Photo:

Japan Racing Association

Admire Zoom took advantage of an inside draw to post 2,
seized the lead in the early stretch and pulled away to win comfortably by 2
1/2 lengths Sunday in the Grade 1, US$989,178 Futurity Stakes going about a
mile on the turf at Kyoto.

It was the first graded victory in only the third start for
the 2-year-old colt sired by Maurice and ridden by Yuga Kawada, who won this
race for the second year in a row and the fourth time overall. Trainer Yasuo
Tomomichi, who won the Japan Cup (G1) three weeks ago with Do Deuce, captured
his third victory in the Futurity.

“I’m glad that the colt was able to finish the season at a
good note,” said Kuwada, who won last year on Jantar Mantar. “He’s not the
easiest horse to keep in control, so I was careful to deal with that.”

Owned by Junko Kondo, Admire Zoom (8-1) broke smoothly and
settled in second, chasing Daishin Ra (149-1). When the early pace wilted, the
bay colt took the lead coming out of the one right turn and went uncontested on
the way to the win.

“Today he was in good rhythm coming (to the end of the
turn), so I was able to bring out his best performance, and I knew then we were
unbeatable,” Kawada said.

Second betting choice Museum Mile (5-2) was slow to break
from post 4, but he quickly advanced along the rail to mid-field under Cristian
Demuro and then continued to improve his position to get close to Admire Zoom
going into the turn. Entering the homestretch, with the eventual winner still
in close view to his inside, the Leontes colt increased his pace to bid for the
lead but was no match. He settled for second place.

Lance of Chaos (44-1) was rated between horses in the middle
of the 16-colt field. He quickly found an opening entering the straight to
reach contention with the eventual winner in view. Even though he came up 2 1/2
lengths short of second, the Silver State colt opened a two-length gap to
finish third.

After setting the early pace, Daishin Ra was passed first by
Admire Zoom and then in the last 100 yards by Museum Mile and Lance of Chaos.
The son of Satono Diamond held on for fourth place by three-quarters of a
length.

Post-time favorite Arte Veloce (2-1), who came into the race
2-for-2, looked keen after a sharp break. He was held early in mid-pack by
jockey Yutaka Take and then farther back approaching the turn. The Maurice colt
met traffic in early stretch and failed to reach contention while hustled along
belatedly to finish fifth by a neck from sixth-place Craspedia (209-1).

Admire Zoom’s winning time was 1:34.1 without a run-up on
the good-to-firm turf after early splits of 23.2, 48.0 and 1:12.2. The race
went 1,600 meters, 10 yards short of a mile.

Fourth in his debut over the same course and distance in
October, Admire Zoom by an overwhelming three-length margin in his following
race Nov. 10, also about a mile at Kyoto.

Sunday’s 10-race card drew an announced crowd of 20,889 to
Kyoto, the third different venue in the 76 runnings of the Futurity. Due to a
restructured racing calendar for 2-year-olds, the race was moved from Nakayama
to Hanshin in 2014. It then was shifted temporarily to Kyoto because of ongoing
renovation at Hanshin.