Japan this year boasts strength of numbers, at least, in its quest to end the eight-year winning run of Hong Kong trained ‘milers’ in Sunday’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.
Hong Kong’s winning streak is unbroken since 2005 when Hat Trick claimed the Mile prize for the Japanese who have four runners in this year’s edition, just one shy of the number representing Hong Kong.
Hat Trick won in Hong Kong after taking the G1 Mile Championship – the race from which emerges this year’s contenders Fiero (2nd), Grand Prix Boss (6th) and World Ace (8th). The fourth Japanese runner Hana’s Goal comes via a lead-up in the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile at Sha Tin last month.
Since Hat Trick’s win for the visitors, Hong Kong’s milers have trifecta-ed the feature race four times and just six overseas trained horses have managed to finish in the places.
But this year’s Japanese challenge, headed by Fiero, who was beaten just a nose in the Mile Championship, and by the evergreen Grand Prix Boss - who is bound for a stud career – is strong enough to suggest they can take a hand in the finish despite the presence of Hong Kong’s 1600m superstar Able Friend.
The Japanese quartet have taken the eye on the track most mornings this week, as the Japanese horses so often do, and there is measured confidence among the team from the neighbouring country, whose spirits were lifted after Yuichi Fukunaga won last night’s (Wednesday) LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship.
Fukunaga, twice Japan’s champion jockey, rides Fiero and is optimistic about the five-year-old’s prospects. “He is a very good horse and his run in the Mile Championship was very good. This is his best distance and I think he will be hard to beat,” he said.
Fiero is one of three International day runners for trainer Hideaki Fujiwara who says he is “honoured” to have his horses selected for Sunday’s feature races.
“For Straight Girl (G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint) and Fiero it was always my aim to end the year here,” Fujiwara revealed. “The Mile has been the big target for Fiero this year and I’m very happy with his condition. There was only a short break between his Mile Championship run and the flight to Hong Kong, which was a concern, but I am not worried now. He has coped with it very well.
“I understand it is always very difficult to beat the locals in the Hong Kong Mile but we come here this year to break the drought,” Fujiwara said.
Yoshito Yahagi, who prepares Grand Prix Boss, is confident his charge will perform much better than when he failed in the 2012 Hong Kong Mile. “I am sure he’s in much better condition now than when we came here two years ago. This will be his final career start but I think he’s in good form. I got in last night and was very pleased when I inspected him this morning,” he said.
World Ace, the third of the horses progressing from the Mile Championship, will have the services of Hong Kong’s reigning champion jockey Zac Purton and his trainer Yasutoshi Ikee says he will improve on his last run: “He missed the start in the Mile Championship and that was very costly. Had he begun well I think he might have won that race,” Ikee said.
Jockey Nash Rawiller is also expecting better from Hana’s Goal who failed in the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile. “She might surprise,” Rawiller said, “I think she just hadn’t settled in at all before the Jockey Club Mile. She’s had the time now to get used to Hong Kong and she galloped strongly yesterday. The ideal situation for her is a strong pace and a bit of give in the ground. She took a run to hit her straps in Australia and was very good winning the All Aged Stakes when I rode her for the first time.”
