Saturnalia's Rodeo Drive in barnstorming finish to land Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup

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Saturnalia colt Rodeo Drive produced a barnstorming finish to land Grade 1 honours in the NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo on Sunday. 

The Northern Racing-bred three-year-old began his career with a win at Nakayama in December and added another win at that track in March before finishing a neck second in the Grade 2 New Zealand Trophy last month. 

He is the second individual Grade 1 winner for Shadai Stallion Station's Saturnalia, a son of Lord Kanaloa who landed the Hopeful Stakes at two and Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) at three. 

Saturnalia is also responsible for last year's Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes winner and champion juvenile colt Cavallerizzo, who was unplaced in Sunday’s race, as well as January's Grade 2 American Jockey Club Cup victor Shohei and Grade 3 winners Justin Vista, Festival Hill and Fandom.

Ridden by Damian Lane, the Tetsuhide Tsuji-trained colt broke from stall 17 and settled towards the rear of the field. The pace-setting Yu Pharoah led the field into the home stretch but gradually ran out of steam, with third favourite Diamond Knot kicking into gear to take pole position at the 200m pole. 

Ask Ikigomi, with Rodeo Drive in close pursuit, entered the straight near the back of the field and unleashed a remarkable challenge down the outside. After picking off his rivals one by one, Rodeo Drive stayed on well to catch the Lord Kanaloa colt on the line. A length and a quarter away in third was Admire Quads, a son of Real Steel.

Lane, who was landing his seventh JRA Grade 1 win, said: “I’m relieved to get the best out of the horse. I’m happy with his speed — his best trait is his closing speed, he was able to finish off really strongly today and sustained a strong run to the finish. The colt's improving all the time, now he's performed very well in Grade 1 company, I expect him to race at this level for some time."

Rodeo Drive is the well-named sixth foal out of the dual-winning Snitzel mare Beverly Hills. A half-sister to dual Japanese Grade 1 winner Company and Grade 3 scorer Historical, the 14-year-old has a yearling filly by Mr Melody and was last covered by Danon Kingly. 

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