Caspar Fownes’ overriding Champions Cup fear was realised this afternoon as Gun Pit seemed unable to get to grips with Chukyo’s deep dirt surface and trailed home an eased down 16th of 16 in the Grade 1 feature.
“He just didn’t seem to handle the track,” said jockey Zac Purton in the immediate aftermath of Japan’s championship dirt track event. “I was following Hokko Tarumae (5th) going into the straight but I couldn’t go with him.”
Fownes, as disappointed as his jockey, was planning to scope the Dubawi gelding following a lacklustre effort in the 1800m contest that brought to an end the bay’s unbeaten record on dirt.
“He’s a fit horse and he’s not even blowing, he just didn’t cop that at all,” said the handler. “He got a bad squeeze at the turn into the stretch and he’s just sat on him the last two furlongs – it’s disappointing. We had to ride him a little differently by going forward because the track has had a leader’s bias all day. We tried to give him a run but he was three wide the whole trip. He nearly got into a good spot but he just had to work at both ends.
“We’ll scope him to see if there’s anything there but it is possible there’s something inside because he’s been quite timid at the end.”
Gun Pit jig-jogged a little, head down and nostrils snorting, as he circuited the parade ring pre-race, but otherwise went to post without a hitch. When the gates burst open the five-year-old was quick to stride from his 14 berth, pressing the front pair of Copano Rickey and Kurino Star O into the first turn before posting a length or so back, three wide and without cover.
Purton slotted Gun Pit for shelter half-way down the backstretch but as the field made the final turn the writing was on the wall. A check with around 500m to go had no bearing on the final outcome, “I was finished before then,” said Purton, and as the Australian accepted his fate on the struggling Hong Kong raider, Italian hoop Mirco Demuro drove long shot Sambista ahead of the pack for the mare’s first G1 triumph at age six.
Three-year-old Nonkono Yume finished a length and a half second with Sound True a further neck away in third. The winning time was 1m 50.4s.
