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Cafe Pharoah Claims Back-To-Back February Stakes Title

Second favorite Cafe Pharoah captured February Stakes title consecutively, renewing the race record to 1:33.8 on a track rated muddy and has become the second horse in history after Copano Rickey (2014 and 2015) to win it twice. The son of American Pharoah bounced back remarkably after being winless in his following three starts last season which included his latest 11th-place disappointment in the other JRA-G1 dirt event, the Champions Cup (dirt, 1,800m) last December. The five-year-old has now four wins out of four starts in dirt mile races at Tokyo Racecourse. This win marked trainer Noriyuki Hori’s 14th JRA-G1 title—his latest was last year’s February Stakes victory, and jockey Yuichi Fukunaga’s 33rd overall JRA-G1 title following the Japan Cup triumph last autumn with Contrail. Fukunaga has claimed the February Stakes title before in 2005 with Meisho Bowler.

The race broke evenly in the corner of the backstretch with T M South Dan eventually taking over the lead to set the pace. Running in sixth, Cafe Pharoah made headway from the third corner and hit the straight three wide and in third, a half-length behind Sodashi who ran in second. Promptly putting away Sodashi and then inheriting the lead from pacesetter right after the furlong marker, the defending champion romped to the line to post a 2-1/2-length victory.

“Mr. Hori and I went over the tactics before the race and everything went as planned. Cafe Pharoah’s start wasn’t that sharp but he recovered well and we were able to sit in a good position, in third, where he didn’t have to bear too much sand in his face, which was what I was hoping for. After that I just tried to keep him focused especially after taking over the lead in the final stages. I’m grateful to the connections who offered me this ride even before I had fully recovered from the fall in Hong Kong and am happy that I was able to do a good job,” commented Yuichi Fukunaga after the race.

Fifth pick T M South Dan made headway after breaking from the second widest stall, set the pace with 1,200 meters to go and sustained his lead but although succumbing to the winner’s speed in the last furlong, held on well to secure the runner-up position by half a length.

Fourth choice Sodashi tracked the leaders in third, advanced to second rounding the final corner, ran willingly inside the eventual winner but was caught 300 meters out and while failing to pin T M South Dan,rejected the challenges by the late chargers to finish third by a neck margin.

Race favorite Red le Zele was ridden most of the way in mid-pack, found himself in tight quarters in early stretch and was unable to fire thereafter, finishing sixth.

Other Horses:
4th: (13) Soliste Thunder—settled around 6th behind winner, closed in on frontrunners but neck short for 3rd place
5th: (7) Time Flyer—raced 4-wide around 10th, showed belated charge
7th: (4) Arctos—sat inside winner around 5th, met traffic at early stretch, failed to respond
8th: (8) Sunrise Nova—trailed in rear, showed 2nd fastest late kick, belatedly
9th: (16) Air Spinel—traveled 3-wide around 13th, passed tired rivals on outer stretch
10th: (12) Mutually—ran around 10th, lacked needed kick after turning final corner
11th: (3) Inti—saved ground around 13th, failed to find clear path at stretch, never threatened
12th: (9) Sunrise Hope—set pace early, entered 3rd to lane, remained in contention until 300m out
13th: (10) Suave Aramis—settled around 10th, failed to respond at stretch
14th: (1) Teorema—raced near rear, angled out for stretch run, never fired
15th: (2) Daiwa Cagney—took economic trip around 5-6th, showed little at stretch
16th: (14) K T Brave—traveled 4-wide around 8-9th, faded after final corner

THE 39TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), dirt, left-handed
Sunday, February 20, 2022        Tokyo Racecourse        11th Race         Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 259,200,000 (about US$ 2,254,000 <US$1=¥115>)
4-y-o & up: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2018
Course Record: 1:33.8              Race Record: 1:33.8 [Cafe Pharoah (USA, by American Pharoah), 2022]
Safety factor: 16 runners           Going: Muddy              Weather: Drizzle

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 15,661,939,400       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 26,134,557,500       Attendance: 12,071

Winner= 11 starts: 6 wins / Added money: ¥ 123,486,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 328,795,000

* February Stakes (G1)

Japanese horse racing, which is influenced by British racing, is held mainly on turf. However, dirt tracks that were popular in the U.S., quickly became widely used around the country since the Tokyo Racecourse implemented a new dirt track in 1960. While the mainstream of major JRA races remained over turf, the February Stakes (then called February Handicap), which was established in 1984 in conjunction with the new grading system, was one of just three graded dirt races at the time—the current number of graded dirt events is 15. The race was upgraded to G2 in 1994 and then to G1 in 1997, and stood as the highest-prized event until the Japan Cup Dirt (called the Champions Cup from 2014) took over in 2000. The race also joined the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2016, enabling its winners to earn automatic starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1, dirt, 2,000m).
Past winners include Wing Arrow (JPN, by Assatis; ’00), Agnes Digital (USA, by Crafty Prospector; ’02), Gold Allure (JPN, by Sunday Silence; ’03), Admire Don (JPN, by Timber Country; ’04), Kane Hekili (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki; ’06), Vermilion (JPN, by El Condor Pasa; ’08), Espoir City (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’10), Transcend (JPN, by Wild Rush; ’11), Copano Rickey (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’14&’15) and Gold Dream (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’17)—all ten are winners of multiple-G1 races as well as JRA Award winners.
This year, defending champion Cafe Pharoah and 2021 Best Three-Year-Old Filly Sodashi were entered with hopes of bouncing back from their disappointing Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m) endeavors last December, finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. Suave Aramis came into the race after notching his third graded title in one of the trial races of this event, the Tokai Stakes (G2, dirt, 1,800m, Jan.23). T M South Dan scored his first JRA grade-race victory in another trial, the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m, Jan.30) where Soliste Thunder, who claimed the Musashino Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m) over the same course as the February Stakes last November, was ninth. The field also included Arctos, Teorema, Red le Zele and Mutually, respective winners of the Mile Championship Nambu Hai (dirt, 1,600m), the JBC Ladies’ Classic (dirt, 1,800m), the JBC Sprint (dirt, 1,400m) and the JBC Classic (dirt, 2,100m), along with last year’s runner-up Air Spinel.