Tokyo a road too far for Contentment

05/06/2016

Contentment failed to fire and Maurice’s imperious winning streak tumbled as outsider Logotype enjoyed a dream run to a shock all-the-way win in the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) at Tokyo racecourse this afternoon (Sunday 5 June).

Hong Kong raider Contentment was the first horse under pressure as the 12-runner field began the turn into Tokyo’s long final stretch. And as Logotype forged onwards under Hironobu Tanabe to a first win in more than three years, Hong Kong’s hope struggled home last.

“He raced like an empty horse – there was nothing to give – first horse beaten,” said the gelding’s trainer, John Size. “He’d had nine runs this season and that was his 10th run. We’re always in that position here that we hope a horse has another run in him and he did everything perfectly running up towards the race, but on the day he’s got nothing there. It’s disappointing but it happens to some horses.”

Contentment took a few early bumps as Brett Prebble looked to find a sit, the pair eventually settling a handy fifth, just behind the hot favourite, Maurice.

“He jumped out and he really didn’t travel until the favourite came around him, and he kept bumping him and taking his running a bit,” said Prebble. “He got on the bridle and wanted to be a little bit more competitive and once we got in behind I was happy – we’ve gone a pretty sedate tempo.

“He came off the bridle a few times from the half-mile to the 600 (metres) and then before we turned in he was pretty much the first horse beaten,” he continued.

“I was happy at the 1000-metre mark because they were crawling. I was behind the favourite and I was pretty happy about it, but with 600 to go I could feel he wasn’t going on the bridle like he would be in Hong Kong. It was a crawl and sprint – no pressure on the leader whatsoever. I’d have loved to have been on the leader at the 600, I knew what was going to win, he was going good!”
Prebble felt that Contentment may not have enjoyed the Tokyo turf, which was originally rated good after rain last night and this morning, but upgraded to firm late in the day.
“I don’t think he liked the footing, the ground was pretty shifty and chopped up and he didn’t appreciate it,” said the man who rode Bullish Luck to success in the 2006 Yasuda Kinen.

“He didn’t get beaten far – they didn’t go away from him too much – he didn’t stop. John felt he was probably tired and yes, probably a fraction, but there were other circumstances to it, not just that the horse was tired. He couldn’t get his foot in properly. I’m sure that rain doesn’t help Hong Kong horses – they never go on anything like this. There was a question mark when I saw it coming last night. I’ve ridden Bullish Luck here, Lucky Nine one time, and they just don’t like it – they’re not used to it.”

Maurice, whose seven-race winning running included the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and, last start, the G1 Champions Mile – both at Sha Tin – appeared to be unsuited by the steady tempo. Last year’s Yasuda Kinen victor was unable to overhaul the Tsuyoshi Tanaka-trained Logotype – who stopped the clock at 1m 33.0s – and boxed on to finish a length and a quarter second under Tommy Berry.

“I didn’t envision the race panning out like that at all,” said Berry. “We thought there’d be a lot more pressure in the race, being a Group 1. There were horses like Contentment that I thought would be a lot closer.

“He copped a couple of bumps at the start that got him a little bit fired up and when the speed didn’t go forward he got on the bit and just went keen for the first half of the race. He relaxed a little when we got down the side of the track but was still on the bit, and as we came into the straight I had a lap full of horse – I sort of waited for the horses we thought were the chances to come up alongside before I let him go but the winner stuck on well, which we didn’t expect it to do,” Berry continued.

“Logotype had a soft lead in front and my bloke was just out of his comfort zone a little bit being outside the leader but I didn’t have any other options with how slow the pace was. We saw ourselves being fourth with cover at the closest and fifth or sixth if they really ran along. Being outside the leader was never an option, but I didn’t have a choice after going a furlong. He just pulled himself there and went quite keen after that.”

The Maurice camp had stated earlier in the week that the champ could have done with an extra week of preparation, having travelled back from Hong Kong after his 1 May Champions Mile win and then spent three weeks in quarantine.

“That’s what Mr. Hori said a week out,” said Berry, “and he was a bit fresh on the day so maybe that extra week’s work, a couple of extra gallops, he might have relaxed a bit better. But he still would have ended up in the same position in the race with that lack of tempo, but he might have just relaxed a little bit better.”

Logotype’s surprise win was the first for the six-year-old since a classic triumph in the 2013 G1 Satsuki Sho (2000m), Japan’s 2,000 guineas.

“I think the jockey and I shared the same feeling,” said the winning trainer, Tanaka. “It was a field containing some very good horses, not just Maurice, and I just told the jockey, ‘give it your best shot, don't worry about making a mistake and don't try and hold him back’. As he went into the straight I just prayed that he would just go on."