Three Rolls wins Kikuka by a nose

Three Rolls at odds of 19.2 as the eighth favorite of the 18 field triumphed the 3,000-meter Kikuka Sho(Japanese St. Leger) at Kyoto on Sunday afternoon. He won it in 3 minutes 3.50 seconds by a nose from Forgettable, who finished a 1 1/4-length before third-placed Seiun Wonder in second.

Three Rolls under the hands of Suguru Hamanaka got into front inside 100 meters from home having got past Reach the Crown. As Three Rolls made a bearing-out move, Forgettable appeared on the inside and challenged. The two reached the line side by side.

Three Rolls, a 3-year-old bay colt by Dance in the Dark out of the Brian's Time mare Three Roman, had struggled on the lower level in this Spring campaign, but he just made it into the Kikuka Sho after winning the Nowake Tokubetsu in late-September.

The 1996 Kikuka Sho winner Dance in the Dark has now produced the third Kikuka Sho winner following That's the Plenty in 2003 and Delta Blues in 2004.