This Sunday (16 April), Nakayama Racecourse hosts the 83rd running of the G1 Satsuki Sho (2000m), the first jewel in Japan’s Triple Crown, a series that spans six months. The Satsuki Sho, over the right-handed Nakayama inner course, is the shortest of the three races.

An all-male field of 18 of Japan’s top three-year-olds will make the cut from 20 nominees this year, and it’s a rather unusual year given that neither of the two-year-old Grade 1 champions from the G1 Hopeful Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m) at Hanshin have been nominated for the Satsuki Sho.

About six horses are sharing the spotlight. Complicating the puzzle of trying to pick the top three finishers is the fact that though six of the nominees have captured a graded-stakes race, none has won two graded events.

Among the often-mentioned is the Harbinger-sired Phantom Thief. In the year-end G1 Hopeful Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama, he broke late from the innermost gate and had a difficult trip that nevertheless saw him cross the line in fourth place. Phantom Thief missed the win by only one and a half lengths, but followed that up with a win of the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai (1800m) at Tokyo, where he finished ahead of Satsuki Sho hopefuls Touch Wood (second) and Win Odin (fifth).

If Phantom Thief, currently with three wins from four starts, can top the field in his second time over the Nakayama 2000m, he’ll become the sixth horse in the past decade to go directly from the Kyodo News Service Hai to the Satsuki Sho winner’s circle.

Unbeaten Lord Kanaloa-sired Bellagio Opera is on a three-race winning streak, most recently landing the G2 Spring Stakes (1800m) on 19 March. All three victories have been impressive and the colt has displayed a keen racing sense, as well as versatility. It will be the first time he has raced over 2000 metres, a furlong longer than what he has been given to date.

Unbeaten colts who gained the winner’s circle in the Satsuki Sho recently had a streak of their own, with Saturnalia winning in 2019, Contrail in 2020 and Efforia in 2021. Two other colts – Sol Oriens and Meiner Laulea – will also be going to the Satsuki Sho gate unbeaten.

Sol Oriens, a son of Kitasan Black, debuted successfully over the Tokyo 1800m with a final 600m time of 33.3s. He then bagged the G3 Keisei Hai (2000m) at Nakayama by two and a half lengths, even more impressive when one considers he took the turn out of the backstretch and the turn into the stretch on the wrong lead and lugged out.

The Rulership colt Hrimfaxi has been raced solely over 2000m. Second a neck behind the winner in his debut, he went on to ace his next three outings, culminating in a win of the G3 Kisaragi Sho (2000m) in early February. He’s based at the Ritto stable of Naosuke Sugai, who last won the Satsuki Sho in 2012 with Gold Ship, and said of Hrimfaxi: “He was definitely a cut above the others in the Kisaragi field for speed, and even though he ran rather unbalanced, the jockey (Yuga Kawada) was able to teach him how to hold back a bit.”

The last Kisaragi Sho winner to also win the Satsuki Sho was Neo Universe in 2003. Sugai is also fielding Shonan Bashitto, who has made the money in all of his five starts to date, all in the 1800m-2200m range. Shonan Bashitto also comes off a win of the Listed Wakaba Stakes (2000m), as did Victory when he won the Satsuki Sho back in 2007.

Tastiera is a son of new stallion Satono Crown, who went to the gate of the 2015 Satsuki Sho as the favourite, but failed to meet expectations and finished in sixth place. Tastiera won his debut, then finished fourth in the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai (1800m) only one and a half lengths behind the winner.

On 5 March, Tastiera landed his first graded stakes win with the G2 Yayoi Sho (2000m). He’s prepared by trainer Noriyuki Hori, who has been experimenting with different tack, such as a cross noseband, to help Tastiera have a smoother trip.

Hori said: “His heart and lungs are ready. He’s in the kind of shape that will allow him to make use of his ability to the fullest. His heart and mind are in good balance and he’s fresh.”

With eight previous starts, Top Knife goes to the gate as the field’s most experienced runner, with all but two finishes in the money and only one off the board. A son of Declaration of War, Top Knife has been runner-up in his last three starts, with a margin of 1 length, a nose, and a head, the first two in the Yayoi Sho and the Hopeful Stakes, respectively.

Ho O Biscuits, second in the Spring Stakes, and Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes runner-up Danon Touchdown are other names certainly worth considering.