FROM: Masahiro Usuda General Manager, Media & Publicity Department, THE (JRA) DATE: February 18, 2018 SUBJECT: RESULT OF THE 35TH (G1) Japanese , which is influenced by British racing, is held mainly on turf. However, dirt tracks that were popular in the U.S., quickly became widely used around the country since the Tokyo Racecourse implemented a new dirt track in 1960. While the mainstream of major JRA races remained over turf, the February Stakes (then called February Handicap), which was established in 1984 in conjunction with the new grading system, was one of just three graded dirt races at the time—the current number of graded dirt events is 15. The race was upgraded to G2 in 1994 and then to G1 in 1997, and stood as the highest-prized event until the Dirt (called the Champions Cup from 2014) took over in 2000. Past winners include Wing Arrow (JPN, by Assatis; ’00), Agnes Digital (USA, by Crafty Prospector; ’02), Gold Allure (JPN, by ; ’03), Admire Don (JPN, by Timber Country; ’04), Kane Hekili (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki; ’06), Vermilion (JPN, by El Condor Pasa; ’08), Espoir City (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’10), Transcend (JPN, by Wild Rush; ’11), Copano Rickey (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’14&’15) and Gold Dream (’17)—all ten are winners of multiple-G1 races as well as JRA Award winners. Defending champion and 2017 Best Dirt Horse Gold Dream was at the starting gate for the first time since his Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m; Dec.3) triumph last season. T M Jinsoku, runner-up in the same Champions cup, came off a Tokai Stakes (G2, dirt, 1,800m; Jan.21) win while Nonkono Yume also came off his first win in 26 months in the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m; Jan.28) where he outdueled Sunrise Nova by a nose margin in record-breaking speed. Four runners came off the (dirt, 2,100m) held on January 31; K T Brave landed his second win at the highest level; multiple graded winner Awardee finished third; 2016 Best Dirt Horse Sound True and Meisho Sumitomo was fifth and seventh, respectively. Other key contenders included two February Stakes second-place finishers, Best Warrior (2017) and Incantation (2015), and 2015 (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, 1,600m) champion Let’s Go Donki who was in her second attempt over the dirt surface since showing a runner-up effort in the 2016 JBC Ladies’ Classic (dirt, 1,600m), along with 2017 JBC Sprint (dirt, 1,200m) champion Nishiken Mononofu. Moanin (USA, H6, by Henny Hughes) renewed the February Stakes record to 1:34.0 in 2016.

