The search is on for the winner of Japan’s first Classic, the Oka Sho (1600m), run this Sunday (7 April) at Hanshin.

The Oka Sho will be contested by a full field of 18 three-year-old fillies and carries a first-place prize of JPY140 million (approx. HK$7.23 million).

This year has seen five fillies prominent in pre-race discussions, including Ascoli Piceno, who will go to the gate with a perfect record. She’s a three-time winner and has the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (1600m) in her cap. Also run over the Hanshin mile, it was her second test over 1600 metres and her only race run to the right.

Ascoli Piceno’s workouts have been impressive. After her final fast work on Wednesday (3 April), trainer Yoichi Kuroiwa said: “She has matured a lot since the Juvenile Fillies, and her footwork is even better. She has handled even more work than we had initially intended to give her and her prep has demonstrated that new maturity.”

Mitsumasa Nakauchida has a chance to go down in history as only the second trainer in Japan’s racing history to land successive wins in the Oka Sho, a feat not achieved in 70 years, when he saddles Queen’s Walk.

Last year, Liberty Island, who went to the Oka Sho directly off a win of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, not only landed the Oka Sho, but swept Japan’s Triple Tiara.

Queen’s Walk’s record to date is not as flashy as that of Ascoli Piceno. The daughter of Kizuna is two for three. She has also raced more recently than Ascoli Piceno and her times over the final 600 metres nearly match those of Ascoli Piceno.

However, Queen’s Walk’s only Group race was her only race at the mile. Nakauchida’s track record may help there. Of the trainer’s 39 wins in stakes races, eight were in Group 1s and nine were over the Hanshin mile.

Nakauchida has claimed all three of the Group 1 events run over the Hanshin 1600m outer course, as has Sakae Kunieda, who fields Stellenbosch.

Like Ascoli Piceno, Stellenbosch also returns to the turf first-up, with nearly four months since her last run. Runner-up by a neck in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, the daughter of Epiphaneia has finished first or second in all four of her starts.

She’s had three different riders to date and this time will have yet a new one, perhaps with a touch of magic – Joao Moreira.

Moreira has ridden over 500 races in Japan for an incredible winning strike rate of over 30%. His participation in the Classics, however, has been minimal, with only two previous rides in the Kikuka Sho.  

Sweep Feet and Corazon Beat are also seen as strong competitors in the Oka Sho. Sweep Feet, with all but one of her six starts at the mile and all racing to the right, finished seventh (her only finish out of the top three) in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. She made amends for that blemish on her record with a win of the G2 Tulip Sho (1600m), also over the Hanshin mile on 2 March.

Though not the best at the break, Sweep Feet is versatile, gutsy and doesn’t give up easily. She can unleash an impressive late finish.

The highly consistent Corazon Beat is not only more experienced than most, she has also raced recently and has never figured out of the top three across six starts. She was third in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and is one-two in two Group 2 contests, the most recent the Fillies’ Revue over the Hanshin 1400m on 10 March.