Ten Happy Rose and Akihide Tsumura end long wait to hit the big time in Tokyo

Major outsider Ten Happy Rose stayed on best of all to land easily the biggest prize of her career in the Victoria Mile at Tokyo on Sunday.

The Group 1 event is the turf mile showcase for the fillies and mares and the runner with the second-longest odds in the 15-horse field came a length and a quarter clear under Akihide Tsumura, beating Christophe Lemaire's Fierce Pride, while the favourite Masked Diva finished third by a neck. Namur, the runner- up of the Dubai Turf in March, was a disappointing eighth after a slow start.

Ten Happy Rose, a six-year-old daughter of Epiphaneia out of the winning Tanino Gimlet mare Fatal Rose, was scoring for the sixth time on what was her 24th start, her biggest previous success having been in a Listed race for owner Yasushi Tempaku, breeder Shadai Farm and trainer Daisuke Takayanagi, whose T O Password was fifth in last weekend's Kentucky Derby.

Ten Happy Rose passes the line in front in the Victoria MileCredit: Masakazu Takahashi

It was of particular significance for Tsumura, as it was a first Group 1 triumph in a 21-year career.

"I urged with all my might at the straight, but it felt so long," he said. "I knew she would be better racing on a counter clockwise course, so I trusted her and hoped she would do well around the last corner. 

"It took me a while to win the Group 1. I never gave up, and I worked hard, even in the small races, so that I could ride in Group 1s every year. My family supported me every time."

She was a fifth top-level winner for Shadai resident Epiphaneia, whose daughter Stellenbosch took last month's Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas).

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