Unbeaten second-favorite Sol Oriens won his Grade 1 debut in Sunday's 83rd running of the Satsuki-sho, becoming the first to claim one of Japan's top-ranked races after just three career outings since the current race grading system was introduced in 1984.
Over a muddy 2,000 meters on turf at Chiba Prefecture's Nakayama Racecourse outside Tokyo, Takeshi Yokoyama-steered Sol Oriens was at a steady pace at the back of the field before bursting down the final stretch from outside to cross the wire in 2 minutes, 0.6 seconds, ahead of Tastiera by a length and a quarter.
Sol Oriens became the 20th unbeaten horse in Japan to win a G1 race and the first since Efforia in 2021.
"I didn't do well in G1 races last year and it's great I've finally managed it, thanks to the horse," said Yokoyama after his second career Satsuki-sho victory.
"There's no bigger joy than this. (Sol Oriens) is a horse that can run, a very good horse."
Top-favorite Phantom Thief was third in the classic race for 3-year-olds.
