Suguru Hamanaka guided Boccherini to his third Graded stakes title on Saturday, and may now be destined for greater things. The pair jumped out of the gate smoothly and positioned themselves in mid-field, looking for the best timing to push forward. At the home turn, Boccherini was already to the fore and caught up to the leaders in the home stretch. The winning time was 1:59.1. It was a second consecutive Naruo Kinen winner for trainer Ikee, following Weltreisende in 2022.

Jockey Hamanaka reflected, "We started the race smoothly and were able to position ourselves in an ideal spot. I was able to guide him to the front at the right time and he responded perfectly to me."

He added, "He looks so young as a seven-year-old horse and I feel like he is still getting better. We can step up to the big stage."