Star Anise leads Oka Sho as Japan’s classic season begins

Star Anise arrived at Hanshin as the champion juvenile filly and left it looking every bit like the horse to beat in Japan’s fillies’ division. The Drefong filly won the 86th Oka Sho, the Japanese 1,000 Guineas and first leg of the fillies’ Triple Crown, in 1:31.5 on Sunday, April 12, and put 2 1/2 lengths between herself and Garavogue, with Zippy Tune third.

That margin mattered because the race had been built around a simple question: could last year’s best 2-year-old translate that promise into Classic authority? Star Anise answered it cleanly. She had gone into the Oka Sho with a record of two wins and one second from four starts, and her victory over 1,600 meters confirmed that her Hanshin Juvenile Fillies score was no juvenile-only flash. In that December win, she had taken the race in 1:32.6 and earned Best Two-Year-Old Filly honors, a profile that made her the center of the Japanese classic conversation well before the spring campaign began.

The Oka Sho field still had quality around her, with Alankar, Dream Core, Zippy Tune, Garavogue, Lily Joie, Black Chalice, Festival Hill, Namura Cosmos, Sweet Happiness and Dear Diamond all lining up, but the race developed into a star-vs.-field event once the gates opened. For international racing fans, that is exactly the kind of result that travels: a familiar champion, a strong clock, and a clear gap to the next-best filly. A 1:31.5 mile at Hanshin is the sort of performance that immediately changes how the rest of the fillies’ Classics are framed, both at home and in breeding discussions abroad.

The result also gave trainer Tomokazu Takano his first Classic title and his 12th JRA G1 victory, a milestone that links the horse’s rise to a bigger professional breakthrough. Kohei Matsuyama guided Star Anise again, extending a partnership that already looked serious after the Juvenile Fillies and now has a Classic trophy attached to it.

Star Anise’s pedigree, by Drefong out of Epice Arome, adds another layer to the story. Japanese racing increasingly lives at the intersection of performance and global value, and a filly who can dominate the first Classic of the season does more than win a race. She strengthens a line of elite winners that includes Embroidery, Stellenbosch, Liberty Island, Stars on Earth, Sodashi, Daring Tact, Gran Alegria and Almond Eye, while setting the standard for the rest of the three-year-old fillies. At Hanshin, the champion did not merely launch a campaign. She announced one.