Four overseas runners will compete in the 35th running of the G1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on 29 November. Japan-based horses have won the turf event over 2400m for the past nine years in a row. Can the foreign team reverse the trend this year?
The home team is strong once again. Expected to get the most love from bettors in Japan is Lovely Day, a five-year-old that has come full steam into his own this year and is barreling along on a four-race graded-stakes winning streak that includes two G1s, the Tenno Sho Autumn and the Takarazuka Kinen. He has also nabbed the G2 Kyoto Daishoten over the Japan Cup distance and the G3 Naruo Kinen over 2000m. This year alone has seen Lovely Day capture six graded-stakes races. He is in fine shape and is the horse to beat.
Though the odds will likely be relatively high, Sounds Of Earth deserves a wager. He ran second in the Kyoto Daishoten off a 5-month layoff last out and, though he has yet to win a graded-stakes race, he has come close a number of times, including when second in the 2014 G1 Kikuka Sho, which was won in record time. The four-year-old has had only three races this year and is fresh.
A three-year-old filly may seem an unlikely pick for second choice in the Japan Cup but this year’s Oaks champion Mikki Queen is expected to hold fans’ attention due to her stellar record thus far. She has yet to finish any worse than second place and has won four of her seven starts, including last out in the 2000m G1 Shuka Sho at Kyoto. Gentildonna brought home the Japan Cup three years ago, when she became the first three-year-old filly to ace the race, and chances are good Mikki Queen, also a daughter of Deep Impact, can do it too.
France’s Erupt took the G1 Grand Prix de Paris in July after blazing through three races unbeaten. He ran fifth in the Arc last time out but his four wins in six starts speak for themselves.
The three-year-old, Nightflower, one of two horses representing Germany this year, was runner-up in the Grosser Preis von Baden. Last start, at the end of September, she nabbed the G1 Preis von Europa.
Germany’s Ito hails from the same team as last year’s Japan Cup sixth-place finisher Ivanhowe. Ito is fresh off victory in the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern at the left-handed Munich track on 1 Nov. If the going is heavy on Sunday, Ito is one to watch.
Ed Dunlop’s Trip To Paris has traveled to Japan via Australia, where he finished fourth in the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). His dam’s sire Fantastic Light ran third in the 2000 Japan Cup. Dunlop took third place in the 2006 Japan Cup with Ouija Board.
Two other names that call for a wager are Shonan Pandora and Gold Ship. Shonan Pandora ran fourth in the Tenno Sho Autumn last time and third to Lovely Day in the Takarazuka Kinen. She was looking for a bit more distance in the Tenno Sho Autumn and will have it this time that reserve of stamina is a plus. With six G1 wins to his name, Gold Ship is expected to be among the top picks for the Japan Cup. He has had only three runs at Tokyo, including a win in the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai over 1800m in 2012.
