in the same races they did last year. In Japan there is another kind of “triple crown” a horse can win. It is the Emperor’s Cup/Japan Cup/Arima Kinen triple in the same year. Only two horses have pulled it off, T M Opera O in 2000 and Zenno Rob Roy in 2004. T M Opera O has a stellar 2000 season though, didn’t lose a single race out of 8 races and 5 of those were G1 races. He managed to do two other great achievements, winning both Grand Prix races, the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen as well as both Emperor’s Cups, spring and fall, on top of his Japan Cup win. He is also the world’s richest thoroughbred with over $22,000,000 in career earnings. So she will either be pointed towards the Arc de Triomphe (G1, 2400m) or the fall triple crown, I assume.

Now let’s look at Apapane... she too was champion 2 year old of her crop back in 2009 after winning the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Her three year old campaign was slightly less ambitious than Buena Vista’s was. Apapane won the first two legs of the filly triple crown in the spring, the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m) and dead heated with Saint Emillion in the Japanese Oaks (G1, 2400m). As a prep for the last leg of the triple crown, Apapane went for a race against other 3 year old fillies instead of older males like Buena Vista did. She ran 4th in the Rose Stakes (G2, 1800m) but rebounded when it counted in the last leg of the triple crown, winning the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m) and becoming the third filly in history to win the filly Triple Crown. Buena Vista was unable to accomplish that. Apapane finished her 3 year old campaign against older females in the Queen Elizabeth II Hai (G1, 2200m) but came in 4th. She has only raced once in 2011 and that was a distant 4th against males in the Miler’s Cup (G2, 1600m) in April.

But this race won’t be all about these two. There are plenty of other top notch fillies and mares that want their share of glory this weekend. So let’s look at the contenders...

6th Victoria Mile [G1]

May 15th, 2011 Tokyo Racecourse

4 Year Old & Up, Fillies & Mares, 1600m, Turf

(Quick note... Himba means female horse.... so the Nakayama Himba Stakes is like the Nakayama Filly & Mare Stakes)

Post - Horse - Sire - Jockey - Trainer

1 - Wild Raspberry - Falbrav - K. Ikezoe - H. Nakao

This filly as not performed that well in graded races. Her best race was her 2nd place finish to Animate Bio in last fall’s Rose Stakes (G2, 1800m). Afterwards she was a not so bad 4th in the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m) but her two starts since have not been so hot. She was 8th in the Mile Championship (G1, 1600m) and then started her 4 year old campaign in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) but was 8th again. Her last win was in an open level stakes where she managed to beat boys going 1800m a year ago.

2 - Animate Bio - Zenno Rob Roy - H. Goto - K. Maki

Leading up the last year’s fillies triple crown, this flaming red daughter of Zenno Rob Roy was rocking. She had been 2nd in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1600m)to Apapane and has lost to her three other times (The filly triple crown), she was 8th in the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m), 4th in the Japanese Oaks (G1, 2400m), and 2nd in the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m). A month before the Shuka Sho she beat Apapane (4th) in the Rose Stakes (G2, 1800m). Her last start was last November in the Queen Elizabeth II Hai (G1, 2200) where she was a distant 15th. In the past, her most successful distance has been around a mile so maybe after a rest, this filly is ready to fire?

3 - Grand Prix Angel - Agnes Digital - C. Williams - Y. Yahagi

Leading up to the 2009 Sprinters Stakes this filly, then 3 years old, was in the top 5 betting favorites after a string of wins and shows all year but flopped coming in 13th after a bad break she was unable to recover from. She didn’t find the winners circle again for a full year, when she won an open level ungraded stakes against males going 1200m. She has not even placed since that victory in early October last year. Her best efforts have been a pair of 5th place finishes. She raced a mile earlier this year in an open level ungraded stakes and was 10th.

4 - Lady Alba Rosa - King Kamehameha - Y. Fukunaga - K. Sasada

This filly did well on the lower nongraded stakes level as a three year old and seems to have gotten better with age. She was fairly decent 4th in the Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, 1600m) before racing again a few weeks later in an open company ungraded stakes but was 5th by the narrowest of margins. She peaked in her last start at the beginning of April with a win in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m). She seems to be getting better this year.

5 - En Ciel Bleu - Manhattan Cafe - K. Tanaka - K. Tanaka

With the exception of two races this filly has done hit the board in every other time out of the gate in her career. Her last start was her first graded race, she came in 2nd by a half a length in the Hanshin Himba Stakes (G3, 1400m) in April. She can handle a sprint distance the best but has won at a mile before. Maybe she is a rising star in the in the older fillies & mares division?

6 - Oken Sakura - Bago (FR) - H. Kitamura - H. Otonashi

This daughter of the French champion Bago had a great lead up to the filly classics last year with a win in the Flower Cup (G3, 1800m) and then a strong 2nd in the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m). Since then she has not even hit the board. She was 4th in the Emperor’s Cup Fall (G1, 2000m) but then followed it up with horrible finishes in her next three starts. She seemed to get better in her last start at the end of April in the Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) she came in distant 4th. I’d love to see her get back into winning form here but she will be meeting some of the best mares the country has to offer so she probably won’t get there this weekend.

