Danon The Kid remained unbeaten in an eventful running of Saturday’s Hopeful Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama to become the first Gr1 winner for Just A Way.
The race changed approaching the home turn where the favoured Land Of Liberty had been setting the pace but failed to turn and ran straight on and out of the race.
That left Danon The Kid challenging for the lead and staying on strongly late to defeat Orthoclase (Epiphaneia) by 1-1/4 lengths with Yoho Lake (Deep Impact) close up third. (pic: JRA)
Jockey Yuga Kawada told the JRA he feels there is more improvement to come from the Takayuki Yasuda-trained colt.
“I’m just so happy that I have at last been able to win on one of my mentor and teacher Mr Yasuda’s runners,” Kawada said.
“The stable staff did a great job in tuning up the colt and he ran much better than he did in his previous start but still, he couldn’t find a good rhythm and was not steady in the last two corners today.
“There is still a lot of room for improvement and we intend to work hard so he can kick off a good three-year-old campaign.”
It is the third win from as many starts for Danon The Kid, a half-brother to Gr3-placed Mikki Brillante (Deep Brillante), their dam Epic Love (Dansili) winner of the Gr3 Prix Vanteaux at Longchamp and runner-up in the Gr12 Prix Saint-Alary.
Gr1 Yasuda Kinen winner Just A Way (Heart’s Cry) stands at Shadai Stallion Station on Hokkaido where hi is advertised at ¥4,000,000 in 2021.