Five-year-old mare Marialite captured her second G1 title in this year’s Takarazuka Kinen to become the third mare to claim the spring all-star race following Sweep Tosho in 2005. The Deep Impact mare captured her first G1 title in last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) and finished fourth against strong G1 horses in the year-end Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m). Marialite kicked off this season with a third in the Nikkei Sho (G2, 2,500m) in March and was runner-up in her previous start, the Meguro Kinen (G2, 2,500m) on May 29. This victory gave
trainer Takashi Kubota his second JRA-G1 victory following the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, which he won with the  mare.

For jockey Masayoshi Ebina, this marked his 26th JRA-G1 title following his Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) victory with Dee Majesty in April. Breaking sharply from an outside draw, eighth favorite Marialite traveled wide in mid-division and edged her way forward while turning the last corners the widest of the field. Once entering the homestretch, the Deep Impact mare made bid, surging out behind and overtaking the defending champion Lovely Day 100 meters out, and continued to accelerate strongly to capture Kitasan Black just before the wire while holding off the powerful late charge by Duramente for a neck victory.

“She was in her best form of her spring campaign. Also, the somewhat soft going and the draw all worked well for her. She responded well to my urgings and smoothly advanced forward from the 3rd-4th corner. She ran a perfect race. I think that the patience of the connection to wait for her to mature has led to this success,” commented Masayoshi Ebina. Heavy favorite Duramente broke slowly and settled toward the rear, around fifth from last. Entering the homestretch in mid-division between horses, the King Kamehameha colt swung wide to find an open space, then unleashed a fierce late charge to chase the leaders—fastest last three furlongs in the field—managing to pass the wire a nose before Kitasan Black but a neck short of the winner in second. The colt, however, slipped after crossing the wire and was diagnosed to have lameness in his left foreleg.
Second pick Kitasan Black, breaking from stall three, immediately took command to set the pace as expected and, although overtaken by Marialite and Duramente in the last few strides, held on well to finish third.

Meanwhile the Japanese-based Italian jockey of Duramente Mirco Demuro, who was on board last year's Japanese 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner, said: "After the finishing line he slipped on the wet ground and seemed to injure his left fore."

Shunsuke Yoshida, the representative of Duramente's owners Sunday Racing Co Ltd. "I heard that he injured his left-fore leg when he lost his balance after the race. He is being x-rayed now. No Arc."

Other Horses:
4th: (7) Lovely Day—raced 3-wide in 8th, showed effort and advanced to 2nd, outrun in last 100m
5th: (8) Staphanos—traveled 3-wide in mid-pack, accelerated until 100m out but weakened
6th: (15) Satono Crown—sat 3-wide around 4th from rear, showed belated charge at stretch
7th: (6) Last Impact—settled in mid-group, showed effort until 200m marker, then weakened
8th: (12) Satono Noblesse—ran 3-wide around 5th, ran gamely until furlong pole, outrun thereafter
9th: (5) Cheval Grand—saved ground around 7th, found little room at early stretch, even paced
10th: (14) Hit the Target—raced 3rd from rear, entered last to stretch, quickened briefly
11th: (10) Curren Mirotic—traveled around 6th, lacked needed kick at stretch
12th: (13) Touching Speech—trailed in rear, circled wide, passed tired rivals at stretch
13th: (17) Yamakatsu Ace—sat near rear, turned wide, unable to reach contention
14th: (4) One and Only—pressed pace in 2nd, ran out of steam at top of stretch
15th: (11) Toho Jackal—stalked leaders in 3rd, met traffic 300m out, lost momentum
16th: (2) Ambitious—chased leaders in 4th, sustained bid until 300m out, gradually dropped back
17th: (1) Fame Game—hugged rails in mid-division, failed to respond, faded  

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