Redentor Holds The Key In Tenno Sho

[Wandering Eyes]

For the first time in seven years, the winner of the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) is absent from Sunday's 3200-metre G1 Tenno Sho (Spring). However, there is still an able deputy on hand in Kikuka Sho runner-up Redentor.

The son of Rulership is in fighting form to boot, as he ran out a four-length winner of the 3400-metre G3 Diamond Stakes in February. If he prevails on May 4, he would be the first St Leger runner-up to win the Tenno Sho since 2000. Damian Lane has the call and the duo will leave from stall six.

Assistant trainer Yuya Tsuchida said, “It [the Diamond Stakes] was a strong win and the jockey did a great job too. After a short spell, we were able to pick right up where we'd left off in training. He's better all around.”

Kikuka Sho fifth Byzantine Dream (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) also enters on the back of a victory, in his case, a tally in the 3000-metre G2 Red Sea Turf Handicap in Riyadh on the same day as Redentor's Diamond Stakes score. Booked all the way out in stall 14 in the 15-strong field, the colt will have the services of Andrasch Starke. This pair are aiming for their first Japan Racing Association Group 1 title.

One better than Byzantine Dream in the Kikuka Sho, Shonan La Punta (Kizuna) ran second in the G2 Nikkei Shinshun Hai in January and was fourth to Sunrise Earth (Rey De Oro) in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten over 3000 metres at Hanshin in March. Eight-time Tenno Sho (Spring)-winning jockey Yutaka Take has the call. Among his five individual winners are 2006 victor Deep Impact and Kitasan Black, who won the race in 2016/17.

“It turned out to be a tricky race,” Take told NetKeiba of the Hanshin Daishoten. “I had a sense it might be that way, [with a] small field, barrier one, [and] the heavy favourite. But he showed a decent turn of foot at the end. He didn't pull as much as I expected, and I feel Kyoto Racecourse will suit him better.”

The race is not just about the 4-year-olds, with veteran and 2023 Tenno Sho (Spring) hero Justin Palace (Deep Impact) ready to rumble, as is 2024 edition second Blow The Horn (Epiphaneia). They leave from stall 13 and three, respectively.

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