Potager provides Deep Impact with 55th top-flight winner in thrilling Osaka Hai

Potager caused something of an upset in the Group 1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin on Sunday, the 58-1 shot beating Lei Papale by a neck, with Arrivo a nose away in third in an exciting finish.

Odds-on favourite Efforia finished only ninth of the 16 runners in the mile and a quarter contest on turf for four-year-olds and up.

The Yasuo Tomomichi-trained Potager was ridden by Hayato Yoshida, with the pair initially chasing the strong pacesetting second favourite Jack D'Or.

Lei Papale, who was defending his crown, snatched the lead off Jack D'or at the top of the home straight but was run down by Potager in the final strides.

Arrivo, who was closing fast on the outside, was ridden by Yutaka Take instead of Christophe Lemaire, who had received a penalty due to violating family and other test result reporting obligations after returning to Japan from the UAE, as required under JRA rules.

The hot favourite and 2021 Horse of the Year Efforia raced in midfield and was urged on by regular rider Takeshi Yokoyama, but he couldn't respond.

Five-year-old Potager becomes the late Deep Impact's 55th top-flight winner. Purchased by Kaneko Makoto Holdings for ¥190,000,000 (£1.18m/€1.40m) at the 2018 JRHA Select Yearling and Foal Sale, he is out of multiple US Grade 1-winning champion mare Ginger Punch, making him a half-brother to Grade 2 scorer Rouge Buck.

Ginger Punch's six US dirt Grade 1 wins came in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Distaff, the Go For Wand Handicap, which she won twice, the Personal Ensign Stakes, Ogden Phipps Handicap and the Ruffian Handicap.

This was Potager's sixth win from 15 career starts but his first at Graded stakes level.

Winning rider Yoshida said: "I was against strong horses, but aiming for one shot. He didn't go ahead in the previous run, and today the post position was good, so I went to a prominent position.

"I thought the pace was fast, but I had to keep up with it to win. At the third corner there were horses that could withstand this pace and horses that couldn't, so it was easy from there. At the end, I chased after watching Lei Papale. He is a smart horse."

Efforia's rider Takeshi Yokoyama reported: "I didn't feel he was quite himself in the preliminaries, and maybe in training one week before the race he was physically looking like he might just have needed this run back [having not raced since December]."

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