Japan Cup (G1) - Preview

2010 Japan Cup

The 31st Japan Cup on Nov. 27 at Tokyo Racecourse looks set to be a race for the ages with the Dubai World Cup holder and the reigning Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe champion butting heads in a glamorous field of 18 including 11 Grade 1 winners.

The richest race in Japan with the first-place horse due to take home 250 million yen from a purse of 521 million yen, the Japan Cup is the international showpiece of the Japan Racing Association and has hosted some of the world's top thoroughbreds over the years.

The highlight of this year's race will be the matchup between Japan's Victoire Pisa, who lifted the country's first ever Dubai World Cup back in March, versus Danedream, the German-bred and -trained 3-year-old filly who won the Arc last month by a shocking five lengths and in record time on the tough Longchamp Racecourse.

Also joining the party from overseas is Shareta, the 3-year-old runnerup to Danedream in the Arc, Canadian International champion Sarah Lynx and 7-year-old veteran Mission Approved, who won the Manhattan Handicap in June.

The foreign four will be counted on to break a six-year dryspell in the Japan Cup for the visitors, who last won through Alkaased with Lanfranco Dettori in the saddle (Alkaased still holds the race record at 2 minutes, 22.1 seconds over the 2,400 meters). The time before that it was Falbrav in 2002, and Pilsudski in 1997. A total of 14 horses from abroad have won the Japan Cup but they were mostly in the early years of the competition, when Japanese horses rarely tested themselves overseas.

Co-owned by Gestut Burg Eberstein and Teruya Yoshida, Danedream, who touched down in Japan on Nov. 16, is eligible for a winning bonus of 100 million yen in the Japan Cup. The 4-year-old Sarah Lynx can haul in an additional 70 million yen should she win, Shareta 40 million yen.

Tokyo Racecourse

Danedream's jockey Andrasch Starke believes the filly will have her work cut out, although he expects her to pleasantly surprise him once again.

"The Japan Cup is a tough race, she has had a hard year and anything on top of the Arc would be a bonus," said Starke, who rode Caitano to fourth place in the 1997 Japan Cup.

"But this horse surprises me all the time. She doesn't show you anything in her work but she is a tremendous filly and if she is in the same form - and I think she will be – then we are in with a real chance."

The JRA created the Japan Cup in 1981, driven by the goal to raise the level of Japanese racing to that of international standards. The Japan Cup has always been held in late November over the distance of 2,400 meters at Tokyo Racecourse (apart from 2002, when it was held at Nakayama due to construction work at Tokyo), and is a popular race among local fans as it brings many of the world's biggest names in racing – both human and equine – to Japan.

The first running of the Japan Cup was open to North American and Asian horses, before Europe and Oceania were added to the list the following year. In 1992, the Japan Cup became the JRA's first Grade 1 race approved by the International Cataloguing Standards. From 1999 to 2005, it was part of the Emirates World Racing Championship, then the game's preeminent international series.

The Japan Cup last year saw eight enter from overseas, four from France in Cirrus des Aigles, Marinous, Mores Well and Timos – but Cirrus des Aigles was the highest finisher at ninth place in a controversial race won by Rose Kingdom, who was declared the winner after overwhelming favorite Buena Vista was demoted to second on grounds of interference.

The Japanese contingency this year is nothing short of superb – arguably the most talented of all time. On top of the 4-year-old Victoire Pisa – the Arima Kinen champion who will race for the first time since the Dubai World Cup – Rose Kingdom, also 4, will be back to defend his title while Buena Vista is keen to capture what she left behind on the racecourse a year ago.

Triple Crown-winning trainer Yasutoshi Ikee will send out three quality horses in 5-year-old Tosen Jordan, who shattered the Tenno Sho (Autumn) record by more than a second on Oct. 30, and a pair of 4-year-old colts in To the Glory and Trailblazer. To the Glory was a close third in last year's Arima Kinen, and Trailblazer is coming off victory in the Grade 2 Copa Republica Argentina earlier this month.

Tenno Sho (Spring) champion Hiruno d'Amour will try to rebound from a disappointing 10th-place outing in the Arc, while former Grade 1 winners Eishin Flash (2010 Tokyo Yushun, Japanese Derby), Jaguar Mail (2010 Tenno Sho (Spring)) and Oken Bruce Lee (2008 Kikuka Sho) will also try to rediscover their past glories. The enigmatic 4-year-old Pelusa, who came in third in the record-breaking Tenno Sho (Autumn) last month, could be the most intriguing pick of the bunch with esteemed trainer Kazuo Fujisawa and jockey Norihiro Yokoyama both raving out about the son of Zenno Rob Roy form this fall.

Tokyo Racecourse boasts the best and largest facilities of the 10 JRA venues. The racecourse was originally built in 1933 and is now the state-of-the-art home to Japan's most prestigious races including the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), Yasuda Kinen, Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the Tenno Sho (Autumn).

The oval occupies an area of nearly 200 acres and measures just short of 2,120 meters in circumference. The left-handed track is undulating, with a gentle downward slope in the backstretch followed by a sharp hill rising some two meters over less than 100 meters, then falling just over two meters again before going into the final bend. On the final straight, there is another hill beginning shortly before the 400-meter mark which rises two meters over the last 140 meters.

The draw, due to both turns being wider than before, is not seen to be of great concern in a 2,400-meter race at Tokyo. At the pre-renovated track, horses quickened at the final bend but they now regroup for the stretch spanning almost 530 meters. The best jockeys now will make their move late along the straight so their mounts can survive the punishment of more than half a kilometer.

The Japan Cup will be the 10th race on the Sunday card. Post time is at 3:20 p.m.

* Notes and Abbreviations
1. Weight: 1 pound = approximately 0.453 kg
2. Rating: Please add four pounds to the ratings because of weight allowances for fillies and mares, when comparing the ratings of fillies and mares to the ratings of colts, horses and geldings.
3. Abbreviations:
Gender and Sex:
C = Colt (2-4 Y/O), H = Horse (5 Y/O & UP), G = Gelding, F = Filly (2-4 Y/O), M = Mare (5 Y/O & UP)