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The staying girls have their chance to win a major in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup run at Hanshin on Sunday.
Lys Gracieux took it out in 2018 and we know what she went on to do. Can the 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200m) at Hanshin on Sunday provide a similar standard result.
2020 QUEEN ELIZABETH II CUP - RACE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is a Grade 1 race run under Set Weight conditions for three year olds and above fillies and mares at Hanshin racecourse conducted by the Japan Racing Association.
The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is run over 2200m. It was first run in 1976 and was won by Diamante.
This was previously known as the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup until 2012.
It was originally for fillies only as the third leg of the Japanese Fillies Triple Crown. In 1996 it was opened to older female horses and was reduced to its present distance. In the same year the Shuka Sho was established and became the third leg.
It is the only Grade 1 restricted to fillies and mares. The other Grade 1 race for female horses in Japan, the Victoria Mile, excludes three-year-olds.
Since 1999 it turned into an international Grade 1 race.
In 2010 great English mare Snow Fairy became the first winner from outside Japan. She then won it again in 2011. That made Japanese flat racing history being the first ever non-Japanese trained horse to win the same Grade 1 flat race back-to-back. (Grand Australian jumper Karasi had won the Nakayama Grand Jump from 2005 to 2007).
2018 winner Lys Gracieux would go on to greater things a year later home and abroad.
The Queen Elizabeth II Cup was worth JPY226,800,000 in 2020.
Hanshin racecourse is a right handed course with the start at the top of the home straight.
Fillies have won many times but the 4yo mares have taken five of the last six renewals.
Yutaka Take won four straight QEII Cups from 2001.
Multiple trainers have multiples wins including obviously Ed Dunlop from Snow Fairy.
Notable winners of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup include Lys Gracieux (2018), Meisho Mambo (2013), Snow Fairy (2010/2011), Daiwa Scarlet (2007), Admire Groove (2003/2004), Mejiro Dober (1998/1999) and Dance Partner (1996).
The 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Cup was won by Lucky Lilac from Crocosmia and Loves Only You.