THE 35TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1) 4-year-old & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), dirt, left-handed Sunday, February 18, 2018 Tokyo Racecourse 11th Race Post time: 15:40 Total prize money: ¥ 216,000,000 (about US$ 1,964,000 ) 4-y-o & up: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares, 1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2014 Safety factor: 16 runners Sex Wgt Sire Jockey Owner Margin Odds FP BK PP Horse Age (kg) Dam Trainer Breeder (L3F) (Fav) Nonkono Yume Twining H. Uchida Kazumasa Yamada 1:36.0 10.7 1 6 12 G6 57.0 (JPN) Nonko Y. Kato Shadai Farm (36.1) (4) Gold Dream Gold Allure R. Moore Katsumi Yoshida Neck 2.1 2 7 14 H5 57.0 (JPN) Mon Vert O. Hirata Northern Farm (36.4) (1) Incantation Sinister Minister K. Miura Turf Sport Neck 20.0 3 3 6 H8 57.0 (JPN) Original Spin T. Hatsuki Tanikawa Stud (36.7) (6) Sunrise Nova Gold Allure K. Tosaki Takao Matsuoka 3 7.1 4 8 16 C4 57.0 (JPN) Bright Sapphire H. Otonashi Yanagawa Bokujo (37.0) (3) Let’s Go Donki King Kamehameha H. Miyuki Hirosaki Toshihiro 1/2 51.0 5 7 13 M6 55.0 HD Co., Ltd. (JPN) Marutoku T. Umeda Shimizu Bokujo (37.0) (10) King’s Guard Sinister Minister Y. Fujioka Nisshin B. Nose 81.5 6 5 9 H7 57.0 (JPN) Kings Berry R. Terashima Nisshin Farm (36.8) (12) Meisho Sumitomo Gold Allure H. Tanabe Yoshio Matsumoto 2-1/2 242.3 7 4 8 H7 57.0 (JPN) Mugen K. Minai Fujiwara Farm (37.4) (15) Sound True French Deputy F. Minarik Hiroshi Yamada 2-1/2 54.4 8 3 5 G8 57.0 (JPN) Kyoei Truth N. Takagi Okada Stud (37.6) (11) 4 Awardee Jungle Pocket Y. Take Koji Maeda Neck 23.6 9 2 H8 57.0 B (USA) Heavenly Romance M. Matsunaga North Hills Management (37.7) (7) Best Warrior Majestic Warrior C. Lemaire Yukio Baba Neck 32.2 10 8 15 H8 57.0 (USA) Flirtatious Miss S. Ishizaka Buck Pond Farm Inc (38.3) (8) K T Brave Admire Max Y. Fukunaga Kazuyoshi Takimoto 1/2 15.4 11 1 2 H5 57.0 (JPN) K T Laurel T. Meno Kazuyoshi Takimoto (39.4) (5) T M Jinsoku Kurofune Y. Furukawa Masatsugu Takezono 3/4 3.7 12 5 10 H6 57.0 (JPN) My Discovery K. Kihara Masatsugu Takezono (39.4) (2) Nobo Baccara Admire Aura S. Ishibashi LS. M Co., Ltd. 2-1/2 257.0 13 2 3 H6 57.0 (JPN) Nobo Kiss S. Temma LS. M Co., Ltd. (39.6) (16) London Town Kane Hekili Y. Iwata Toru Makiura 1-1/2 33.2 14 6 11 H5 57.0 (JPN) Fairy Banyan K. Makita Yasushi Tsumura (39.0) (9) Lalabel Gold Allure D. Mashima Teruya Yoshida 1-3/4 199.4 15 4 7 M6 55.0 (JPN) Breezy Woods K. Arayama Shadai Farm (39.7) (14) Nishiken Mononofu Meisho Bowler N. Yokoyama Tsuru Nishimori 1-1/4 124.1 16 1 1 H7 57.0 (JPN) Green Hill Komachi Y. Shono Tsuneo Yagi (40.7) (13) FP=Final Position / BK=Bracket Number / PP=Post Position / B=Blinker / Wgt=Weight / L3F=Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m) NOTE 1: No Foreign Contenders NOTE 2: Figures quoted under Odds are Win Odds, which show the amount of money you get back per single unit (100yen), and Fav indicates the order of favorites.

WINNING TIME: 1:36.0 GOING: Standard WEATHER: Fine TURNOVER FOR THE RACE ALONE: ¥ 12,886,252,900 TURNOVER FOR THE DAY: ¥ 21,877,355,100 ATTENDANCE: 50,194

PAY-OFF (for ¥100) WIN No.12 ¥1,070 BRACKET QUINELLA 6-7 ¥870 QUINELLA 12-14 ¥1,140 No.12 ¥280 12-14 ¥520 EXACTA 12-14 ¥3,530 PLACE No.14 ¥130 QUINELLA PLACE 6-12 ¥2,620 TRIO 6-12-14 ¥6,540 No.6 ¥350 6-14 ¥720 TRIFECTA 12-14-6 ¥41,560

1. Nonkono Yume (JPN), dark chestnut, gelding, 6-year-old Twining / Nonko (Agnes Tachyon) Owner: Kazumasa Yamada Breeder: Shadai Farm Trainer: Yukihiro Kato Jockey: Hiroyuki Uchida 21 Starts, 8 Wins Added money: ¥ 103,402,000 Career earnings: ¥ 425,611,000 Principal race performances: ’15 (dirt, 2,000m) 1st ’18 Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m) 1st ’15 Musashino Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m) 1st ’15 Unicorn Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m) 1st

2. Gold Dream (JPN), bay, horse, 5-year-old Gold Allure / Mon Vert (French Deputy) Owner: Katsumi Yoshida Breeder: Northern Farm Trainer: Osamu Hirata Jockey: Ryan Moore

3. Incantation (JPN), bay, horse, 8-year-old Sinister Minister / Original Spin (Machiavellian) Owner: Turf Sport Breeder: Tanikawa Stud Trainer: Tomohiko Hatsuki Jockey: Kosei Miura

