Victoria Mile: Ascoli Piceno Secures Victory with Tremendous Burst of Speed

Race favorite Ascoli Piceno was victorious in the 20th Victoria Mile on Sunday, May 18. It was her fifth graded title following the 1351 Turf Sprint (G2, 1,351 meters) on February 22 in Saudi Arabia.

The daughter of Daiwa Major was unbeaten in her three starts as a 2-year-old, including the Niigata Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,600 meters) and the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1, 1,600 meters), which earned her the season's Best Two-Year-Old Filly title in 2023.

Her victory in the Victoria Mile at Tokyo Racecourse gave trainer Yoichi Kuroiwa his second JRA G1 title.

Jockey Christophe Lemaire scored his 54th JRA G1 title. For Lemaire, Sunday's effort produced his fourth Victoria Mile title — the most in JRA history — after previous victories aboard Admire Lead (2017), Almond Eye (2020) and Gran Alegria (2021). Keita Tosaki has three wins in the race.

Ascoli Piceno Showcases Speed to Rally for Victoria Mile Win

Ascoli Piceno was eased back after the whole field broke in a straight line then led by Alice Verite (Kenichi Ikezoe's ride), who opened the gap from the rest of the field along the backstretch.

Positioned well back in second from last before attempting to make headway through the last two corners and caught behind traffic soon after entering the straight, Lemaire shifted his mount to the outside. And he gave the filly the green light. The Daiwa Major filly responded with terrific speed as soon as she hit the top of the hill for a victory by a neck's length. (Watch the race on the JRA's YouTube channel.)

"The break wasn't too sharp and it took some effort to get her into the speed," Lemaire said after the race. "I did have a little concern [about] how the filly would perform as the race favorite starting from an outside stall. But she did have plenty of energy left when needed.

"And, while it did take her some time to reach her top speed, I was thrilled by how she showed her mental strength and potential in fighting to the very end."

In Pursuit of Victoria Mile Glory

Queen's Walk, unhurried and settling in the middle to near rear in a field of 17, angled out for the stretch run under Yuga Kawada, and accelerated impressively to reach contention soon after the 200-meter pole. She was the first to pin Alice Verite in a multiple-horse rally with just 50 meters to go before being outrun by the winner from the outside in the last stride.

Shirankedo (Mirco Demuro) traveled well off the pace, third from last inside the eventual winner, up to the last corner. Opting to wait for an opening down the center lane down the straight while the top two finishers angled out at the early stretch, the 5-year-old Declaration of War mare turned in a terrific finishing speed, the fastest in the race, from 100 meters out to gain third place.

Argine (Damian Lane) and Alice Verite placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Second favorite Bond Girl (Yutaka Take) was 16th.