The 85th running of the G1 Kikuka Sho (3000m) at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday (20 October) is Japan’s final three-year-old Classic with a gruelling test of stamina on turf.

A field of 18 colts is set to vie for a share of the JPY432 million purse (approx. HK$23.58 million).

With none of the contestants tried over the distance, the Kikuka Sho is always a difficult race to predict and this year is no different. More than a handful of names including Urban Chic, Cosmo Kuranda, Meisho Tabaru, and the less-often heard Redentor, Shonan La Punta, Admire Terra and Byzantine Dream, are being tossed about.

Following Wednesday’s (16 October) work, however, one name in particular has settled on centre stage and in the spotlight – Danon Decile.

In April, just moments before the G1 Satsuki Sho (2000m), the first race in Japan’s Triple Crown, veteran jockey Norihiro Yokoyama insisted something was amiss with his mount Danon Decile.

Yokoyama’s awareness resulted in the colt being scratched the race with the runners behind the barriers and the rider’s trust in his instincts may have saved the colt’s career, even his life. Though only the jockey was able to perceive a problem before the race, Danon Decile became visibly lame in his right foreleg later in the day.

The following month, as race ninth pick, Danon Decile surprised yet again, this time by capturing the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2400m). Now, this coming Sunday, the big chestnut will likely be a far more popular choice with the fans.

Already a big colt tipping the scales at 504kg (1111lb) for the Derby, Danon Decile has put on considerable weight in the near five months since he last raced.

Trainer Shogo Yasuda himself breezed the big chestnut up the hill course at Ritto on Wednesday in a time of 54.2s over 800m, with a final 200m in 13.1s.

“We were able to get through it without him getting excited. And I had to soothe him far less than I had to before the Derby,” the trainer said.

Yasuda, who had wanted to become a jockey but was too big to be admitted to jockey school, instead became a trainer’s assistant. Training was not in mind, until, after accompanying Curren Chan and Lord Kanaloa to Hong Kong, he decided to set his sights on becoming a trainer, and passed the test in 2016. This year’s Derby was his first Group 1 victory.

Now, he’s hungry for more and Danon Decile is being seen as perhaps the field’s strongest candidate to land the Kikuka Sho. The colt is fresh and has grown considerably from the Derby.

“I figured this summer would be a hot one,” said Yasuda. “And I thought giving him a ‘prep’ could prove too much for his races to follow. Despite the time between here and the Derby, he has gotten a lot of work and his preparation for the Kikuka Sho, even without a race in between, will be convincing.”

“He’s always had a big frame but he didn’t have that much flesh on him. Now he’s not only grown taller but he has filled out,” said Yasuda.

Jockey Yokoyama noticed the change as well.

“He has really gotten taller. His body is magnificent,” he said.

Yokoyama rode fast work last week, covering 1200m over the flat woodchip course in 1m 18.1s, a personal best for Danon Decile and 1.5s faster than his work before the Derby.

“His movement was absolutely fabulous. I didn’t even feel that he was moving fast, but his time was fantastic. He’s definitely much better than he was in the spring,” the 56-year-old veteran rider said.

As for the distance, Yokoyama welcomes the extra ground, a 600m increase over the Derby.

“I had a hard time even getting him to stop after the Derby. And I’d thought even then that he would be better with more ground. And as for being well in hand, he always has been. I’m really looking forward to the race,” he said.

Yokoyama has scored only one win of the Kikuka Sho, a wire-to-wire win in 1998 aboard Seiun Sky, that year’s Satsuki Sho winner and Derby fourth-place finisher.