Pixie Knight is the first Gr1 winner for Maurice winning Sunday’s Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama.
Settled in third place along the inside as Mozu Superflare set a hot pace, Pixie Knight was able to take a tight gap between Mozu Superflare and Bien Fait early in the home straight and then accelerated clear to score comfortably by two lengths over Resistencia (Daiwa Major) with Shivaji (First Samurai) closing for third, the distance covered in 1:07.1 on good to firm going.
Winner of the Gr3 Shinzan Kinen (1600m) earlier in the year, the Silk Racing-owned colt is trained by Hidetaka Otonashi.
Pixie Knight is the best winner in the immediate generations of his pedigree, his dam Pixie Hollow (King Halo) a winner three times with his granddam Rhein Regina (Sakura Bakushin O) a half-sister to three Japanese stakes winners including Danon Come On (Symboli Kris S) as well as Admire Dash (Fusaichi Concorde), the winning dam of Gr3 Keeneland Cup winner Ukiyono Kaze (On Fire)
The fourth dam A Kiss For Luck (Reflected Glory) included the Gr1 Vanity Invitational among her eight wins in North America.
Maurice (Screen Hero) currently has 16 stakes performers from his first two crops with three stakes winners. He will again shuttle to Arrowfield Stud in New South Wales in 2021 where he is advertised at $44,000.