Palace Malice, new to the roster at Darley in Japan for 2024, recorded an exciting new Group winner on Monday, 8 January when his son Noble Roger threw himself into Classic contention with victory in the one-mile G3 Shizan Kinen at Kyoto.
The Tatsuya Yoshioka-trained three-year-old was making only his second racecourse appearance, having won over the same course and distance last November. He showed little sign of inexperience however, bursting through coming round the final turn and demonstrated an impressive turn of foot to win by a length and a quarter.
The unbeaten colt will now be aimed at this year’s Classics.
Noble Roger was bred in the US by Candy Meadows LLC and is out of the Stakes-placed More Than Ready mare Noble Ready. She is a half-sister to G1 winner Western Aristocrat and G2 winner and producer Zindaya.
Palace Malice, who sired a Breeders’ Cup winner in his very first crop and is also responsible for G1-winning juvenile Jantar Mantar, stands at Darley in Japan at a fee of 3.5 million yen.
