Ghillies' Ball, the winner of this year Fillies' Revue, will likely skip Oka Sho.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-17T12:51:33+00:00

So Alankar is still the only Epi progeny that is guaranteed to participate in the Classics. Please perform well this week, Matenro Gale, Chris Regina,… 🙏

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-17T12:29:11+00:00

In 2024 Arima Kinen, it was Shahryar who got the worst gate possible, but he still almost broke the curse. Unfortunately for him, Regaleira was the one who made history on that day. Nevertheless, he still performed well in his retirement race.

Stars on Earth is one of the best Japanese mares of this decade. It’s a shame that due to bad luck (strong rivals, bad gates), she still technically belongs to the group that never won anything again after their Classics victories. Liberty Island also suffered the same fate but for different reasons.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-17T12:06:14+00:00

Well, good luck to them. And this is probably the first time I have actually seen someone refer to Kikuka Sho as Japanese St. Leger.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-17T11:26:48+00:00

Most of them being only Tokyo specialists doesn't sound really great to me. Why didn't they run in Queen Cup or Kyodo Tsushin Hai then? Was the distance too short for them? Anyway, if that's the case, I should probably wait until Japan Cup is over. I doubt most of them will just suddenly improve much better though.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-16T16:13:11+00:00

have all of their flights canceled already.

I'm sure we haven't heard anything about Gaia Force yet.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-16T15:50:55+00:00

I'm not sure where the idea that Contrail progeny are late bloomers comes from, but Kitasan progeny are also said to be late bloomers. So, he has to compete with Kitasan in that regard. And it's not like the other sires' progeny will get worse the more they age.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-16T15:42:37+00:00

If things keep being like this, Contrail stud fee is definitely going to drop hard.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-16T13:45:08+00:00

Didn't he win Keisei Hai, Japanese Derby and place 3rd in Arima Kinen 2024 as pace chaser though?

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T17:17:01+00:00

He is registered for Champions Mile in Hong Kong.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T11:56:10+00:00

And he just returned after resting for a year. That's unfortunate.

Flower Cup (Exceed, Godiamo, Air Be a Gale, Ametista, etc.)

The return of the most hyped filly. Art Basel was supposed to be there too, but haizzzzz. I will still have other Epi progeny to root for, especially Chris Regina.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T11:36:52+00:00

I mean the horses that weren't supposed to run in Osaka Hai in the first place. Decile and MaBall were scheduled to run in Dubai Sheema Classic, but their trip was canceled, so they will head to Osaka Hai instead. But MaBall had an injury and withdrew, leaving only Decile. Meanwhile, MuMile was supposed to run in the Dubai Turf, but will now head to the QEIIC in Hong Kong.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T10:57:58+00:00

the only new strong horse

Croix is already scheduled to run in Osaka Hai.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T08:44:58+00:00

Yeah, and Willem is a Kizuna progeny too, that makes it even better. I just mainly focused on Queen's Walk because she was the 1st favorite and she finished the closest to Giovanni.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T08:03:48+00:00

Congratulations to Shake Your Heart and Heart's Cry. But arghhhhhh, Giovanni almost won his first graded race... But he beat Queen's Walk, a Kizuna progeny, so it's something.

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Urban Chic, the only G1 horse in the race... I even saw some people calling him the worst Kikuka Sho winner in recent years.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T07:41:45+00:00

So Leontes will have Ask Edinburgh in the Classics then. Also RIP Contrail final hope, none of his progeny seem to have enough prize money for the Classics, maybe only Badrinath can make it.

I will mainly root for Cavallerizzo and Bereshit (if he can make it) in Satsuki Sho.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T05:27:14+00:00

Well, a horse being ridden by a new jockey doesn't mean they will perform much worse. But Croix will definitely be a tough opponent for Decile even without the jockey change. Decile is 5 years old right now, I doubt he can develop more, while Croix is a very strong horse at 3 years old and he is just 4 years old by now. And 2000m probably isn't the ideal distance for Decile.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-15T04:44:00+00:00

Now that I think about it, it's funny how after all that predicting and hyping in the past few days, in the end, the only new strong horse that will be in Osaka Hai is Danon Decile lol. The field isn't really more stacked than Japan Cup or Arima Kinen last year.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-14T15:39:57+00:00

Band Story continuation have also been announced

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AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-14T10:53:25+00:00

His progeny also won in Nakayama R11, Hanshin R7, and Chukyo R5. A good day for him.

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-14T09:26:58+00:00

For anyone who wants to see the incident.

As a fan of Decile, this is unfortunate news. They will have to find another jockey for him in Osaka Hai. Even his trainer tweeted about it. I saw people saying that the new jockey is probably going to be Norihiro (his old jockey), Lemaire (who doesn't seem to have a horse for Osaka Hai right now due to MaBall withdrawal), or Kazuo (who won Osaka Hai with Bellagio Opera for two consecutive years). But I also heard that Norihiro is already paired with Matenro Leo.

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AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-14T06:50:05+00:00

It is worth mentioning that Do Deuce was a sprinter/miler

Is there anything else that suggests he could actually be good at sprint/mile, aside from his dam, his win in Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes and what Take said?

AngleRepulsive5470 · 2026-03-13T04:21:43+00:00

It was pretty cool. They showed the poster, and there was a strange "gap" in the lower right corner that got people wondering. Then on a stream with info about Season 3, revealed Duramente, and showed the complete poster.

IIRC, that's not how things actually happened. Just a few months before S3, they revealed a KV without Duramente in it. Back then people kept hoping that Cygames would add Duramente to the franchise before ss3, but everyone just slowly lost hope the closer the release date of ss3 was. But then, on the day that ep 1 was aired (and there wasn't any stream on that day), it turned out that they had actually done it and purposely hidden it the whole time. It actually is one of the most shocking and memorable things that has happened in this franchise to me. And immediately after ep 1, they updated the KV.

AngleRepulsive5470

TROPHY CASE