Overwhelming favorite Lord Kanaloa, who demonstrated his much acclaimed strength, became the second horse in history since Sakura Bakushin O (JPN) in 1993-1994 to claim two consecutive Sprinters Stakes titles. Including the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March, the five-year-old bay is the first horse to win three G1 Sprint events in a row. It is jockey Yasunari Iwata's 21st G1 victory after scoring the Yasuda Kinen with Lord Kanaloa, and trainer Takayuki Yasuda's 11th JRA G1 title, not to mention his third consecutive Sprinters Stakes victory from Curren Chan (JPN) in 2011. He is the third trainer to capture the same G1 title three consecutive times since Kazuo Fujisawa who was successive in doing so in both the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and Arima Kinen from 2002 to 2004.

The 16-horse field broke smoothly on the backstretch with Hakusan Moon first out on the lead to set the pace, stalked by Forever Mark, Pas de Trois and Sakura Gospel in close pursuit. Longshot Mayano Ryujin sat on the rails in sixth, a half-length in front of a well-reserved Lord Kanaloa traveling three-wide, while Majin Prosper kept his aim on the defending champion a length behind as he gradually shifted farther to the outside to make his bid rounding the final turn.

Iwata skillfully guided his mount through a gap at the top of the lane unleashing his patented last run, first passing the tiring Sakura Gospel by the furlong pole, then overhauling Mayano Ryujin half a furlong out, and finally outrunning Hakusan Moon in the last 50 meters to clear the wire first by 3/4 length. Despite being lightly-regarded, Mayano Ryujin made most of his ground saving trip showing a tenacious drive in the final furlong to remain a factor in the final duel, finishing a neck behind Hakusan Moon for third. Majin Prosper closed strongly through the stretch but had too much ground to make up and was another neck to that in fourth.

Other Horses:
5th: (3) Admire Sceptre—travelled rear in mid-filed, responded well along rail
6th: (6) Dream Valentino—positioned inside of winner and followed through stretch
7th: (1) Grand Prix Boss—hugged rail in mid-division, improved position and finished within 0.3 seconds
8th: (4) San Carlo—ran third from rear, mustered belated charge
9th: (16) Silk Fortune—trailed in rear, fastest over last 3 furlongs but too late
10th: (12) Autocrator—settled almost rear, showed effort inside lane
11th: (13) Sakura Gospel—forwardly placed 3-wide, outpaced by rivals passing 200m marker
12th: (11) Sugino Endeavour—reserved toward rear, wide around 4th corner, even paced
13th: (9) Sudden Storm—sat back in mid-pack, one paced after turning wide for lane
14th: (14) Meiner Eternel—raced in front of winner, no factor at stretch
15th: (8) Pas de Trois—stalked in 3rd, came up empty in last furlong
16th: (2) Forever Mark—chased leader, used up at top of straight