Fioraia, a five-year-old daughter of Fine Needle, gained her first victory in Black Type company on Sunday 1 February, when winning the G3 Silk Road Stakes. Run over 1200m at Kyoto, she was always in the front rank and ran on well to defeat Rapier (Tower Of London) by half-a-length.
Bred by Hidaka Taiyo Bokujo, Fioraia has now won six of her 16 starts including four Open class contests, highlighted by the UHB Sho in August last year. She is the only winner bred out of the winning Sakura Bakushin O mare Fleur City, who herself won three Open contests.
Fioraia hails from the second crop of Fine Needle, and is his fifth Group winner in total. Previous to today, he had one in each of his first crops; A Shin Fencer, Culture Day, Abu Air Bay, and last years G3-winning juvenile A Shin Deed.
Fine Needle is standing this season at a fee of 1.5 million yen.
