test

Starting from the extreme outside in Gate 16 and sent straight ahead by Mirai Iwata, Puro Magic refused to surrender the front in the final stages. With a winning time of 1:09.2, she held off fifth favourite World's End by a neck, with 11th favourite Sound Moryana another nose behind in third. The favourite, Star Anise, finished fourth.

For Puro Magic, it was her first G1. For trainer Shogo Yasuda, it was his 200th JRA win. ForIwata, it was the end of a two-year wait for another top-level win.

A daughter of Asia Express out of Medjerda, by Deep Impact, Puro Magic had proven her ability going into the Sprinter Stakes. She previously finished eighth in 2024 and 2025, but her 2026 campaign showed a more mature competitor.

Her summer began with victory in the Hakodate Sprint Stakes, before she retained her Ibis Summer Dash crown at Niigata in 53.5 seconds, breaking Calstone Light O's 2002 record of 53.7 seconds. Puro Magic had already matched it with her 2025 win before she rewrote the record books with her 2026 run, while also paralleling Calstone Light O’s feat of winning the Ibis Summer Dash and Sprinters Stakes in the same season.

Beyond starting from the widest stall in the field, Puro Magic’s win was especially impressive, given that jockey Iwata described the mare as not being very explosive out of the gate. Instead, her natural second burst of speed let him cross over and secure the lead, settling better than in her previous start.

“I'd like to thank the owner for allowing me to ride her in consecutive races,” Iwata said,according to netkeiba, who had not won a G1 since the 2024 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies with Arma Veloce. Once in front, the jockey had only one thing in mind. “I was just hoping she would somehow hang on,” Iwata said, as quoted by netkeiba. He also revealed that he received a 2-week riding suspension, but hopes to return stronger.

Moreover, Mirai Iwata and Shogo Yasuda became the second generation of their families to win the Sprinters Stakes, as their fathers, jockey Yasunari Iwata and trainer Takayuki Yasuda,won the race aboard Lord Kanaloa in 2012 and 2013. Netkeiba highlighted it as a “double father-son” Sprinters Stakes feat.

The owner has also indicated that retirement to broodmare duties could follow, given her age and the stable's approach to retiring mares around five or six years old.

Whether she makes the trip or heads toward retirement, Puro Magic has already gone from atalented contender to a record-setting G1 champion in 2026 by going forward with all gas, no brakes.