26 March, 2018
This year a record-breaking fourteen Japanese racehorses will be traveling a quarter of the way around the world for the 2018 Dubai World Cup Carnival. Four of the G1 races on Dubai World Cup night will be eligible for Japan-based betting this year, and six different races on the eight-race card will have at least one Japanese runner entered.
The first race of the evening is the US$1,000,000 G2 Godolphin Mile over the Meydan dirt course and will have two Japanese starters. Adirato(JPN) should be a name most international racegoers will remember from last year when he chased runner-up Epicharis(JPN) before tiring to finish 12th to winner Thunder Snow(IRE) in the G2 UAE Derby. This year the son of Rulership(JPN) will be going back to a more manageable distance since all of his career wins have been at 1400m and he has placed in multiple mile long efforts. He is trained by Ritto based Naosuke Sugai who won the Dubai Turf in 2014 with Just A Way(JPN) and will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire, who rode him in his most recent victory in an allowance back in December. The other contender is making his first international start, Akito Crescent(JPN) a six-year-old son of War Emblem(USA) who has also been mostly a 1400m horse during the majority of his career. Yutaka Take will guide the six-time winner for trainer Hisashi Shimizu.
The next race with Japanese runners is the 4th race on the card, the US$2,000,000 G2 UAE Derby which is 1900m over Meydan's dirt course. The first of the two Japanese starters is Ruggero(JPN) who is second on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby's leaderboard for his win in the Cattleya Sho last November and his third place finish in the listed Hyacinth Stakes last month. His third-place finish can easily be written off to the fact the son of Kinshasa no Kiseki(AUS) was fresh off of a nearly three-month spell. With Christophe Lemaire in the irons, the Yuichi Shikato trainee should improve off his last start if he can handle the increase in distance. Taiki Ferveur(JPN) who was the runner-up in last month's Hyacinth Stakes and third on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby's leaderboard is the other horse in the race. The three-year-old of a son of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed's best Japanese runner Furioso, who stands at his stallion complex at Darley Japan. He was very impressive in his last race so the extra furlong and a half should benefit him. The Mitsunori Makiura trainee has just announced that Joao Moreira will be in the irons.
The sixth race on the card, the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen will be the first race of the evening that will be open to betting in Japan. The 1200m dirt sprint has only one Japanese starter, though earlier this year there were supposed to be two. Last year's contender Dios Corrida(JPN) who while finishing poorly against older horses then, went on to become a G3 winner in Japan. The improvement led to a second invitation to the Golden Shaheen, but it was announced just last week that a bone chip would prevent him from starting this year. That leaves Matera Sky(USA), a 2015 Keeneland September Sale graduate, as the sole bannerman for Japan in this US$2,000,000 G1 race. He is a four-time winner over the same distance in Japan, and his breeding should help the son of Speightstown(USA) adjust to the more American-style dirt. Yutaka Take will be aboard the Hideyuki Mori trainee.
The next two races will arguably be the biggest events of the evening of March 31st, and while the world is always drawn to the US$10,000,000 Dubai World Cup at the end of the night, the Japanese have brought out their best horses for races seven and eight.
The US$6,000,000 G1 Dubai Turf has been a favorite over the years with the Japanese, having won it four times. Admire Moon(JPN) won in 2004, Just A Way(JPN) won it ten years later in 2014, and then the past two winners of the race have been Japanese, Real Steel(JPN) in 2016 and Vivlos(JPN) in 2017. This year there will be a shocking five Japanese horses in the race including past winners Real Steel(JPN) and Vivlos(JPN). Real Steel(JPN) was set to attempt a repeat last year before he bled during his final workout and was scratched. It was a major disappointment and his trainer Yoshito Yahagi vowed to come back in 2018 to get revenge. After a long layoff, he came back to win the G2 Mainichi Okan last fall. He followed that up with a fourth-place finish in a very strong G1 Tenno Sho Aki but after weeks of rain, he had to settle for fourth, but it was better than a lot of other G1 level horses that failed to handle the ground that day. Frankie Dettori has been secured to ride the six-year-old son of Deep Impact(JPN). The other Deep Impact(JPN) in the field is Vivlos(JPN) who will be looking to spoil Real Steel(JPN)'s revenge so she can win back to back Dubai Turfs. She took a lot of time off after her spectacular win at Meydan last year and ran second first up in the G2 Fuchu Himba Stakes in October. A month later she finished fifth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Hai and started the year with an eighth place finish in the G2 Nakayama Kinen. Last year she ran fifth in the G2 Nakayama Kinen before winning in Dubai so the placement should not be a major issue. Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi thinks she is in better condition than she was last year. The only major change will be the jockey, this year Christan Demuro will be in the irons as Joao Moreira will be on another mount.
