Rain looms as a potentially decisive factor ahead of the G1 Mile Championship (1600m) at Hanshin on Sunday (20 November) when 17 runners bid for glory in one of Japan’s most treasured elite contests.

With rain again threatening Hanshin on race day and memories of last week’s heavy track in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200m) still fresh, punters will be hedging their bets.

Unlike the past two years, when Gran Alegria ruled supreme and became the sixth horse to win successive Mile Championships, this year has no single standout. The race has attracted only 17 runners, leaving one gate empty – a rare occurrence in Japan and indicative of the strength of the field.

And, if the rain materialises, the field may become even more level. 

A standout of another kind is a three-time G1 winner, the dazzling white Sodashi, who looks like she stepped out of a fairytale. The four-year-old filly has won over distances from 1600m to 2000m.

But her G1 victories have all been over the mile and in races restricted solely to females. From a win of the G1 Victoria Mile (1600m) this spring, she ran fifth and second in her next two outings, the most recent a G2 over 1800m at Tokyo. A return to the Hanshin 1600m, where she won her other two G1s, bodes well. She’s also had a bit of experience over heavy ground with a third in her February Stakes run.

Her closest two rivals are thought to be German-bred Schnell Meister and Salios. The former – a four-year-old son of Kingman – was second only three quarters of a length behind Gran Alegria here last year.

Winner of last year’s NHK Mile Cup, a G1 mile for three-year-olds, Schnell Meister also posted a third in the 2021 G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m). This year he followed up an eighth in the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) with a second in the Yasuda Kinen and prepared for this race in the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m), where he finished ninth. Christophe Lemaire is his new partner this year and the Frenchman, a Japan perennial, is gunning for his third Mile Championship win in a row.

The Heart’s Cry five-year-old Salios is also a strong candidate. Winner of the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m) as a two-year-old, he has failed to make the winner’s circle in a top-level race since, not for lack of trying though, and he has come very close. He has taken on the Mile Championship twice before, for a fifth and sixth. He is coming off a win of the G2 Mainichi Okan (1800m) and looking good.

Ryan Moore, who has ridden Salios once before, for his Futurity Stakes win, is set to ride. And though after riding work Wednesday (16 November) Moore expressed some concern about the chance of rain, compared to the rest of the field, Salios has plenty of experience over heavy and slightly heavy going, and he’s fared well over it.

After the likely top three in Japan come Serifos and Danon Scorpion. The three-year-old Serifos has contested only mile events and he’s only encountered fast ground. He’s a son of Daiwa Major, one of the successive Mile Championship winners. Serifos was second in the Futurity Stakes, then posted two fourths in the NHK Mile Cup and Yasuda Kinen. He’s fresh off a win of the G2 Fuji Stakes (1600m) and will have new partner Damian Lane up.

Another youngster, Danon Scorpion, scooped the NHK Mile Cup this year. He was third in the Fuji Stakes last out and will be paired with regular rider Yuga Kawada, current leading jockey and set to represent Japan in the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley on 7 December. Danon Scorpion has had some experience over slightly heavy ground, including his debut win over the Hanshin mile.

After that, names garnering attention are Justin Cafe, Soul Rush, Danon The Kid and Win Carnelian, who just scored his first G3 on a three-race winning streak. For those who love a longshot, there’s Piece of Eight, with last week’s G1 winner Cristian Demuro expected in the saddle.