Croix Du Nord is seen as the horse to beat among the all-male 18 runners in Sunday’s (20 April) G1 Satsuki Sho (2000m) at Nakayama Racecourse as he attempts to protect his unbeaten record of three wins from three starts.
The son of seven-time Group 1 winner Kitasan Black rocketed from a debut win in June to victory in the G2 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (1800m), three quarters lengths ahead of Satono Shining on 16 November. On 28 December, he aced his first race run going clockwise, scooping the G1 Hopeful Stakes (2000m), two lengths ahead of runner-up Giovanni.
Despite returning after nearly four months without a preparation run, the striking brown colt is expected to repeat his Group 1-winning performance over the same distance and course, matching the feats of Contrail in 2020 and Saturnalia in 2019.
All systems were go after final work at Ritto on Wednesday (16 April) with jockey Yuichi Kitamura taking the reins aboard Croix Du Nord. The colt breezed, relaxed and maintaining steady contact, alongside a training partner for a time of 1m 24.60s over1200m on the slightly heavy woodchip flat.
“He’s using his body more freely and moving more on his own. He remained focused and had a lot in reserve. It was excellent work,” said trainer Takashi Saito. “He has done everything we wanted of him.”
“He finished strongly in the Hopeful Stakes. I had been a bit worried about it being his first time to the right, but he handled it well. He had a five-month gap between his first two races, so I don’t think this time will be any more difficult. Ideally, I would have liked him to weigh a bit more and, with the trip to the track, that’s the only concern I have.”
Chosen the Best Two-Year-Old Colt of 2024 by the Japan Racing Association, Croix Du Nord has so far raced only over fast ground. With rain a possibility on Sunday, there could be more concerns.
Kitamura, however, is determined to win and said: “He’s very agile and highly manouvreable.
He’s calm and level-headed and has few flaws. I do not want to lose. That’s all I can say. And, for a horse that makes me want to say that, I have nothing but the utmost gratitude.”
Other likely top choices for the spring classic went through their paces with Satono Shining, winner of the G3 Kisaragi Sho (1800m) on 9 February training up the Ritto hill course and G3 Kyodo News Hai (1800m) winner Masquerade Ball took the slope at Miho. Eri King is also unbeaten but has not raced since his win of the G3 Kyoto Nisai Stakes (2000m) in November. Giovanni, second in the Hopeful Stakes and also second in the Kyoto Nisai Stakes, has yet to miss the top two spots in his five starts so far. He returns from a sharpener in the listed Wakaba Stakes (2000m) at Hanshin on 22 March.
Christophe Lemaire is to be paired with Vincentio, who is trained by Kazutomo Mori, whose Embroidery won last week’s G1 Oka Sho under Joao Moreira.
