3 minute read

At Hanshin and behind closed doors

The closed doors may also refer to the JRA's website as the day's program is not there however there was the morning line in the News section.

That tells us that Saturnalia will go out as favourite on 2.8.  The Takarazuka Kinen is over 2200m and is one of the races where fans get to vote for the runners.  Saturnalia was amongst the top picks and on Sunday will be in the hands of Christophe Lemaire.  They won the Kinko Sho over 2000m G2 in March and he's had a brief holiday since then.

Lucky Lila will be ridden by Mirco Demuro and she has the fillies' 2kg offset which should make her super-competitive.  She won the Osaka Hai here so knows the course well.  They are on 5.1.  The other female competitor Chrono Genesis is on 5.3 and she was second in the Osaka Hai so not much between them.

Blast Onepiece is hard to catch  - he runs either well or not well so we won't pick him in the mix on 7.4.  We prefer Glory Vase, who won the Hong Kong Vase in December and then was another who had a trip to Dubai and back without any racing.  He's by Deep Impact and will be ridden by Damian Lane and 8.4 looks value.  Kiseki is another who could be in the mix – Yutaka Take rides.