Eishin Apollon breaks through in Mile Championship

Toyomitsu Hirai's Eishin Apollon was believed to be in the same league as

Victoire Pisa and Rose Kingdom last year, but not until Sunday's Grade 1, $2.6

million Mile Championship at Kyoto did the well-bred chestnut fulfill those

expectations. Staying on relentlessly in deep stretch for Kenichi Ikezoe, the

9-1 shot bested Fifth Petal by a neck to hand trainer Masahiro Matsunaga his

first Grade 1 score.

Eishin Apollon drafted in a good ground-saving spot, just off the pace set by

Silport. Farther back in the 18-horse field came the two international

representatives, the French distaffers Immortal Verse and Sahpresa, as well as

defending champion A Shin Forward.

In midstretch, the stalking Fifth Petal pounced and passed a weakening

Silport. But Eishin Apollon, now switched to the outside, was also on the move.

Soon at the new leader's throat-latch, Eishin Apollon was too strong to resist.

He finished in 1:33.9 on rain-softened ground listed as good.

Sahpresa flew late for third, another 1 1/2 lengths back. This was her third

try at the Mile Championship. Each time she has drawn poorly, but run well, with

a third in 2009 and a close fourth last year.

"We were unlucky again with the draw (post 13) for the third year running,"

trainer Rodolphe Collet said, "but I am extremely proud with the mare, at age

six, for maintaining her form to meet the high level of competition in this

Japanese mile race. We may be headed to Hong Kong for our next target, but I

will have to discuss this with the owners (Teruya Yoshida)."

Immortal Verse failed to gain traction and wound up seventh, just edging

Silport.

"I don't think she's run on such wet turf before -- even in France -- and the

track condition today certainly didn't suit her," jockey Christophe Soumillon

contended in a possibly revisionist vein. "I'm sure she would have been able to

display her great acceleration on a firmer track, so I am sorry that it turned

out this way today."

"She missed her break and fell behind early, but she ran well," trainer

Robert Collet observed. "This will be the last race for her this season, so

we'll prepare her for next year."

A Shin Forward ran into traffic on the far turn and never recovered, ending

up 15th.

Eishin Apollon, a Kentucky-bred son of Giant's Causeway and a half-brother to

Kentucky Derby and Belmont contestant Master of Hounds, was among the leading

two-year-olds of 2009. Hero of the Grade 2 Keio Hai Nisai, he missed narrowly in

the Grade 2 Daily Hai Nisai and concluded his first campaign with a runner-up

effort to Rose Kingdom in the Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity.

At three, however, Eishin Apollon had tougher luck. After his close second to

Victoire Pisa in the Grade 2 Yayoi Sho, he was well beaten in both the Grade 1

Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas) and the Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup. Given

five months off, Eishin Apollon returned in much better form and just came out

on the wrong side of the photo in the Grade 2 Mainichi Okan. That suggested he'd

be sitting on a big effort next time in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho Autumn, but he was

badly hampered in the stretch, lost all chance, and galloped home 17th. He was

fortunate not to have been brought down altogether.

Sidelined for almost a year following that near-catastrophe, Eishin Apollon

reappeared with an excellent fourth in the October 9 Mainichi Okan, where he was

beaten about three-quarters of a length. He finally visited the winner's circle

next time out in the Grade 3 Fuji Stakes at Tokyo on October 22, rallying from

well back to get up by a head. On Sunday, he followed up to record the first

back-to-back wins of his career, improving his record to 14-4-4-0,

¥289,196,000.

Eishin Apollon was bred by Silk and Scarlet Syndicate. The partnership is

named after his dam, an Irish Group 2-winning daughter of Sadler's Wells. He

hails from the family of French classic hero and English highweight Sanglamore.