Nonkono Yume Scores Powerfully in February Stakes Fourth favorite Nonkono Yume captured this year’s February Stakes, one of the two major dirt races on the calendar with G1 status, after displaying an impressive stretch run to defeat the defending champion Gold Dream in second. It is the six-year-old gelding’s second title at the highest level since his Japan Dirt Derby victory in 2015. In the same year at the age of three, the dark chestnut also notched two G3 wins and showed a runner-up effort in the Champions Cup before landing another two runner-up finishes the following year in the February Stakes and the Teio Sho. His best finish was a fourth after being gelded in the summer of his four-year-old season, but finally found his form in his latest start, the Negishi Stakes three weeks earlier, where he tenaciously dug in to claim the win. For trainer Yukihiro Kato, who has 12 JRA graded wins since opening his stables in 2002, this is his first JRA-G1 win while he already obtains the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup title with Shadow Gate in 2007. Jockey Hiroyuki Uchida has now claimed his 12th JRA G1 victory—his latest with Verxina in the 2014 —and his second February Stakes triumph since the 2009 version with Success Brocken.

Breaking from stall 12, Nonkono Yume was settled in the far rear as the field of 16 cruised down the backstretch with Nishiken Mononofu setting the early pace up front. After taking a wide route on the heels of Gold Dream rounding the last two corners and still near the rear when entering the straight, the son of Twining had no trouble to find his best stride as he blew past his rivals while producing the fastest last three-furlong speed, eventually pinning Incantation and a stubborn Gold Dream in the last 100 meters to clear the wire first for the title.

“The staff tuned him up beautifully and he was in very good form. I kept him wide and in good striking position so that he could unleash his good late charge at any point, which is probably the reason why we were able to win today,” commented Hiroyuki Uchida after the race.

After breaking from a wide stall, race favorite Gold Dream was off slow sitting third to fourth from the rear and lost ground on both turns but displayed his trade-mark turn of foot down the lane under good urging from Ryan Moore. Although the five-year-old fought back persistently against the fast closing winner, he was eventually caught and finished a neck behind in second.

Multiple grade-race winner and sixth pick Incantation traveled in sixth to seventh in mid-pack before hitting the top of the lane right beside Gold Dream. The eight-year-old bay charged strongly down the straight but failed to overtake the defending champion and was furthermore nailed by the winner in the last half-furlong to finish third.

Other Horses: 4th: (16) Sunrise Nova―ran in 9th, quickened in last 300m but finished 3 lengths behind top 3 finishers 5th: (13) Let’s Go Donki―settled around 13th, switched to inside for clear path, showed effort until 100m out 6th: (9) King’s Guard―trailed in rear, switched to outside at mid-stretch and showed good response 7th: (8) Meisho Sumitomo―sat around 11th, switched to inside and improved position 8th: (5) Sound True―raced 2nd from rear, lacked needed kick, unable to reach contention 9th: (4) Awardee―took economic trip around 10th, met traffic 300m out, passed tired rivals 10th: (15) Best Warrior―traveled in 6th, struggled to find clear path at early stretch, never a threat 11th: (2) K T Brave―pressed pace in 2nd, led at top of stretch, weakened in last 300m 12th: (10) T M Jinsoku―stalked leaders in 3rd, outrun by rivals in last 300m 13th: (3) Nobo Baccara―chased leaders in 4th, sustained bid until 400m out, faded 14th: (11) London Town―positioned around 7th along rails, never fired at stretch 15th: (7) Lalabel―hugged rails in 5th, gradually fell back in last 400m 16th: (1) Nishiken Mononofu―set pace, ran out of steam at 300m out

Fractional time (sec./furlong): 12.2 - 10.7 - 11.2 - 11.7 - 12.5 - 12.6 - 12.3 - 12.8 Last 4 furlongs: 50.2 Last 3 furlongs: 37.7

Positions at each corner: 3rd corner (*1,2)10-3-7-15(11,6)16(4,8,13,14)12(5,9) 4th corner (*1,2)10,3-7(15,6)(11,16,14)(8,13)(4,5,9,12) NOTE 1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse. NOTE 2: Horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more horses inside the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse numbers indicate that there is distance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.