Admire Moon lands his first top-level winner

Admire Moon landed his first top-level winner when his son Seiun Kosei landed the six-furlong Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo on Sunday, one of ten legs of the Global Sprint Challenge.

Smoothly away, the four-year-old colt was settled in fourth place under jockey Hideaki Miyuki. Coming wide entering the home straight, Seiun Kosei accelerated past Let’s Go Donki, a daughter of King Kamehameha, to win by a length and a quarter.

Seiun Kosei won the Listed Yodo Tankyori Stakes in January and also finished second in the Grade 3 Silk Road Stakes at Kyoto later that month.

Seiun Kosei was bred by Sakurai Bokujo and is one of five winners out of the Capote mare Observant, a half-sister to three black-type winners.

Admire Moon, a top-class middle-distance performer, was retired to stud in 2008 having won the Dubai Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba and the Japan Cup at Tokyo and stands at Darley in Japan at a fee of ¥1.5 million (£10,800/€12,500).

There was also stakes success on Sunday for another Darley Japan resident in King's Best, when his nine-year-old son Mighty Mouse won the Listed Grand Prix Aufgalopp at Dusseldorf in Germany. Remarkably, this was his second win in the race, having also won it in 2012.