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Wrapping up the spring group
1 season in Japan, the Yasuda Kinen offers a refreshing break
from the 3-year-old classics and a return to old favourites. For 54 years it's been a stage for some of
the best milers and sprinters to shine upon.
For
the first time in two years, foreign competitors are participating
in the 1,600-metre
event over turf. Hong Kong's Self Flit and Island
Fashion from the U.S.
will join the line-up
on
June
6 at Tokyo Racecourse to vie for the 94 million yen winner's
share. Self Flit is sure to enjoy popularity at the
windows. His front-running style suits the Yasuda and Ivan
Allan's familiarity with the venue (and the winner's circle)
is sure to work to his advantage. The one question will be
whether Self Flit can handle the run to the left, his
first.
Twenty-six
horses have been registered for the popular and highly competitive
race, but only 16 from the home team will join the ranks for
a full gate of 18. With the withdrawal earlier this week of
champion miler Durandal, who would have likely gone
to the gate the favourite,
attention is now scattered across the board. Four or so local
heavyweights, however, do stand out, including; Win Radius,
Fine Motion, Lohengrin, and Telegnosis.
The
lion's share of the attention is likely to go to Win Radius,
a Sunday Silence 6-year-old just coming off a neck
win of the Grade
2 Keio Cup (1,400 metres)
at Tokyo. In February, Win Radius also captured the
Tokyo Shimbun Hai, a Grade
3
race over 1,600 metres.
A big-striding horse, Win Radius has found the Tokyo
course much to his liking. The Yasuda will be his second Grade
1 challenge.
The
two-time Grade 1 winning mare Fine Motion, by Danehill,
will likely be neck and neck with Win Radious for favourite
status in this year's Yasuda. After a six-race winning streak
from her debut, including the two Grade 1 events, Fine
Motion began to stumble in the placings. She won her last
race, however, a Grade 2 over 1,600 metres in December and
finished second in the Mile Championship last November. Over
five months off the track, however, and Fine Motion
is said to not yet be at her best. It remains to be seen whether
trainer Yuji Ito can bring her up to peak condition in time
for June 6.
Lohengrin,
with a record of eight wins from
22
starts,
placed third in last year's Yasuda Kinen. The 5-year-old son
of Singspiel last raced on April
17 at Hanshin Racecourse, for a second-place finish over a
mile. Lohengrin was third in the Hong Kong Mile last
December, in which another entrant in this year's Yasuda --
Telegnosis -- finished seventh. A second-place finish
in the Keio Cup showed that the 5-year-old
son of Tony Bin, can still make it home in the money.
Four for 19,
Telegnosis captured the Grade 1 NHK Mile two years
ago at Tokyo.
Tsurumaru
Boy
is also gaining a fair bit of attention this year. Though
he has yet to win a top-level race, he has come close, with
three second-place finishes. Many believe that the Yasuda
distance, shorter than that Tsurumaru
Boy is
usually run at, will work to his advantage.
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