Derma Sotogake moves to head of Japan Derby Road table

Dec 14, 2022 Alastair Bull

Derma
Sotogake pushed himself to the top of the Japan Road to the 2023 Kentucky Derby
table with a narrow victory in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki.

Settling
about four lengths from the early speed in the about one-mile contest, Derma
Sotogake moved into contention for jockey Fuma Matsuwaka coming around the
final turn after a quick move from Yuichi Fukunaga aboard Perriere swept him to
the lead.

Derma
Sotogake was forced wide as Perriere hit the top of the stretch, while the
briefly held-up Omatsuri Otoko had to find a way to the inside of Perriere.

In a
driving finish, Derma Sotogake got up by a head from Omatsuri Otoko, with
Perriere fading to finish a length further back in third.

Derma Sotogake
came into the race with two wins, a third, and two fourths from five raceday
starts. At his previous start he won the Mochinoki Sho from Continuar, who at his
next start won the first race in the Japan Derby Road series, the Cattleya Sho.

The victory
at Kawasaki earned Derma Sotogake 20 points in the Japan Road to the 2023
Kentucky Derby series, putting him to the top of the points table from
Continuar, who earned 10 points for his Cattleya Sho victory. None of the Cattleya
Sho runners backed up in this race.

Omatsuri
Otoko (by Vittorio D’Oro), previously unbeaten in three dirt starts and
arguably a little unlucky in this race, earned 8 points for finishing second.
Perriere (Henny Hughes) came away with 6 points, with fourth-placed Hero Call (Hokko
Tarumae) earning 4 points and fifth-placed Maruka Rapid picking up 2 points.

Derma Sotogake
was a 19,800,000 yen (about $163,000) purchase at the Japan Racing Horse
Association Select Yearling sale last year. Like Maruka Rapid, he is from the first
crop of the top-class U.S. dirt sprinter Mind Your Biscuits (Posse), twice a
winner of the 6-furlong Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) and a U.S. top-level winner
in the 7-furlong Malibu Stakes (G1). His dam Amour Poesie is by Neo Universe, a
successful sire son of Sunday Silence, from the family of San Pasqual (G2)
winner Hill Pass.

The
four-race Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series continues Feb. 19 at Tokyo
Racecourse with the Hyacinth Stakes, where points are allocated on a
30-12-9-6-3 basis, and concludes at Nakayama Mar. 25 with the Fukuryu Stakes,
where the points split is 40-16-12-8-4.