Stellenbosch vs. Cervinia in Shuka Sho Rubber Match - BloodHorse

There won't be a Japanese filly Triple Crown winner this year as the first two races in the series produced different winners but the third leg, the Shuka Sho (G1) Oct. 13 at Kyoto Racecourse, easily could turn up the division champion.

Stellenbosch won the first race in the series, the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas, G1), and Cervinia took the second, the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1). Both are back for the Shuka Sho, a 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4 miles) event over the inner course at Kyoto.

If either should win the rubber match, she would have the upper hand in voting for year-end honors. On the other hand, 3-year-old fillies have done well against males and older rivals in recent years in the Japan Cup (G1), the country's most prestigious race, so the issue could remain in doubt.

Stellenbosch, by Epiphaneia , has three wins and three seconds from six career starts. The filly won half her four starts in 2023, finishing with a second to Ascoli Piceno in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) in December.

From that, she went straight to the Oka Sho victory, then finished second to Cervinia in the Yushun Himba.

"My expectations were high for her and she got good results in the spring," trainer Sakae Kunieda said of Stellenbosch. "And I think she ran a good race in the Oaks. The winner was strong. This one loss is no tragedy."

Cervinia, a daughter of Harbinger , was 2-for-3 as a juvenile but skipped the top-level year-end events. She finished 13th in the Oka Sho after a five-month layoff yet was the second favorite behind Stellenbosch in the Yushun Himba. She won that by a half-length with a late move outside Stellenbosch, who threw a shoe during the race.

"The Oka Sho result was unfortunate," said Cervinia's jockey, Christophe Lemaire. "But I knew she'd perform well in the Oaks ... She was a bit on edge in the Oka Sho and that caused her to tire in the end."

The issue is hardly just between those two.

Queen's Walk enters with a prep race win in the Sho Rose Stakes (G2) Sept. 15. That was a welcome turnaround from her eighth in the Oka Sho and fourth in the Yushun Himba.

Bond Girl has had a troubled passage to this point in her career and looks for a reset. She was taken out of last year's Hanshin Juvenile Fillies after getting loose in a prerace workout. Then she was short of points for an automatic slot in the Oka Sho and lost a draw against other hopefuls.

She finished 17th in the NHK Mile Cup (G1) in May but that was down to traffic problems at a key point that effectively took her out of the race. Two subsequent efforts were better but another step forward is need to win the Shuka Sho.

"I think the track will be fast so it will come down to how the race unfolds," said Bond Girl's trainer, Takahisa Tezuka. "She will definitely have good late speed and I do think she measures up to the contenders."