The super three – Contrail, Salios and Satono Flag – maintained their grip on popularity heading in to Sunday’s (19 April) G1 Satsuki Sho at Nakayama. Final workouts were held at both JRA training centres on Wednesday (15 April) ahead of the 2000m turf classic, the first leg in Japan’s Triple Crown.

Salios and Contrail are both unbeaten with three starts and one two-year-old G1 victory apiece. Satono Flag has three firsts from four starts and scooped the G2 Yayoi Sho over the course and distance. All three colts will be meeting for the first time amid an all-male full field of 18, in what will be the Satsuki Sho’s 80th running.

G1 Hopeful Stakes (2000m, Nakayama) winner Contrail worked up the Ritto hill course under an assistant to Yoshito Yahagi. The 2019 JRA Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and son of Deep Impact covered the four furlongs in a time of 52.9s without urging, bringing high praise from his trainer. “He was well in hand and his responses were extremely good,” Yahagi said.

Veteran jockey Yuichi Fukunaga will be in the saddle on Sunday as he looks to capture his first Satsuki Sho on his 19th bid.

Salios, who won the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m) at Hanshin in December and goes to the Satsuki Sho without a prep, worked in a trio on the Miho woodchip flat on Wednesday. The Heart’s Cry colt worked over five furlongs on the flat, in tandem and under jockey Shu Ishibashi. He clocked 1m 07.8s with no urging. Damian Lane, in from Australia, has the Satsuki Sho ride.

Also over the Miho flat, the Deep Impact-sired Satono Flag worked under Lyle Hewitson. He clocked 1m 05.6s for five furlongs with a 11.8s final furlong time. “He worked hard last week (1m 03.6s over five furlongs on a fast track), so this week I just had the rider focus on the final stage,” said trainer Sakae Kunieda. “His footwork was as I wanted it and he’s calm too.”

The past 10 runnings have seen the Satsuki Sho favourite win only three times and figure out of the top three spots four times. It’s a race that can and does surprise, with dark horses and even longshots having finished in the top three in six of the last 10 runnings.

My Rhapsody was three for three going into his first start of the year, the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai (1800m) at Tokyo on 16 February, but suffered his first loss and finished fourth.

“He was slow getting his engine revved in the final turn,” said Ritto-based trainer Yasuo Tomomichi. “But, his responses have improved in work after that.” His time up the hill on Wednesday was 54.4 seconds without urging. “He can really move if his engine fires. I’m hoping he’ll get it revved early this time.”

Weltreisende, runner-up in both the Hopeful Stakes and last out in the G2 Spring Stakes (1800m) at Nakayama, worked in tandem on the Ritto flat with a six-furlong drill much the same as last week’s but a time more than two seconds slower.

“The workouts look similar but his movement was much, much better this week,” said jockey Kenichi Ikezoe.

Crystal Black goes to the Satsuki Sho with only two starts to his name, the last being a win in the G3 Keisei Hai at the course and distance on 19 January. Working up the Miho hill on Wednesday with a training partner, he gave a strong performance that saw him finish in front by two lengths, with a time of 55.6s over 800m on a heavy track.

Also given high marks for their final workouts were Kyodo News Service Hai winner Darlington Hall, Rhinebeck, fourth in the Hopeful Stakes, G3 Kisaragi Sho (1800m) winner Cortesia, Listed Wakaba Stakes (2000m) runner-up Chimera Verite and Kyodo News Service Hai runner-up Bitterender.