7 - Broad Street - Agnes Tachyon - S. Fujita - H. Fujiwara

Last year leading up to the Victoria Mile there was quite a bit of buzz around this mare, and she did come in a close 5th but has never really managed to live up to the hype around here. She can get close but never seal the deal with plenty of 5th and 6th place finishes. In her last start she as a distant 11th in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m).

8 - Kauai Lane - King Kamehameha - N. Yokoyama - M. Wada

Every single one win this one 5 year old’s wins have been at a mile, but she has never won in graded stakes company. With the exception of a 3rd place finish in the Queen Stakes (G3, 1800m) she has not done well in her other G3 attempts have failed miserably. Two of those bad finishes were this year; a 9th in the Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, 1600m) in February and 14th in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m). Probably can’t hold a candle to Buena Vista.

9 - Shoryu Moon - King Kamehameha - S. Hamanaka - S. Sasaki

This filly started out really strong as a two year old and a three year old but fell apart after the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m) where she came in a close 4th. Since that race she has not been the same. She seemed to come back in January when she won the Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, 1600m) by a solid margin. Her last start, the Milers Cup (G2, 1600m), against males she came in a super distant 14th. Maybe she will have a better chance against her own sex but she went all last summer and winter without being able to beat many of these same fillies last year.

10 - Cosmo Nemo Shin - Zenno Rob Roy - M. Matsuoka - H. Shimizu

She was on a roll before the filly classics last year with a win and a 2nd place in two prep races but did horrible in the filly triple crown. She kind of stumbled along the next few months before finding herself again this spring. She was 3rd in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) and 2nd in the Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) in April. G2 is a long way from G1 but she might be working up to a big performance.

11 - A Shin Returns - King Kamehameha - K. Miura - M. Sakaguchi

She was 3rd in the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m) last year before tanking in the Japanese Oaks (G1, 2400m). She rebounded a bit in the fall with a 3rd place in the Rose Stakes (G2, 1800m) but then tanked again in the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m)a month later. She finished her year with a win in a high grade allowance going a mile against other fillies and a 7th in an open level ungraded stakes. She has not raced since December.

12 - Spring Thunder - Kurofune - H. Shii - M. Kon

This filly did nothing special while the rest of this field was busy in the classics, she never could make it on the board. But she seems to have gotten as little better as a 4 year old. She worked her way up the allowance race system and earned a shot to run in the Hanshin Himba Stakes (G3, 1400m) and came in 3rd by about a length behind the winner. She might be a new face on the filly & mare circuit that will definitely come with a good price.

13 - Buena Vista - Special Week - Y. Iwata. H. Matsuda

She will be the favorite without a doubt. She had a stellar 2010 but has not been so lucky this year. She has only raced once and that was in the Dubai World Cup (G1, 2000m, AW) where she came in 8th. It was the worst finish of her career. She had never been out of the money before. She won this race last year without being at the top of her game, and since she can easily take down the best of males, she will win if she is even half as good as she was last fall.

14 - Dear Arethusa - Tosen Dance - Y. Yoshida - Y. Hatakeyama

This filly is the half sister to Nakayama Festa, the Japanese colt who came in 2nd in the Arc de Triomphe last year. She hasn’t been quite as dominating and is always out of the money in graded stakes. She has run in one G1, the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m) last October but was 6th. She was 4th in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) and 8th in the Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m), both of which were in April.

15 - Apricot Fizz - Jungle Pocket - Y. Take - F. Kojima

This filly was on a roll right out of the maiden starting gate last spring with a 2nd in the Fairy Stakes (G3, 1600m) and won the Queen Cup (G3, 1600m) but was close 5th in the Oka Sho (G1, 1600m) and distant 6th in the Japanese Oaks (G1, 2400m). She came back in the fall and won the Queen Stakes (G3, 1800m) before coming in a close 3rd in the Shuka Sho (G1, 2000m). That was the end of her 3 year old campaign and she has been unable to find that form again. She was 14th in the Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, 1600m) and 18th (last) in the Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m). If she can ever get back to her 3 year old form she should be stellar!

16 - Apapane - King Kamehameha - M. Ebina - S. Kunieda

Oh Apapane, not only is she cute as a button she seems to be a pretty darn good race horse. How good? We don’t know yet. We know when she is peaking she is the best filly of her crop. She proved that last year when she became only the 3rd filly to ever win the filly triple crown (Oka Sho, Japanese Oaks, Shuka Sho). Her last race of 2010 was the Queen Elizabeth II Hai (G1, 2200m) where she finally got to meet up with older mares but came in a distant 3rd to the Euro invader Snow Fairy. She started off 2011 with a distant 4th in the Miler’s Cup (G2, 1600m) against older boys but she started from the 18 hole, which is a hard spot to over come from. She is on the outside again in this race, though against her own sex. She will probably be the 2nd favorite behind Buena Vista. It should be interesting.

17 - Bravo Daisy - Kurofune - T. Kitamura - H. Otonasahi

This 6 year old mare has been bouncing back and forth between dirt and turf her whole career. She has won on both. She won the Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, 1800m) back in 2009 and was 2nd to Vodka a month later in the Victoria Mile (G1, 1600m). She won a G2 on the dirt and has placed or shown in multiple graded stakes on the dirt  in her last few starts. She can do the turf thing, but she seems to like the dirt the best. She is a true wild card in this race!