Croix du Nord wins Tenno Sho, keeps Triple Crown hopes alive

Croix du Nord did more than win the Tenno Sho. He answered the hardest question in Japan racing right now: how far can a colt already good enough to win the Derby keep stretching his ceiling? At Kyoto Racecourse, the four-year-old held off a furious late charge from Wurttemberg by a nose in the G1 Tenno Sho (Spring), making his fourth Group 1 victory look almost casual even though the photo finish and steward review said otherwise.

The race covered 3,200 meters, the first time Croix du Nord had ever gone beyond 2,400 meters, and he handled the step up with the calm of a horse built for bigger stages. He broke smoothly, sat around sixth early and moved into contention turning for home before digging in late to stop Wurttemberg, another son of Kitasan Black, from the back of the field. Admire Terra finished third, half a length behind the top two. The winning time was 3:13.7.

That matters because this was not just another G1 on a résumé already loaded with quality. Croix du Nord had already won the 2024 Hopeful Stakes, the 2025 Tokyo Yushun, and the 2026 Osaka Hai four weeks ago. Now he has added the Tenno Sho, and in doing so became the first Japanese Derby winner to take the Spring Tenno Sho since Meisho Samson in 2007. He and sire Kitasan Black also became the seventh father-and-son combination to win the race in Japan Racing Association history, a neat line of bloodline symmetry for a horse that keeps matching the biggest names around him.

Trainer Takashi Saito picked up his 11th JRA G1 win, while jockey Yuichi Kitamura earned his ninth. Kitamura said he "really didn't know whether we had won or not" before the official call came back, and described Croix du Nord as a "terrific colt" with "all-round capabilities and power." He also noted the horse got a little keen going downhill in the first lap, a reminder that even a dominant stayers’ performance still had room for polish.

What comes next is what will separate a star from a legacy horse. Croix du Nord already owns the unbeaten juvenile run, the Hopeful Stakes, the Derby, the Osaka Hai and now the Tenno Sho. He also took on France last year, running in the Prix du Prince d’Orange and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before ending last season with a fourth-place finish in the Japan Cup. Add all that together, and this no longer looks like a colt simply collecting big races. It looks like a horse building a case as one of Japan’s defining stayers, with the rest of the season ready to decide whether this becomes a great career or a historic one.