Meisho Tabaru Defends His Takarazuka Kinen Crown as Croix du Nord Falls a Neck Short of the Triple Crown

Yutaka Take and the Gold Ship colt go back-to-back at Hanshin in a rain-soaked Grand Prix, denying the +150 favorite a clean Spring Triple Crown sweep.

Meisho Tabaru did it again. The Gold Ship horse stalked a runaway leader through the Hanshin slop, ran him down inside the final furlong, then held off a flying Croix du Nord by a neck to win the 2026 Takarazuka Kinen on June 14. Yutaka Take had the leg up, and at 57 he just keeps adding to a record book nobody else is close to touching. Final time 2:12.10 on a track that turned yielding when a downpour hit minutes before the gates opened.

This was supposed to be Croix du Nord’s coronation. He came in having already taken the Osaka Hai and the Tenno Sho Spring, three legs from a Spring Triple Crown that his own sire Kitasan Black couldn’t finish. He got within a neck and no further. Here is how the Grand Prix played out, what it means for the back half of the season, and where you can watch the next chapter in Connecticut.

How the 2026 Takarazuka Kinen Was Won

Cosmo Kuranda broke sharp and went straight to the front, opening daylight while the rain came down. Take settled Meisho Tabaru in second, off the fence, never letting the leader get more than a couple of lengths clear. The pace held up until the field hit 1600 meters in 1:36.50, and that is when Take asked the question.

Meisho Tabaru collared Cosmo Kuranda at the furlong pole and kicked clear. Croix du Nord, who had been ridden patiently by Yuichi Kitamura, unleashed a huge late run down the center of the track and ate into the lead with every stride. He ran out of ground. The margin at the wire was a neck. Danon Decile stayed on for third, another two and a half lengths back, with Keita Tosaki aboard.

Take summed up the closing stages plainly. “When Croix du Nord closed in before the wire, I thought, please, not this time. I felt that Meisho Tabaru was in really good form and the strongest today,” he told JRA publicity afterward.

Top Five Finishing Order

1. Meisho Tabaru (Yutaka Take) — won by a neck

2. Croix du Nord (Yuichi Kitamura) — beaten a neck

3. Danon Decile (Keita Tosaki) — 2½ lengths further back

4. Cosmo Kuranda (Takuya Yokoyama)

5. Tagano Dude (Riki Takasugi)

Winning odds came back at +190. Croix du Nord went off the +150 favorite. Full margins and a complete chart sit in the results table below.

Croix du Nord and the Triple Crown That Got Away

The Spring Triple Crown in Japan asks a horse to win the Osaka Hai, the Tenno Sho Spring, and the Takarazuka Kinen in the same campaign. It is brutal. Croix du Nord, last year’s Japanese Derby winner and a son of Kitasan Black, had the first two legs in the bag and went off a heavy favorite to complete the set.

The history here writes itself. Kitasan Black tried the same sweep in 2017. He won the Osaka Hai and the Tenno Sho Spring, walked into the Takarazuka Kinen as the favorite, and finished ninth, his first heavy defeat in two years. His son got a neck closer and still came up empty. Different trip, same result: the third leg is where Triple Crown dreams go to die. Croix du Nord ran a monster race in the going and has nothing to apologize for. He just met a horse who refused to come back to him.

Yutaka Take and the Gold Ship Bloodline Make History

This was Take’s sixth Takarazuka Kinen, extending his own record in the race. He first won it back in 1989 aboard Inari One, then again with Meijiro McQueen (1993), Marvelous Sunday (1997), and Deep Impact (2006). His second straight on Meisho Tabaru caps a run of form that already included a Yasuda Kinen the week before. The man does not age.

The pedigree angle is just as good. Gold Ship was the first horse to win two Takarazuka Kinens, in 2013 and 2014. Now his son Meisho Tabaru has gone back-to-back in 2025 and 2026, making him only the third horse ever to win the race twice, after Gold Ship himself and Chrono Genesis (2020 and 2021). A sire and son both completing the Takarazuka double is the kind of stat that sticks.

There was one sad note on the day. My Universe was pulled up in the straight and later died of heart failure. Our thoughts are with his connections.

What’s Next: Arc Dreams and a Breeders’ Cup Ticket

The Takarazuka Kinen was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” event, so Meisho Tabaru now holds an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland in October. Take made his intentions clear at the line: “I think we can head to France with our heads held high.” Meisho Tabaru is one of seven Japanese horses entered for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, and after this performance he goes there with a live chance.

Croix du Nord’s connections will regroup. A horse who can win the Osaka Hai and the Tenno Sho Spring and then lose the Takarazuka by only a neck is a genuine top-tier talent, and the autumn Grand Prix at Nakayama, the Arima Kinen, looms as an obvious target for redemption. Danon Decile and the rest of this deep older-horse division will be right there with him.

Watch the World’s Best Turf Racing at Bobby V’s in Stamford

Japanese racing runs on a clock that favors early risers on the East Coast, and the big international meetings are worth setting an alarm for. When Meisho Tabaru lines up for the Arc, or shows up at Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Turf in October, Bobby V’s Restaurant and Sports Bar in Stamford is the spot to catch it on the big screens with a crowd that actually cares about the result.

Get your bets down before the off, grab a seat, and watch the best horses on the planet sort themselves out. MyWinners makes it easy to have a position on every leg of the international season.

Bet the Global Racing Calendar With MyWinners

From the Takarazuka Kinen to the Arc to the Breeders’ Cup, MyWinners has the international cards covered alongside every US track. Open to all customers 18 and over.

Bet online at app.mywinners.com, on the MyWinners: Racing & Sports app on iOS or Android, or go here to find your nearest MyWinners or Winners venue in CT.