Dad beats son to become oldest winning rider of a stakes race in Japan

The Japan Racing Association's autumn racing season has arrived, and the first Graded stakes was the Shion Stakes, a Shuka Sho trial, at Nakayama on Saturday, which has been upgraded to Grade 2 this year.

The fourth favourite Moryana was settled in rear to preserve her stamina under Norihiro Yokoyama, and was still only fifth-last in the 17-strong field on the home bend, but she flew in the straight to catch second favourite Hip Hop Soul for an unlikely victory - the runner-up was ridden by the winning jockey’s son Takeshi.

Half a length was the margin of success, with Shirankedo a further length and a quarter back in third.

Moryana, the Northern Farm-bred Epiphaneia three-year-old filly out of Daiwa Major's winning mare Garder Le Sourire, is owned by Fukio Takahashi and trained by Yoshinori Muto. This was a third win from seven starts.

Yokoyama snr became the oldest jockey on Japan Racing Association records to win a Graded stakes contest, being 55 years, six months and 16 days old.

He said: "She has been a very talented filly. Today, after the summer break, she was struggling a bit so I took care of her, but she was still able to perform well.

“She is still a young filly and has a lot of good qualities, so I hope she progresses safely from here."

Yokoyama jnr, on the runner-up, said: "Our race score was 100 points, but the winner's was 120 points."

The first three earned the right to contest the Grade 1 Shuka Sho, in  which Liberty Island, who is hailed as the best filly of this generation, will attempt to land the fillies’ Triple Crown. 

She will arrive at trainer Mitsu Nakauchida's yard at the Ritto Training Centre on Tuesday, from Northern Farm Shigaraki, where she has spent her summer vacation. The plan is to head to the Shuka Sho without a prep race.

Read this next:

Olivier Delloye rejoins Arqana