The Shuka Sho (G1) is the finale of Japan's filly Triple Crown, but this year's renewal at Kyoto Racecourse on Oct. 18 lacks the two earlier winners.
So the race opens the door for one or more newcomers to make a mark at the top level, including Monroe Walk, a Kizuna filly who remains undefeated after four starts. Also knocking on the door in the 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4 miles) Shuka Sho are the runners-up from the first two legs of the series.
Star Anise, winner of the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas, G1), was diverted from the Triple Crown trail to last month's Sprinters' Stakes (G1), where she finished fourth as favorite. Juryoku Pierrot, winner of the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1), is sidelined by illness.
Monroe Walk has taken a gentle approach to the grade 1 level. After winning a 1,600-meter (about 1 mile) 2-year-old newcomer event in August of 2025, she was away from the races until June 14, when she won at Hakodate. She repeated the victory a month later while stepping out to 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) at the same venue on Hokkaido before returning south to win the Rose Stakes (G2) Sept. 13 at Hanshin by 3 lengths.
Trainer Hiroyuki Uemura said he's letting Monroe Walk show the way in preparation for the Shuka Sho and letting success speak for itself.
"She had the same workouts as before the Rose Stakes and I don't feel a need to push her more. As long as she can maintain her condition, the results will follow," the trainer said.
"She had lost condition from the trip back from Hokkaido. Leading up to the Rose Stakes, we had been dealing with getting that condition back. She wasn't 100% but it was the best we could do. In the race, she showed us that she had even more ability than we'd imagined."
Keita Tosaki will ride, starting from gate No. 8 in a field of 17.
Monroe Walk is out of Amplitude, a granddaughter of More Than Ready.
Dream Core, another by Kizuna, won two of three starts at age 2 and started 2026 with a victory in the Daily Hai Queen Stakes (G3) before stepping up to the Oka Sho, where she finished ninth for trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka. Stretching way out from that 1,600 meters to the 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles), she finished second in the Yushun Himba, missing by a neck in a seven-filly blanket finish.
She reported third in the 2,000-meter Shion Stakes (G2) at Nakayama Sept. 6 and assistant trainer Hiroyuki Yamazaki said he's hoping a svelter figure will produce a better result.
Dream Core's dam, Normcore, won the Shion Stakes in 2018 and went on to win the 2019 Victoria Mile (G1) and the 2020 Hong Kong Cup (G1).
The Oka Sho runner-up, Garavogue, is a daughter of Lord Kanaloa, out of Lexie Lou, winner of the 2014 Woodbine Oaks and Queen's Plate. She finished second to Star Anise in the 2025 Hanshin Juvenile (G1) but was ninth in her 3-year-old debut, the Daily Queen Hai. She has not raced since the April 12 Oka Sho.
Trainer Haruki Sugiyama said he'd hoped to get the filly more racing by this point in her career, acknowledging the challenge of coming into this race with a prep.
The Shuka Sho starts in front of the Kyoto Racecourse grandstand and runs right-handed around one lap of the inner turf course.
