Duramente

Duramente will lead a Japanese team of 10 strong - the largest group to make the trip from the nation - into Dubai World Cup Day this weekend, when the JRA’s prized 4-year-old colt will make his highly anticipated overseas debut in the Dubai Sheema Classic.

Duramente, named the JRA’s top 3-year-old colt last season after capturing both the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), heads to the United Arab Emirates a proud racehorse, having been ranked joint No. 1 in the world earlier this month alongside California Chrome and Postponed, who he will face in the Sheema Classic.

Born of the JRA’s highest pedigree – by King Kamehameha out of Admire Groove, two modern racing legends in Japan – Duramente is 5-of-7 for his burgeoning career, not having finished under second. The Noriyuki Hori-trained horse is coming off a narrow win in the Nakayama Kinen on Feb. 28 – his first start since winning the Derby because he broke both front legs afterward.

Katsumi Yoshida, chief of Duramente’s breeding farm Northern Farm, is confident of victory in the Sheema Classic on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse and has eyes on a bigger prize this fall – the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which remains the holy grail to the Japanese racing community.

“I believe Japanese racehorses are the strongest in the world at 2,400 meters and I expect us to win as long as we are going,” Yoshida said. “The Nakayama Kinen was his first race in nine months so we wanted to make sure there was no recoil from it before we decided and announced anything.

“He seems to be in good shape, and we anticipate he will be in even better shape this time around now that he’s shaken off the rust. At the party after we won the Derby, everyone was talking about winning the Arc, not the Triple Crown. I hope we can win here and raise his value as an international stud – and then off to the Arc in the fall.”

Duramente will continue to be in the big-race hands of Mirco Demuro, who is currently the second leading jockey in the JRA behind Christophe Lemaire, the other foreigner to have a full-time riding license in Japan. Demuro – who brought Japan its first Dubai World Cup glory five years ago aboard Victoire Pisa – is just as confident as Yoshida about Duramente, going as far as to say he is the most talented racehorse the Italian has ever ridden.

“He’s the strongest horse I ever rode in my career,” Demuro said. “It will be his first race in the evening and the field will be tough, but they're about the only things I'm worried about. He will be jumping from 1,800 meters to 2,400 meters but he will be fine. The course at Dubai is flat and there's a lot of room on the turns. The straight is long so it will be an easy journey. Postponed won the (King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes) and he also won his most recent race. He's good but so is Duramente – and I'm excited. I want to win in Dubai again on a Japanese horse.”

Duramente will be joined in the Sheema Classic by 2014 Derby winner One and Only and Last Impact. Both are working under new trainers in Shinsuke Hashiguchi and Katsuhiko Sumii, respectively, following the retirement of Kojiro Hashiguchi and Hiroyoshi Matsuda.

One and Only

Five-year-old One and Only, by former Sheema Classic champion Heart's Cry, hopes to build on last year's race in which he was third, and end a dry spell dating back to the fall of 2014. He was sixth in his most recent start, the Grade 2 Kyoto Kinen on Feb. 14.

Last Impact

Last Impact, the Japan Cup runnerup last year, ventures abroad for the first time in his six-year career. The Deep Impact son finished sixth in the Nakayama Kinen behind Duramente but Dubai World Cup-winning trainer Sumii feels the Sheema Classic, which is longer by four furlongs, will be a better fit for the horse.

"He's a quality horse but I was still trying to figure him out," Sumii said, looking back on the Nakayama Kinen. "He was slightly on the heavy side and traveled closer to the front than usual, which may have thrown him off. He's shaping up and seems up for it, having gotten his first start out of the way."

Hokko Tarumae

In the signature race of the meet, the $10 million Dubai World Cup, Hokko Tarumae will be hoping the third time will be the charm after finishing 16th in 2014 and fifth last year. The Katsuichi Nishiura-trained veteran set a Japanese record for most top-class race victories with 10 by winning the Kawasaki Kinen on Jan. 27.

Hokko Tarumae is so invested in the World Cup that he passed up the February Stakes to save himself for the world's richest race.

"We're very glad he managed to receive another invite," Nishiura said. "He's 7 years old and this will be his last chance. I think the experience from the previous two times will count for a lot, and he hasn't slowed this time around either. I really hope we can perform better than last year. He's done working out. In Dubai, we'll just help him recover and acclimatize."

Real Steel

Trainer Yoshito Yahagi's 4-year-old Real Steel will also make his international debut in the Dubai Turf, renamed from the Dubai Duty Free. Tipped as one of the favorites in the Japanese Triple Crown last season, the Deep Impact colt came up empty-handed though not by a huge margin, finishing second in the Satsuki Sho, fourth in the Derby and second again in the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger).

Bel Canto

Lani

Yu Change

On the Rocks

Neo Black Dia

Hopes remain high for Real Steel, out of the Storm Cat mare Loves Only Me, especially at the distance of 1,800 meters and with Ryan Moore in the irons. Real Steel was a close third to Duramente in the Nakayama Kinen, and Yahagi guarantees a vastly improved performance from his horse on Saturday.

"I think he found it difficult adjusting to a race at 1,800 meters from 3,000 meters, but he kept at it all the way to the finish. It turned out to be a great prep race," Yahagi said. "The 1,800 meters at Meydan involves just one left-handed turn, which suits our horse perfectly as well as the turf in Dubai. As the trainer, my job is to find the right race for him and it doesn't matter whether it's domestic or abroad. I'm looking forward to it."

Also throwing their hat into the ring at the world's most lucrative meet are Bel Canto (5yo, mare) in the 1,000-meter Al Quoz Sprint; Lani (3yo, colt), Yu Change (3yo, colt) and On the Rocks (3yo, colt) in the UAE Derby at 1,900 meters; and Neo Black Dia (8yo, horse) in the Dubai Gold Cup, the longest race on the card at 3,200 meters. No horse from Japan has won the Al Quoz Sprint, UAE Derby or the Dubai Gold Cup.

Click here for the racecard

Please visit the following websites for more information.

Dubai Racing Club: http://www.dubairacingclub.com/
Dubai World Cup: http://www.dubaiworldcup.com/
Emirates Racing Authority: http://www.emiratesracing.com/