Kanatepe (top) and Drop of Light aim to become only the second pair to achieve the historic feat.
[GⅠ Victoria Mile = May 17, 2026 (Sunday) at Tokyo Racecourse, 4-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1,600m turf]
The Victoria Mile, the decisive race for the mile queen title, has two 7-year-old mares among the entries. In JRA history, only Straight Girl, who won this very race in 2016, has managed to capture a GⅠ at age 7 among fillies and mares. Now, Kanatepe (trained by Hori) and Drop of Light (trained by Fukunaga) are looking to become the second to accomplish this rare achievement. Both bring strong data that suggests they have a solid chance.
Kanatepe has raced 20 times in her career so far. Eleven of those starts have come at Tokyo Racecourse, where she has posted an almost flawless record: 4 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, and 1 fourth. Her trainer, Hori, has a proven track record of nurturing talent without rushing, having previously guided the 8-year-old mare Jolly Dance to a GⅡ victory (2009 Hanshin Himba Stakes). Interestingly, Kanatepe has been ridden by 12 different jockeys across her 20 starts, but Matsuyama shares the most rides with Moreira at three times each. With a continued partnership from her last race, he should be able to bring out her best.
Drop of Light, on the other hand, boasts 31 career starts. Most have been over 1,200m to 1,400m, but her four runs over 1,600m turf have resulted in〈1 win, 1 second, 2 thirds, 0 unplaced〉—all in the money. Her sire, Tosen Ra, competed in all three classics and even placed third in the 3,000m Kikuka Sho, but it was only at age five that he first tried the mile, winning the GⅠ Mile Championship. While the daughter has taken a very different route, her ability to adapt to the mile later in her career is intriguing. Furthermore, jockey Matsuwaka recently guided 208.4-to-1 longshot Weltenberg to a nose second in the GⅠ Tenno Sho (Spring) on May 3, and earlier this month he won on a 252.9-to-1 shot (Kamome Gatonda) on May 2 and came second on 188.1-to-1 Starship on May 10—consistently producing huge upsets. Drop of Light herself is a dark horse: all five of her open-race placings came at odds of 8th, 6th, 11th, 5th, and 5th favorite. Underestimating her based on age alone could prove costly.