The April 9 feature race, the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas-G1), at Hanshin will showcase likely favorite Liberty Island, an outstanding leader on the ante-post market since December 2022.
Bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, Liberty Island is the second foal of Australian Champion 2- and 3-Year-Old Yankee Rose. Her sire, Duramente, 2015 Japanese Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, died Aug. 31, 2021, after a bout of acute colitis, and his yearlings of 2023 are his final crop.
Liberty Island made a sensational racecourse debut July 30 at Niigata as a juvenile, winning a 1,600-meter turf maiden contest and covering the final three furlongs in :31.4 seconds, the co-quickest time recorded at JRA. She was defeated in her second outing, finishing second in Artemis Stakes (G3) at Tokyo three months later, but she returned to her winning ways Dec. 11 in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) for owner Sunday Racing and was honored as Japanese Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.
The filly will make her 2023 debut in the Oka Sho for trainer by Mitsu Nakauchida. The race schedule is a standard practice in Japan; Gran Alegria went straight to the Oka Sho without having a prep race, winning the classic race for 3-year-old fillies in 2019. The Oka Sho was also the first start of the season for the white horse wonder, Sodashi, winner of the first leg of Triple Tiara for 3-year-old fillies in 2021.
