The Venus Series Round 3 Moonlight Princess Deciding Race kicked off at Gamagori Boat Race Stadium (night racing) on May 12, running through May 17. On the opening day, the feature 12th race—the Dream Race—saw No. 1 boat Asuka Otaki (from Shizuoka, Aichi branch) power to an unchallenged win from the first lane. Finishing second was No. 3 boat Chisai Hirokawa (from Aichi, Tokyo branch), while No. 2 boat Namiko Wakasa (from Okayama, Okayama branch) took third. The trifecta 1-3-2 paid 1,010 yen, making it the second most popular ticket.
All eyes are on the local Aichi branch this week. The women of Aichi have been in outstanding form lately. Yayoi Uno won the Karatsu All-Ladies race on April 13, Asuka Otaki clinched the Tsu Venus Series on April 20, Nozomi Mizuno and Raku Nagata both reached the finals in the Naruto All-Ladies on May 4, and Yuko Hosokawa placed 5th in the Marugame G2 Ladies All-Star on May 10. The entire branch seems to have hit a strong rhythm since spring, and they look ready to dominate again this series.
Twelve racers from the Aichi branch are competing here (listed by registration number):
– Yukie Kasano (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 68)
– Asuka Otaki (Shizuoka, Aichi, A1, Class 83)
– Nozomi Mizuno (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 109)
– Ayumi Fukami (Aichi, Aichi, B2, Class 117)
– Mayuko Deguchi (Aichi, Aichi, B2, Class 117)
– Nagisa Ishihara (Gifu, Aichi, B2, Class 129)
– Mami Matsuda (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 131)
– Raku Nagata (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 132)
– Shiori Ito (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 132)
– Mai Hii (Aichi, Aichi, B1, Class 134)
– Miyu Nakamura (Aichi, Aichi, B2, Class 134)
– Sena Izawa (Nagano, Aichi, B2, Class 134)
*Note: Parentheses show birthplace, branch, class, and generation order.
Four racers from the Aichi branch won their first-day heats. Raku Nagata led from start to finish in Race 3 from lane 1, Mayuko Deguchi sliced through from lane 3 in Race 4, Mai Hii executed a spectacular outside overtake from lane 3 in Race 11, and Asuka Otaki repeated her lane 1 victory in Race 12.
Special attention is on Mai Hii (24, from Aichi, Aichi branch) . She posted a 2nd and 1st on the opening day, a strong start toward her third semifinal appearance and first career final. In Race 11, her outside burst from lane 3 triggered a trifecta payout of 12,480 yen. Interestingly, in the previous event at Hamanako, she also pulled a lane-3 outside move for a 10,750 yen trifecta. This marks two consecutive meets with high-return outside passes. Notably, seven of Hii’s eight career wins have come via outside overtakes, making her sharp, cutting runs from center or outer lanes a must-watch. She’ll race once on Day 2 from lane 5 in Race 4.
Raku Nagata (23, Aichi, Aichi branch) is also one to track. She made her first career final appearance in the previous Naruto All-Ladies meet. Now riding that momentum into her home venue, she won her lone opening-day race wire-to-wire. On Day 2, she’ll race twice: from lane 3 in Race 2 and lane 2 in Race 12. At Naruto, she excelled from the 2 and 3 lanes—executing inside passes on Day 2, outside moves on Day 3, and outside overtakes on Day 4—so her performance this week is highly anticipated.
All races are available via the official BOATRACE streaming service BOATCAST.
