Ascoli Piceno, last year's two-year-old Champion, will line up over her preferred distance of a mile this weekend. Earlier this year, she finished second in the G1 Oka Sho by just 0.1 seconds, and in the G1 NHK Mile Cup, she was handicapped by a wall in front of her in the home stretch, but reeled in a second place in a desperate finish. This will be the first race of the fall season for the horse to shake off her spring series of close defeats and open up new prospects for the future.

Trainer Kuroiwa is positive about her two spring races, saying, "The results were not good, but I was able to show that she is one of the top horses of her generation. He chose the G3 Keisei Hai Autumn Handicap as her first race in the fall because of the optimal conditions for racing at that time." He explained, "I was thinking about the distance ability and the interval between races. I think the key will be the handicap and the fact that it will be her first race against older horses. It will also be her first time at Nakayama racecourse, but she has the ability to get around well and adapt to tricky course."

She returned to Miho Training Center on August 7th from a spell, and has continued to be ridden steadily on the hill course and on the woodchip track. On the 28th, she put in a fast piece of work recording 6F80.9-36.7-11.1 sectional times, passing two of her stablemates with ease. She is getting better every day. She will take her first step towards the title of "Mile Queen" in Nakayama in early fall.