February Stakes (G1) - Preview

2011 February Stakes (G1)

The Japan Racing Association's Grade 1 season gets underway this weekend with the 29th February Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse, where a maximum of 16 runners, led by defending champion Transcend, will fight for the first place prize of 94 million yen.

The oldest of the JRA's graded dirt races, the inaugural February Stakes was held in 1984 under the name February Handicap. Initially a Grade 3 race, it was upgraded to Grade 2 in 1994 when it was also renamed the February Stakes.

In 1997, the February Stakes went on to become the first Japanese Grade 1 race on dirt and was made an international in 2007. It is the spring counterpart to the Japan Cup Dirt held the first week of December, and often serves as a stepping stone for horses targeting the Dubai World Cup in late March. Transcend won the February Stakes last year before going on to finish a narrow second to compatriot Victoire Pisa.

Tokyo Racecourse

Over nearly three decades, the February Stakes has always been held at Tokyo at the distance of a mile except for in 2003, when the Fuchu track was undergoing renovation (it was run at Nakayama over 1,800 meters that year).

The Tokyo mile on dirt starts from the backstretch, with the first 75 m laid out on turf. The run to the first turn exceeds 600 m, before the course turns left for 450 m, leading into the final straight of 501 m.

The February Stakes has proved kind to the first choice over the last 10 years, with the favorite having won eight times. The No. 1 pick this year again is expected to be Transcend, who defended his Japan Cup Dirt title in December and was named the JRA's best dirthorse for the year.

Post time on Sunday, Feb. 19, is 3:40 p.m. Twenty-two horses have been nominated for the 196 million yen race:

Espoir City ESPOIR CITY: Does Espoir City have anything left to offer? That is the $64 question for trainer Akio Adachi's horse, who won dirthorse of the year honors back-to-back in 2009 and 2010 but has not reached the Grade 1 winner's circle since the 2010 February Stakes. The Gold Allure son turned seven this season, and in his first start of the year, the Jan. 22 Heian Stakes, he settled for second as the outstanding favorite behind Hiraboku King, who took full advantage of the sloppy conditions to run off with the victory. In the February Stakes this weekend, Espoir City will again go head-to-head with Transcend, who had little trouble winning by more than two lengths in the Japan Cup Dirt in December; Espoir City was third. Transcend also came out ahead in their only other matchup in the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, and given his dominant form at the moment, it will be a tall order for Espoir City to turn the tables on the JRA's new dirt champion. Adachi, however, isn't about to give up just yet and will be counting on superstar Yutaka Take, who will pinch hit for injured jockey Tetsuzo Sato, to turn back the clock to Espoir City's best days for at least one more time. "I'm praying he'll come around just one last time," Adachi said. "The Tokyo mile is his best course. You can't fight age, but he's shown no signs of wear and tear, and has been coming along really well since his last race. We're sure he'll be able to run to the best of his ability here."

Grand Prix Boss GRAND PRIX BOSS: The folks at the Yoshito Yahagi stable are hoping that Grand Prix Boss, a two-time Grade 1 winner on turf, can revive his career with an experiment on dirt in the February Stakes. "He's a horse with a lot of power so I think he should do all right on dirt," assistant trainer Koji Kubo said of the 4-year-old colt. "But you never know; he could adjust really well, or he could be terrible." After rising to the top of his class as a 2-year-old with victory in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, Grand Prix Boss, by Sakura Bakushin O out of Rosy Mist by Sunday Silence, went on to add another Grade 1 title the following year in the NHK Mile Cup. The win convinced Yahagi to take the horse abroad to England for his next start, the St. James's Palace Stakes at Ascot, but finished eighth out of nine in a race dominated by Frankel. Grand Prix Boss hasn't been able to find his rhythm since, slumping to eighth in the Mainichi Broadcast. Swan Stakes in October and 13th in the Mile Championship the following month. Grand Prix Boss, however, did show signs of a turnaround in the Dec. 17 Hanshin Cup, in which he was runnerup by a nose to San Carlo. Kubo thought his horse should have won it, although he was pleased to see Grand Prix Boss regain some of his old flair, which the colt will certainly need against the likes of Transcend and Espoir City in the February Stakes. The goal for the spring, though, is the 1,800-meter Dubai Duty Free on March 31. "He got out in front and he let up," Kubo said. "But the good thing is, he showed us that he isn't an early bloomer whose best is behind him. He's shaping up nicely. He's gotten a lot bigger. He's about 540 kg with the saddle on. We won't find out until he actually races, but the 1,600 meters is good for him and he seems to like Tokyo. We really want him to make the field for the Dubai Duty Free."

