2025 Osaka Hai: Group 1 Review
Venue: Hanshin Racecourse
Distance: 2000m
Value: ¥651,000,000 (US$4,473,197)
While many of Japan’s big guns were in Dubai, plenty were at home for the G1 Osaka Hai (2000m) at Hanshin Racecourse and it was Bellagio Opera who became the first back-to-back winner of the contest.
Only Sunrise Pegasus had managed to win the Osaka Hai twice previously and that came in non-consecutive years (2002, 2005). It also came while the race was still a Grade 2; it was upgraded in 2017.
The Hiroyuki Uemura-trained Bellagio Opera led home a 1-2 for his sire Lord Kanaloa as Lord Del Rey rattled home into second.
THE RACE
Sent off as the 5.1 second favourite behind 4.8 elect Sixpence, Bellagio Opera jumped away cleanly under Kazuo Yokoyama and was quickly in the front few runners. Wider out, Sixpence fired out and looked set to lead until Ho O Biscuits kicked up on the inside.
Expected leader Desierto jinked at the start and was a clear last out of the gates. Rather than taking him back through the field, rider Kenichi Ikezoe decided to remain out wide and press forward, taking up the running on the first turn.
Desierto ran the field along at strong fractions, taking them through the first 1000m in 57.5 seconds. Sixpence and Bellagio Opera gave their backers confidence with the perfect trailing run, not forced to take the field up to the runaway leader but also in a handy position ready to capitalise when Desierto stopped.
He still held the lead entering the straight, but Ho O Biscuits moved up to challenge before Sixpence loomed large on the outside. As soon as Bellagio Opera shifted into the clear, though, it became clear that it was his race to lose and he stayed on stoutly to take his second Osaka Hai by a length.
Group 2 winners Lord Del Rey and Yoho Lake ran into second and third respectively. Sixpence faded to seventh, while Desierto weakened to finish second last.
Thanks to Desierto’s fast legwork early, Bellagio Opera’s time of 1:56.2 was two seconds quicker than his victory last year. It was also a race record by more than a second.
THE WINNER
Since his neck victory over Rousham Park in this race last year, Bellagio Opera had only raced three times. He was third on wet ground behind Blow The Horn and Sol Oriens in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen (2200m), sixth to Do Deuce in the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn (2000m) and fourth to Regaleira in the G1 Arima Kinen (2500m).
He gave Uemura a third Group 1 win – Bellagio Opera’s two wins and Arma Veloce’s Hanshin Juvenile Fillies’ success in December. It was Yokoyama’s fifth international Group 1 victory, having scored three in 2022 – two on Titleholder (the Tenno Sho Spring and the Takarazuka Kinen) and one on the now-retired Ushba Tesoro in the Tokyo Daishoten.
THE PLACEGETTERS
Lord Del Rey twice finished second to Desierto at the end of last year, but he clearly turned the tables here. He won the G2 Nikkei Shinshun Hai (2200m) at his most recent start and a step up in trip again may be in his favour.
Yoho Lake was also a last-start Group 2 winner, having taken out the G2 Kyoto Kinen (2200m) over horses like Sol Oriens, Pradaria and Cervinia. He has had a number of injury-enforced absences from the racetrack, but he was placed in the G1 Hopeful Stakes (2000m) as a two-year-old in 2020, has good form around some of the best horses of his generation and this was a terrific flashing run late.
THE BEATEN BRIGADE
Sixpence weakened late after looming as a potential winner. This will add to suggestions that a strong 2000m finds him out and he could be better dropping back in trip for the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m).
Last year’s G1 Oka Sho (1600m) winner Stellenbosch was poor at her first run since finishing third in the G1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m). She did track wide but she couldn’t finish off, crossing the line in 13th.
THE SIRE
After years of producing steady top-flight horses, Lord Kanaloa’s appeal as a leading stallion in big races was starting to wane.
The sire of horses like Almond Eye, Panthalassa and – abroad – Tagaloa, Bellagio Opera was Lord Kanaloa’s only Group 1 winner in 2024.
That has changed quickly in 2025. There have only been three G1s and all three have been won by sons of Lord Kanaloa: Costa Nova (February Stakes), Satono Reve (Takamatsunomiya Kinen) and Bellagio Opera (Osaka Hai).
It will not be a son of Lord Kanaloa who will win the next Group 1 in Japan, given it is restricted to three-year-old fillies – the G1 Oka Sho (1600m) next Sunday – but improving Cerbiatto, Group 2 winner Run For Vow and Group 3 winner Dantsu Elan may be among his representatives there.
THE QUOTES
Kazuo Yokoyama (jockey, Bellagio Opera, 1st): “Thanks to his consistently good start, we were able to secure the position we wanted, and by the time we reached the fourth corner, he was responding so well that I felt, ‘We’re probably not going to lose.’ I believe he really showed a strong performance today.
“The fast pace was well within our expectations, and since we were able to secure the position we wanted, I believe the biggest factor in today’s success was that he was able to maintain a good rhythm throughout.
“We won the Osaka Hai together last year, but I wasn’t able to produce solid results afterward. So I approached today’s race with the mindset that we were starting over from scratch. He responded to that with a great result, and I am filled with gratitude toward him. I believe he is still a horse with room to improve, so I sincerely hope he continues to progress smoothly from here on.”
Atsuya Nishimura (jockey, Lord Del Rey, 2nd): “He was in excellent condition. The disadvantage he experienced between the first and second corners was tough, he dropped one position there, and that is the only thing I regret.”
Takeshi Yokoyama (jockey, Sixpence, 7th): “Actually, there was nothing to complain about up until the fourth corner (home turn). However, in the tough pace of a Group 1 race, he ran out of gas.”
Kenichi Ikezoe (jockey, Desierto, 14th): “I apologise. It was inevitable that I started off late. He became unsettled right before the jump, causing a delay in starting. Then, when he changed leads on the backstretch, he grabbed the bit, and his energy shot upward, making it feel like a rodeo.
“I thought it would be dangerous to try to pull him back at that point … I had intended to go at around 59 seconds, but unfortunately it did not work out and we went quicker. My apologies to all the fans who supported us.”
THE FUTURE
The Takarazuka Kinen, back at Hanshin, is likely to be Bellagio Opera’s next start. Whether or not horses like Lord Del Rey and Yoho Lake head there or step back to something easier remains to be seen ∎
