Heavy favorite Croix du Nord claimed his fourth G1 victory in this year’s Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Spring) (3200m) at Kyoto on Sunday, having won the 2024 Hopeful Stakes (2,000m), 2025 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2,400m) and this year’s Osaka Hai (2,000m) which was his last start four weeks ago.
The brown colt became the first Derby winner to notch this race after Meisho Samson in 2007 while also marking the seventh father-and-son victory in JRA history—his sire, Kitasan Black, was a two-time Tenno Sho (Spring) winner (2016-2017).
Both trainer Takashi Saito and jockey Yuichi Kitamura claimed their JRA-G1 victory following the Osaka Hai with this colt and this victory secured the former’s 11th and the latter’s ninth G1 in total.
Croix du Nord broke smoothly and was forwardly positioned around sixth, three wide throughout most of the 3,200-meter trip. Maintaining good position in his first long-distance challenge, the Kitasan Black colt was given the go at early stretch and responded immediately to draw away along the flat Kyoto stretch, looking very much a clear winner before Wurttemberg came storming from behind, forcing a careful deliberation by the racing stewards who ultimately determined the four-year-old colt as the winner.
“I really didn’t know whether we had won or not and it was a long time waiting for the final results but I feel relieved that we were the winner. The plan was to have him relaxed going downhill in the first lap but the colt got a little keen but all in all, he proved himself to be a terrific colt with all-round capabilities and
power,” commented Yuichi Kitamura.
Wurttemberg raced well off the pace at the very rear for most of the way, made headway going downhill towards the last corner and circled wide into the straight. Showing good speed from then on, the six-yearold son of Kitasan Black was quickly at the heels of Admire Terra with 200 meters to go and matched the finishing speed of the eventual winner to pass all but Croix du Nord to just miss by a nose.
Admire Terra was positioned in mid-field and eased further back passing the grandstand for the first lap. Allowed to relax fourth from the rear along the backstretch while securing a clear path in front along the outside, the son of Rey de Oro picked up speed as soon as Croix du Nord made his move entering the stretch and closed in impressively to threaten the eventual winner to half a length at the wire while overtaken in the last strides by Wurttemberg
THE 173RD TENNO SHO (SPRING) (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 3,200 meters (about 16 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, May 3, 2026 Kyoto Racecourse 11th Race Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 651,000,000 (about US$ 4,200,000 <US$1=¥155>)
4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2022
Course record: 3:12.5 Race record: 3:12.5 [Kitasan Black (JPN, by Black Tide), 2017]
Safety factor: 18 runners Going: Good to Firm Weather: Drizzle
FP BK PP Horse Jockey S&A Color Wgt Odds (Fav) Margin (L3F) Sire Dam (Dam’s Sire) Owner Breeder Trainer
1 4 7 Croix du Nord (JPN) Yuichi Kitamura C4 br. 58.0 1.8 (1) 3:13.7 (34.9) Kitasan Black Rising Cross (Cape Cross) Sunday Racing Co., Ltd. Northern Racing Takashi Saito
2 8 15 Wurttemberg (JPN) Fuma Matsuwaka H6 b. 58.0 208.4 (12) Nose (34.3) Kitasan Black Maruka Aichan (French Deputy) Teruya Yoshida Shadai Farm Hiroshi Miyamoto
3 2 3 Admire Terra (JPN) Yutaka Take H5 g. 58.0 3.0 (2) 1/2 (34.7) Rey de Oro Admire Miyabi (Heart’s Cry) Junko Kondo Junko Kondo Yasuo Tomomichi
Other contenders:
4th: (4) Aqua Vernal—ran wide behind winner, rallied gamely, outrun in last 100m, finished close
5th: (12) Redentor—sat around 9th, showed effort but no match for top finishers
6th: (11) Tagano Dude—settled around 13th, angled out, passed tired rivals
7th: (8) Shin Emperor—saved ground around 10th, needed more in last 200m
8th: (13) Mystery Way—set pace, maintained 5-length lead at one point, ran gamely until 100m out
9th: (1) Vermicelles—hugged rail around 6-7th, lacked needed kick in last 200m
10th: (10) Meiner Campana—raced around 5th, failed to sustain bid in last 300m
11th: (2) Sunrise Soleil—ran in 5th early, advanced to 2nd in backstretch, took brief lead at early stretch,
weakened in last 200m
12th: (5) Keiai Sandera—took economic trip around 10th, unable reach contention
13th: (9) Precious Day—unhurried around 13th, no factor
14th: (14) Hohelied—chased leader in 2nd, dropped back at stretch
15th: (6) Echt—traveled in 3rd, faded after final corner