Silk Fortune SILK FORTUNE: Six-year-old Silk Fortune will be making his Grade 1 debut in the February Stakes, and he's making it just at the right time as the Norio Fujisawa-trained horse has hit peak form going into what could be the most important weekend of his career. "We got to see the horse at his best," Fujisawa said, looking back on Silk Fortune's victory in the 1,400-meter Negishi Stakes at Tokyo on Jan. 29. "He ran a good race." The Gold Allure son, out of Silk Esperanza by Alwuhush, was 14th out of 16 turning for home in the Negishi Stakes but blew past the field over the last 300 meters for his second graded win after the Procyon Stakes in July. Silk Fortune went under the wire a comfortable length and a half in front of runnerup Tosho Cousin. "He looks sharp around the waistline, and he's put on a lot of muscle around the hips," Fujisawa said. "He put on weight but he still won, which says something. He's really coming into his own, I think." The performance that got the trainer to start believing was in the Mile Championship Nambu Hai on Oct. 10, when Silk Fortune took third less than a length behind Transcend, who will be the red-hot favorite in the February Stakes. Fujisawa said his horse lost it on the final straight, and had he been able to keep his composure, Transcend could even have been on the losing end in the race. "Down the stretch, he saw Danon Come On flick his tail and that spooked him," Fujisawa said, referring to Triple Crown-winning trainer Yasutoshi Ikee's 6-year-old horse, who is also expected to be among the favorites on Sunday. Danon Come On was second in the Mile Championship Nambu Hai. "(Silk Fortune) can be pretty sensitive, and he couldn't accelerate the way he's capable of accelerating." Kota Fujioka, who has ridden Silk Fortune in five of his last six starts, will continue to take the reins. The pairing has worked out well, never having finished under third together. "If the jockey rides him like last time out, he should be able to overcome the distance," Fujisawa said. "It's a challenge for us, and I'm excited about it."

Transcend TRANSCEND: Six-year-old Transcend was named the JRA's best dirthorse in 2011, and he won by a landslide. After sweeping the February Stakes, the Mile Championship Nambu Hai and the Japan Cup Dirt, and finishing runnerup in the Dubai World Cup to cap a Japanese one-two with Victoire Pisa, Transcend captured 271 of 285 votes to win the honor. Smart Falcon was a distant second with a measly 13 votes. Despite Transcend's stellar campaign last season, trainer Takayuki Yasuda still can't forget about the one that got away -- the Dubai World Cup. "It's just the Dubai World Cup," Yasuda recalled. "He ran his heart out and proved himself second best in the entire world. But we were so close, I would have given anything to have won it." Transcend, by Wild Rush out of Tony Bin mare Cinema Scope, capped his 2011 campaign by going wire to wire to win the Japan Cup Dirt by a cool two lengths over Wonder Acute, who will also race this weekend. The February Stakes will be Transcend's first start in more than two months, but Yasuda is far from concerned about the readiness of his star. "We can't afford to lose here," said the trainer. "He's never had any big injuries over his career. He's durable, and is easy to get into shape. As people saw in last year's February Stakes and the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, he runs well even after a long break. If he does some fast work a week before the race, he'll be fine." The one thing Yasuda will insist to his horse is to grab the lead from the start and run with it. Both the trainer and jockey Shinji Fujita, who has held the reins since May 2010, are convinced Transcend is at his best when he dictates how the race flows. "He's produced even when he's come from behind from second position, but Fujita says he's a lot sharper and more aggressive when he's on the lead," Yasuda said. "And Fujita's right because Transcend has won more impressively when he sets the pace. That's the kind of race we'll expect from him this time. We're going back to the Dubai World Cup and this time, I want to win it."

