Japan Cup (G1) - Breeders' Cup Turf winner Conduit, Scintillo arrive in Japan

Conduit, the winner of this year's Breeders' Cup Turf and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, arrived in Japan with fellow 4-year-old English colt Scintillo on Thursday, 10 days before the running of the Grade 1 Japan Cup.

Both horses arrived at Narita Airport at 15:17 on Thursday and were transported to JRA Horseracing School Quarantine Center, finishing a 15-hour travel from England.

"The horse is in fine condition and does not seem to be worn out from the trip," said Conduit's groom Neil Varley. "This visit to Japan and the race will probably be the highlight of my life, so I'm looking forward to it. It's an honor just to be here for the Japan Cup, but since we've come all this way, we will give it our best."

"He is in very good form and seems to have found a liking for the stalls here at the international stables. He looks fresh and is enjoying himself," said Scintillo's groom Anna Kowalczyk. "As for his training, I will wait for orders from the trainer, but tomorrow, we'll only walk him around and not enter the track. The Japan Cup is a world-class race, and I'm delighted that we were invited here and to participate in a race of this caliber."

Conduit, the 4-year-old son of Dalakhani out of Well Head, may be one of the hottest horses in the world this year. He became a back-to-back winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf earlier this month, holding off Precious Passion by half of a length in a field of seven runners. More convincing was Conduit's win at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, in which he finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of the entire field carrying 60.5 kilograms.

Conduit is 7-for-14 for his career, with two runnerups and two third-place showings, and has earned ￡3,260,279. Trainer Michael Stoute and owner Ballymacoll Stud should have more than enough motivation heading to the Japan Cup with the possibility of receiving the "Japan Autumn International" bonus. As a winner of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Turf, Conduit qualifies as a recipient of the bonus and, aside from the race's prize money, he will receive 130 million yen for winning, 52 million yen for finishing second, and 32.5 million yen for running third in the Japan Cup.

>More on the Japan Cup prize money and bonus system

Also a 4-year old, Scintillo has almost twice as many outings as Conduit, running in 26 races with five wins, three second-place and five third-place finishes. This year, the son of Fantastic Light has run consistently over 2,000 meters, winning twice at 2,400 meters, one of them the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly in France. Trained by Richard Hannon and owned by Leonard Lucas, Scintillo has a career earning of ￡303,681.

With a total purse of 533.5 million yen, the Japan Cup will be held over 2,400 meters on the left-handed Tokyo Racecourse on Nov. 29. The race will be the third leg of the "Japan Autumn International," a four-race series with a total value of 1,217,100,000 yen in prize money.