3 minute read

Whale Capture placed in all three legs of last season's fillies' triple crown, got her due G1 win in the $US2.3 million Victoria Mile in Tokyo on Sunday, foilinbg another G1 win for Australian jockey Craig Williams aboard the runner-up Donau Blue.

Settled close to the lead in fourth, the four-year-old collared the leader Queen's Barn in the straight and kicked on for a half-length victory over Donau Blue.

Whale Capture was the fourth favourite in an 18-runner field. Favourite Apapane, winner of the 2011 editiont, could finish only fifth.

The win gave trainer Kiyotaka Tanaka his fourth G1 success of his , ending a long drought since his previous G1 success in the 2001 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Lady Pastel.

Whale Capture, started her career with great expectations after her runner-up effort in the two-year-old championship G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies.

She had to endure a frustrating three-year-old season during which time she was close to marking a G1 win in not only all three of her three-year-old fillies' triple crown starts but also finishing a commendable fourth in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup.

With three wins and two seconds out of five mile starts, her next target could be the coming G1 Yasuda Kinen in June.

Jockey Norihiro Yokoyama claimed his second Victoria Mile title after his last win with Buena Vista in 2010.

Craig Williams' mount Donau Blue bounced back from a disappointing finish in the Nakayama Himba Stakes in March, pressing the pace in second from the start.

Last year's Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) winner Marcellina was third.