Mile Championship (G1) - Profiles of Eva's Request, Sahpresa

EVA'S REQUEST: Model of durability

Eva's Request (c) JRA

Eva's Request has been a model of durability over her career, the 4-year-old having raced 25 times under 10 different jockeys with seven victories to show for.

Trained by a former star footballer - England international Mick Channon - Eva's Request has had 10 starts this season alone, and that toughness could be the difference in a field as close as the one for the Mile Championship to be held this Sunday at Kyoto Racecourse.

Eva's Request, by Soviet Star, a former stud based in Japan, made her debut on June 6 2007 at Nottingham, and won her second start on June 27 for her first career victory. She arrives in Japan having never been better, after beating a tough field in the 2,000-meter Premio Lydia Tesio at the Capannelle on Oct. 25 for her first Grade 1 win. Before that, the filly, with new partner Alan Munro, had won the Grade 2 Istanbul Trophy in Turkey as the first choice ahead of fellow Brit Damaniyat Girl.

Eva's Request appears to be most effective somewhere in between 1,600 meters and although she hasn't been particularly successful on fast ground as Japanese tracks tend to be, the Irish bred should put the host runners led by 8-year-old Company to test, provided a decent going.

Looking to become the first overseas winner of the Mile Championship, Eva's Request arrived in Japan last Tuesday on Nov. 10. Assistant trainer Andrew Larkin has said that the horse continues to be in good condition following her transfer from Miki Horseland Park to Kyoto.

It will also likely be the last time she will carry the colors of Liam Mulryan, who indicated last month that Eva's Request - out of Ingabelle who died last year at the age of 24 - will be up for sale. The 56-year-old Mulryan has been in real estate in Ireland over the last two decades; Eva's Request has been the highlight of his 25 years as an owner.

The 60-year-old Channon is enjoying his best season in his 20 years as a trainer, having survived a life-threatening car accident last year in which he lost a close friend, and that had him in intensive care with a punctured lung, a broken jaw and arm as well as fractures to his ribs; he was under the knife for more than six hours.

Channon, who entered Halicarnassus in the 2007 Japan Cup (17th), has made a superb transition in careers from soccer to racing. Since he bought the West Ilsley Stables in 1999, the former Southampton forward has been a regular top six finisher in the trainers' championship.

Youmzain has carried the stable in recent years, having won twice at Grade 1 while taking second twice in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and another runnerup finish in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

SAHPRESA: Like father, like son?

Sahpresa (c) JRA

The son of 1987 Japan Cup-winning trainer Robert Collet, Rodolphe Collet returns to Japan with Sahpresa for his first crack at the Mile Championship.

The 36-year-old trainer tested Tigertail in the 2003 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup as well as the Japan Cup, finishing third and sixth, respectively. Tigertail's third-place finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup is the highest ever by an overseas horse in the race.

The 4-year-old Sahpresa has arrived for the Mile Championship with a bit of steam, winning at the top level for her first time in the Oct. 3 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket. The victory was as impressive as it was sweet, seventh pick Sahpresa beating first choice Ghanaati - winner of this year's 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes - by a length and a half in the mile for her first Grade 1 title in nine starts.

It was also the first Grade 1 win for Collet, who opened his stable in March 1998 after apprenticing under world-class trainers such as John Gosden and Jack Van Berg. Including Sahpresa, Collet looks after most of Douglas McIntyre's horses while the 88-year-old owner divides his time between Monaco and the Bermuda Isles.

Japanese fans will be more than familiar with Sahpresa's jockey, Olivier Peslier, who returns for the first time since February 2008. The 36-year-old Peslier has won the Mile Championship twice, with Zenno El Cid in 2001 and with Hat Trick in 2005. The Frenchman may not be cleaning up like he once used to with the likes of Symboli Kris S and Zenno Rob Roy, but Peslier knows Japanese racing as well as any jockey around, foreign or domestic. In a tight field as this year's, his steady hands could make the difference for the rising Sahpresa.