Wonder Acute WONDER ACUTE: Trainer Masao Sato won't lie, he was gutted after Wonder Acute settled for a narrow second behind Smart Falcon, the long reigning king of local racing, in December's Tokyo Daishoten. "It was so close," Sato said. "It was his third start of the fall, and he was in absolute top form." Added jockey Ryuji Wada, "As long as we could get off to a clean start, I thought we would have a chance. You have to appreciate his competitiveness, the way he fought against the other horse even though they weren't 100 percent. He was in such good shape since he had had two races under his belt this fall." While a first Grade 1 winner's medal would have been nice, the Tokyo Daishoten wasn't all bad news for the 6-year-old Wonder Acute, son of Charismatic out of the Pleasant Tap mare Wonder Heritage. It was Wonder Acute's second straight runner-up finish at the top level following the Japan Cup Dirt on Dec. 4, and both Sato and Wada saw signs of maturity in their 500-kg horse compared to the race in 2010, when he crashed and burned to 10th place. During the 2011 season, Wonder Acute won two of eight with five silvers and one fourth-place finish. "He didn't have any issues during the paddock because of the pacifier he's been using," Sato said. "He had only dropped 10 kg or so before the race when he used to lose twice as much as that. Mentally, he's become a lot more stable. He's still on the heavy side, but should get into shape over the last couple of weeks leading up to the race. He's a late bloomer and I have a feeling he still has room for improvement. He won the Musashino Stakes (Grade 3, 1,600 meters, Tokyo) at this course so I'm really looking forward to it." In the February Stakes, the Wonder Acute team will get its rematch against the JRA's dirthorse of the year Transcend, who swept to victory in the Japan Cup Dirt and is a good bet to defend his title this weekend. Wada, nevertheless, thinks Wonder Acute's time may have finally arrived. "He still has a habit of getting overexcited before races, but it's gotten a lot better than before," Wada said. "He's learned how to run at any racecourse so maybe he's still got a growing curve. We're going up against a strong field, but I think it's about time this horse has had his moment. He's been runner-up the last two times out so I'm hoping the third time will be the charm."

Yamanin Kingly YAMANIN KINGLY: The 7-year-old Yamanin Kingly only made his debut on the dirt circuit in October, and he did it in style, winning the 2,000-meter Sirius Stakes under Yutaka Take. But trainer Hiroshi Kawachi has been left to wonder if the son of former February Stakes champion Agnes Digital was simply first-time lucky in the Sirius Stakes, as he finished seventh in the Japan Cup Dirt and sixth in the Tokyo Daishoten, both at Grade 1 (he never won at the top level on turf). Kawachi, though, would like to believe that the horse who beat Buena Vista, the recently retired six-time Grade 1 champion, in the 2009 Sapporo Kinen still has yet to run his best race on dirt. Mirco Demuro, who rode Yamanin Kingly the last two times out, told the trainer he felt the conditions of the February Stakes over a mile at Fuchu will suit the horse more than those of his previous three starts. Kawachi also likes the fact that the race starts on grass, which could give Yamanin Kingly an edge, having run on the surface for the first 28 times of his career. "The 1,600 meters on dirt at Tokyo starts on turf so that should work to our favor," Kawachi said. "He almost always gets off to a clean start and we're counting on him to get right into good position. The other horses are strong, and the February Stakes is traditionally a fast race. We'll see how those things impact our horse, but I'm looking forward to it."