Yutaka Take wins record sixth Kikuka Sho at 57, 38 years after his first
Going to Sky gave Yutaka Take his 87th JRA Group 1 and sixth win in the Kikuka Sho, as Lovcen failed to claim the Triple Crown.
Yutaka Take has won the Kikuka Sho for a record sixth time, steering Going to Sky to a nose victory at Kyoto on Sunday in the race that gave him his first JRA Group 1, aboard Super Creek in 1988.
At 57 years, seven months and 11 days, Take extended his record as the oldest jockey to win a JRA Group 1. He also holds the youngest-winner mark for the race, which he set aged 19 years, seven months and 23 days.
Third favourite in a field of 18, Going to Sky raced in midfield towards the inside while King Glory ran the first 1000 metres in 58.4 seconds. Take waited for a gap in the straight, hit the front around 200 metres out and held off Basse Terre (Yuga Kawada) in a photo, with Danon History (Christophe Lemaire) third. The 3000 metres on good ground was run in 3:04.5.
“I didn’t know at the moment we crossed the line, but Kawada was looking disappointed, so I thought perhaps we had won,” Take said.
Satsuki Sho and Derby winner Lovcen missed the start, was squeezed soon after and finished 14th, ending his bid to become Japan’s ninth Triple Crown winner. Lovcen is by World Premiere, whom Take rode to his fifth Kikuka Sho win in 2019. His others came on Dance in the Dark (1996), Air Shakur (2000) and Deep Impact (2005).
It was his 87th JRA Group 1 and third this year, after Sixpence in the Yasuda Kinen, when he first extended the age record, and Meisho Tabaru in the Takarazuka Kinen.
Miho trainer Yuki Uehara, 36, claimed his first JRA Group 1. Going to Sky, by Contrail out of the Tapit mare Goin to the Window, was bred by Chiyoda Farm Shizunai and sold for ¥33 million at the 2023 Select Sale.
Going to Sky was the first Group 1 winner for Contrail, the 2020 Kikuka Sho winner.
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