Everyone hopes the cherry blossoms will just stick around another week to provide the perfect backdrop to the race that takes their name. The Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) will be Race 11 on the card at Hanshin on Sunday, with a post time of 15:40 locally.

Competition among the 3-year-old fillies looks stiff/ Harp Star and Apapane tie the race record when they posted the time of 1 minute 33.3 seconds in 2014 and 2010 respectively, and both those fillies were sent off first favorite, Harp Star being the last favorite to win the race.  There have only been three market leaders to win in the last ten years.

Here’s a look at some of the fillies expected to head the market:

Lucky Lilac: The impeccably bred chestnut filly is indeed an exciting prospect, as she has won every one of her four career starts so far, the latest when she ran out a 2 length winner of the Grade 2 Tulip Sho last month over 1,600 meters at Hanshin, her only start as a 3-year-old.  The daughter of Orfevre won last year’s Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies also at the track, and was a unanimous choice for Champion 2-year-old filly last year.  Trained at the JRA Ritto Training Center by Mikio Matsunaga, the man knows what it takes to win the race, having won it as a jockey twice, aboard Kyoei March in 1997 and Cheers Grace in 2000. 

Almond Eye: The likely big race ride for jockey Christophe Lemaire, the filly by Lord Kanaloa will go into the race having won the Grade 3 Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen in January, over 1,600 meters at Kyoto.  Trained by eleven times Grade 1 level race winning trainer, Sakae Kunieda, who sent out Apapane to win in 2010, the trainer has a good prospect in Almond Eye. 

Mau Lea: The filly by Deep Impact has done little wrong in her five race career so far. She was third in last year’s Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, and was second to Lucky Lilac last time in the Grade 2 Tulip Sho over 1,600 meters at Hanshin.  Yutaka Take is expected to ride her for the second time after his efforts in the Tulip Sho.  Trained by Takahisa Tezuka, who won the race in 2013 with Ayusan

Lily Noble: Another filly in the Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. silks, the daughter of Rulership has had four starts all over 1,600 meters, and boasts two wins as a 2-year-old, as well as a second and third in her other two races, the latter her only start as a 3-year-old.

Liberty Heights: Bred at Shadai Farm, the daughter of King Kamehameha is two wins, one second and one third in her four career starts.  She’s coming off a narrow win in the Grade 2 Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue over 1,400 meters at Hanshin in March, where she was sent off the eighth favorite. 

Encore Plus: The dark bay filly by Deep Impact is owned and bred by Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co. Ltd., and the respected owner has an interesting filly in Encore Plus.  The horse is two wins from three starts, and has won and finished second in two races at the Hanshin track. 

Harlem Line: The filly by Manhattan Cafe has won her last three races, the latest the Anemone Stakes over 1,600 meters at Nakayama in March, and this makes her unbeaten as a 3-year-old.  Jockey Takuya Ono has partnered her six times, so he certainly knows what the filly is about.

The horses carry a set weight of 55kgs, and a prize money boost this year means 105 million yen awaits for the first filly to cross the line in this year’s race.  Lead up races to this year’s Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) include three races run in March.  They are the Grade 2 Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue at Hanshin over 1,400 meters (an official Guineas trial), the Grade 2 Tulip Sho, also at Hanshin over 1,600 meters, and the Open Class Anemone Stakes over 1,600 meters at Nakayama. The Hanshin track, between the cities of Osaka and Kobe, and a stone’s throw from Osaka’s Itami airport, has long been the venue for the first Classic of the year, the Grade 1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas).  This year sees the 78th running of the race, run over a mile on the outer turf course, which is fairly level throughout, until the final uphill push from the 200 meter mark to the winning post.

By Ritesh jamkhedkar-Ritesh.jamkhedkar@secretariatsworld.com