APQEII Cup News: Fukunaga and Eishin Preston a team with winning habit

20 April 2002

Yuichi Fukunaga, the rider of the impressive Japanese challenger Eishin Preston in Sunday's $14 million Audemars Piguet QE II Cup, is a man in a hurry - he was licensed as a jockey in 1996, won at his first appearance in a race and went on to win 52 other races in his first season, taking the award as most-valuable new jockey for the Japan Racing Association (JRA).

Fukunaga was born on December 9, 1976, the son of a brilliant jockey, Yoichi Fukunaga, who was forced to end his career after a spill from a horse when Yuichi was two.
In 1997, in his second season of riding, the young Fukunaga captured his first graded stakes success in the Group 3 Kyoto Himba Tokubetsu and his first Group 1 triumph came in 1999 in the Japanese 1000 Guineas aboard Prim Ordine.

Just a week after this brilliant victory, Fukunaga was seriously injured in a spill during a preliminary canter and underwent surgery on his liver, spleen and kidneys, one of which was removed.

He bounced back in December of that year to win the Group 1 Asahi Hai Sansai (2YO) Stakes over 1600 metres aboard the Green Dancer colt Eishin Preston, which was the race that started that horse on the road to winning the JRA's award as champion juvenile.

He has ridden Eishin Preston at all its starts and their record is 21 runs for eight wins, three seconds and one third.

Other wins included the Group 3 Arlington Cup and the Group 2 New Zealand Trophy over 1600m in December, 2000, after which Eishin Preston went winless for almost 16 months until the Yonago Stakes over 1600m in June last year.

In quick succession after that, the pair took the Group 3 Kitakyushu Kinen in July at Eishin Preston's first try at 1800m, followed by the Group 2 Mainichi Okan, also over 1800m, in October.

Ridden by Fukunaga, the five year old then showed a dazzling turn of foot to win the international Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in December, stamping himself as one of the world's best milers.

The bad news for rivals in tomorrow's Audemars Piguet QE II Cup is that Fukunaga believes the horse was not at his best for that win.

"The turf track at Sha Tin racecourse suits Eishin Preston very well," Fukunaga said. "In the Hong Kong Mile, we got a clear break from an outside post position (draw 13), and had a smooth race. He was not in his best form in Hong Kong Mile, but he proved himself that he was the horse with much potential. "

Fukunaga said he found everything quite different in Hong Kong from what he was used to in Japan, and he is hungry for more international experience.
"From the experiences that I had in December, I learned a lot. The trip to Hong Kong was very valuable and very fresh for me. I would really like to go out of Japan to see other racing cultures."

Fukunaga has only one graded stakes success this year, with Shuji Kitahashi's six-year-old mare Behind the Mask in January's Group 3 Kyoto Himba Stakes over 1600m, and as he prepared for the flight to Hong Kong, he said he could not wait to take on international opposition with Eishin Preston at Sha Tin again.