Aguri claimed his fourth consecutive win when running out a tenacious winner of the Grade 3 Hankyu Hai. In the hands of emerging talent, Kazuo Yokoyama, Aguri raced prominently and responded willing to his jockey's encouragement to win by a neck. The four-year-old Takayuki Yasuda-trained colt has now won five of his nine career starts.

Daddy's Vivid finished second with Ho O Amazon finishing two and a half lengths behind in third. Odds-on favourite, Grenadier Guards, finished in a disappointing seventh place. The G1 winning son of Frankel has failed to recapture the form of his juvenile season when he was crowned Japan's Leading Two-year-old colt.

Aguri provided his sire, Caravaggio, with a priceless piece of advertising as a sire. Caravaggio is a new addition to the Japanese stallion ranks for 2023. He commands a fee of JPY3m at the JBBA Stallion Station in Northern Japan.

Connections intend for the progressive Aguri to run in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen on March 26th.