The race favorite scooped the prize for the second week in a row at Tokyo Racecourse as Buena Vista topped the 18-strong field of Japan’s crème de la crème females by a neck Sunday in the fifth running of the Victoria Mile. Very fast turf on another sun-blessed afternoon stopped the clock at 1:32.4 over the 1,600 meters.

A race delay of nine minutes while Bravo Daisy had a shoe replaced seemed to have had no detrimental effect on Buena Vista, as she caught dark-horse Hikaru Amaranthus, at the wire in yet another of close-call, breath-stopping finishes.

Jockey Norihiro Yokoyama rode the 4-year-old daughter of Special Week a bit further forward than many of her previous races. Some four horses off the back until the field rounded for home, Buena Vista shadowed Red Desire running directly ahead to the inside. The strategy proved a winning one though still a hair-raiser. With 200 meters to go, Buena Vista remained some 7 lengths off Bravo Daisy, who had gone to the front along fellow gray Best Location. 2010 Victoria Mile (G1)

Red Desire, also back from Dubai and a win of the Al Maktoum Challenge III but a disappointing 11th-place performance her last time out in the Dubai World Cup, picked up the pace at the top of the stretch, cueing Buena Vista to shift into high gear behind her.

Bravo Daisy looked to be holding her own at the front, but proved no match in the final strides as a wall of six horses led by Hikaru Amaranthus overtook her eight strides before the finish.

Buena Vista’s stupendous kick, however, moved her powerfully forward to do battle with Hikaru Amaranthus edging her in the final moment as Buena Vista covered the final 600 meters in 33.5 seconds. Three-quarters of a length later was longshot Nishino Blue Moon, in third, who surged forward along with Red Desire at the top of the stretch to pass the G1 2009 Shuka Sho champion Red Desire and cross the wire ahead of her by a nose. Broad Street made the board in fifth place.

Buena Vista had headlined the field along with second choice Red Desire as the only two G1 winners in the field. Buena Vista was paired once again with Norihiro Yokoyama after being ridden in her last outing by Olivier Peslier to a second-place finish in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 27.

It was her third race and second win with Yokoyama after harrowing finishes with former rider Katsumi Ando prompted a change of riders from last year’s Arima Kinen. Yokoyama was blatantly overjoyed at the win of the Victoria Mile. Normally considerably more subdued, the 42-year-old Yokoyama bent over his filly to kiss her on both sides of her neck. He then rode a slow victory pass before the roaring fans while standing tall in his stirrups and threw his whip into the crowd.

Runnerup eighth pick Hikaru Amaranthus, by Agnes Tachyon, was racing in her first G1 race after claiming her first G3 in the Kyoto Himba Stakes two races back on Jan. 31. The Tanino Gimlet -sired 11th choice Nishino Blue Moon did her connections proud with her third-place performance. Tenth in her one G1 bid, the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in November, she was coming off a win of the G3 Nakayama Himba Stakes March 14.

Buena Vista, out of the Caerleon mare Biwa Heidi, was bred at Northern Farm and is owned by Sunday Racing. She is now 7 for 13, including her Dubai run. Her wins include the 2008 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies as well as both the 2009 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). The 90-million-yen winner’s share pushed her earnings to over 750 million yen.

The winning No. 11 wager paid a favorite’s meager 150 yen, but the second-place No. 2 pushed the exacta 11-2 to 2,780 yen, while the longshot third-place finisher No. 10 shot the return on the winning trifecta 11-2-10 to 85,770 yen for a 100-yen wager.