Dolce More pulls out all the stops to remain unbeaten in the Asahi Hai Futurity

Favourite Dolce More held on in a thrilling finish to the Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at Hanshin on Sunday, maintaining his unbeaten record from the fast-finishing Danon Touchdown and the British-bred Frankel colt Labeling.

Racing in third place initially, the Shimokobe Farm-bred colt took up the lead with a furlong to go in the mile contest, seeing off the fast-finishing second and third by a neck and half a length.

The son of Shadai Stallion Station's Rulership was bred to be a top-class performer as he is the fourth foal out of Deep Impact's Grade 1 Oka Sho heroine Ayusan and from a family that includes an American Grade 1 winner.

He is the third top-flight winner for his sire, himself a winner of the Group 1 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup at Sha Tin in 2012. Rulership is the sire of 48 black-type performers, including 16 individual Group scorers. Dolce More was already one of those having struck in the Grade 3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup in Tokyo in October.

Winning rider Ryusei Sakai said: “I'm so happy and I'd like to thank everyone involved for giving me this opportunity, the owner has given me many chances, so I think I was able to repay the faith. I knew this horse perfectly after riding him in training for four weeks in a row.

"As I had discussed with the trainer, I let a couple of horses move ahead, and I was able to ride the race as planned. There was a horse who won over shorter distances up front, so the [fast] pace was expected. He responded up the straight and finished well."

Jockey Yuga Kawada said of the runner-up: “He ran a great race to finish second, I think he will improve as he gets stronger and he's a horse to look forward to."

Takeshi Yokoyama, rider of Labeling, added: “He's an exciting horse. He started well and used his stride well but the winner couldn't be caught on the inside.

"That was only the second race of his career, so I think there's plenty more to come from him."

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