The other three horses in the races will be trying Dubai for the first time. However, unlike the other two fillies, Neorealism(JPN) isn't a novice when it comes to travel. He has traveled to Hong Kong three times over the past two years, winning their G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup last spring. He ran third in last year's G1 Hong Kong Cup so trainer Noriyuki Hori has chosen to try his charge in Dubai instead and with the expert guidance of Joao Moreira he might pick up his second international G1 victory. Crocosmia(JPN) bested Vivlos(JPN) last fall in the G2 Fuchu Himba Stakes and followed that up with a runner-up effort in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Hai in November. While she ran eighth in the G2 Kyoto Kinen last month, her trainer Katsuichi Nishiura knows Dubai well after having campaigned Hokko Tarumae(JPN) in the World Cup multiple times. She will be piloted by Yasunari Iwata. The final Japanese horse in the field is the Mitsuru Hashida trained Deirdre(JPN) who will be coming into the Dubai Turf as last year's G1 Shuka Sho winner, just as Vivlos(JPN) did in 2017. While she finished twelfth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Hai a month after her impressive Shuka Sho win, it should be noted she had run eight times already that year, finishing out of the money only twice including a sixth-place finish in the G1 Oka Sho(Japanese 1000 Guineas) and a 4th place finish in the G1 Japanese Oaks. Her Shuka Sho jockey, Christophe Lemaire will be on this daughter of Harbinger(GB) again for her attempt at copying Vivlos(JPN)'s success.
The US$6,000,000 G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic's 2410m feels like it was made for the Japanese to win. Stayers are still a major part of the breeding industry in Japan, and Japanese-breds have captured this race three times so far. The first being Stay Gold(JPN) in 2001 and the second being Heart's Cry(JPN) in 2006. Both of those have gone on to stellar stallion careers passing on their stamina to the next generations. The third was champion Gentildonna(JPN) in 2014 after a runner-up effort in 2013. There are three Japanese-bred horses hoping to become the fourth winner for Japan. The hottest of the three will likely be last year's G1 Japanese Derby winner Rey de Oro(JPN) who finished the year with a gallant runner-up effort in the G1 Japan Cup last November. The Kazuo Fujisawa trainee made running in Dubai a goal for months, and even though his first run of the year in the G2 Kyoto Kinen ended in a third-place finish, it was fresh off a long break. With his regular jockey, Christophe Lemaire in the irons the son of King Kamehameha(JPN) should be ready for a big night. Satono Crown(JPN) should be used to traveling after two trips to Hong Kong, with his last try being a winning one in the G1 Hong Kong Vase. He is coming into the G1 Sheema Classic fresh, having rested after two unusually disappointing finishes in the G1 Japan Cup and G1 Arima Kinen. He had been very consistent in his since his 2016 Hong Kong Vase win, so it was highly unusual to see him finish in the back of the pack. Trainer Noriyuki Hori likely felt he needed the time off to revamp himself and on March 31st he will be reunited with his favorite jockey, Joao Moreira. Ippo Sameshima trainee Mozu Katchan(JPN) will be hoping to gallop in hoof prints of Gentildonna(JPN) at the end of the month. The four-year-old daughter of Harbinger(GB) ended last year on a high, beating older fillies and mares in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Hai, a field which included Vivlos(JPN) and Deirdre(JPN). She ran a solid fourth in the G2 Kyoto Kinen, just a nose behind Rey de Oro(JPN). In her best races Mirco Demuro has been riding her, but for her first try abroad his brother Christian Demuro will be in the irons.
While the US$10,000,000 G1 Dubai World Cup will not have the same number of horses from Japan in it as the previous two races on the card it is still considered one of the best races in the world and the goal of any owner with a ten-furlong dirt horse. For Japan, that owner is Koji Maeda with Awardee(USA). The eight-year-old son of Jungle Pocket(JPN) was born in America before being brought back over to his dam's homeland. Consistently well placed on turf early in his career, he made the switch to dirt as a five year old and that is where his career really began to take off, and he enjoyed a six-race win streak that peaked at a win in the JPN1 JBC Classic and ended by a neck in the G1 Champions Cup, where he finished second. The Mikio Matsunaga trainee had a slower year last year, which included a fifth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup, but he was never worse than fifth in any of his starts. He started 2018 with a ninth-place finish in the 1600m G1 February Stakes, but it was his first start over Tokyo's dirt course and perhaps didn't agree with him. His owner loves racing internationally, having campaigned horses like G1 Japanese Derby winners Kizuna(JPN), One and Only(JPN), and G2 UAE Derby winner Lani(USA). Awardee(USA) and Yutaka Take will be hoping that with the retirement of rivals Gun Runner(USA) and Arrogate(USA), that perhaps he can become the second Japanese horse to win the Dubai World Cup.
Please contact our representative below for further details:
Satomi Oka (Ms)
Satomi Oka Bloodstock Pty Ltd
E-mail : satomi@bloodstock.jp
Tel : +61 414 414 450