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Favorite Lemon Pop Claims Dirt G1 Title-February Stakes

Adding another victory to his already impressive record, race favorite Lemon Pop captured this year’s February Stakes title, extending his wins to eight out of 11 career starts in which he finished second best in the rest. The son of Lemon Drop Kid won both of his two races as a two-year-old and was runner-up in his one and only start the following season. He then kicked off his 2022 campaign with another second before claiming four consecutive wins and concluded the season with a runner-up effort in his first graded challenge, the Musashino Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m). The five-year-old is coming off his first grade-race victory in the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m) on January 29 and is selected to run in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1, dirt, 1,200m) on March 25. For winning trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka, who opened his yard in 2018, this is his second graded and first G1 triumph while jockey Ryusei Sakai, who took the reins of Lemon Pop for the first time, now has three JRA-G1 wins—his latest was in last December’s Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes with Dolce More.

The race unfolded with Shonan Nadeshiko taking the lead, followed closely by Helios and Keiai Turquoise while Sakai settled Lemon Pop a couple of lengths behind in fifth to sixth and three-wide. Gradually improving position, the race favorite came out of the last turn in fourth, unleashed an incredible stretch drive overhauling Helios 300 meters out to grab the lead and romped to the wire 1-1/2 lengths ahead of the fast-closing runner-up for the win.

“I’m grateful to have been given the chance to ride such a strong and favored horse and am happy we won. I rode him in workouts and found out he was laid-back and very easy to ride. Today we sat near the pace, just as planned. He responded well and pulled away strongly, all the way to the wire,” commented Ryusei Sakai. 

Red le Zele, favored third, was reserved second from the rear after breaking from the second widest stall. After shifting out wide for a clear path, the sixth-place finisher in last year’s version stormed down the stretch with the fastest late speed but failed to catch the winner and was second.

Sent off fourth favorite, Meisho Hario stumbled a few strides after his break and chased the field in the far rear. Entering the lane last, the chestnut displayed the second fastest late drive and picked off his rivals one by one to dig in for third, 2-1/2 lengths from Red le Zele.

Foreign contender Shirl’s Speight broke well from stall number two, ran in mid-field on the rails, shifted a path out for his stretch run but struggled to find room and although showing effort, was unable to demonstrate his good late speed and finished ninth.

“From what the jockey was telling me, he wasn’t enjoying the kick-back that much but I think he ran an OK race. I just think he’s a superior turf horse, but we gave it a try,” commented trainer Roger Attfield.

“It’s a strong race and Shirl’s Speight wasn’t capable of handling the track over here which is extremely deeper than what he gets in North America. In the straight, even if he did get held up a little, he wasn’t really taking into the race indicating that he wasn’t going to be competitive,” jockey Joao Moreira said after the race.

Other Horses:
4th: (4) Dry Stout—sat around 4th, passed tiring front runners but no match for top finishers
5th: (8) Admire Lupus—settled wide around 8th, passed one by one at stretch
6th: (13) Speedy Kick—unhurried around 14th inside Red le Zele, showed effort but never threatened
7th: (14) Helios—tracked pace around 2nd, led briefly, weakened in last 200m
8th: (11) Soliste Thunder—raced 3-wide around 11th, passed tired rivals
10th: (3) Kenshinko—traveled in 13th, found little room, even paced
11th: (12) Sekifu—made headway to 4th, circled wide, failed to find another gear
12th: (5) Auvergne—saved ground around 11th, struggled to find clear path at stretch
13th: (16) Keiai Turquoise—advanced to 2nd from widest draw, remained in contention until 300m out
14th: (10) T M South Dan—sat outside winner, showed little at stretch
15th: (9) Shonan Nadeshiko—rallied to set pace, ran out of steam 400m out
16th: (1) Jasper Prince—prominent early around 4th, faded after final corner

THE 40TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1)
4-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), dirt, left-handed
Sunday, February 19, 2023        Tokyo Racecourse        11th Race         Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 259,200,000 (about US$ 1,979,000 <US$1=¥131>)
4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2019
Course Record: 1:33.5              Race Record: 1:33.8 [Cafe Pharoah (USA, by American Pharoah), 2022]
Safety factor: 16 runners           Going: Standard           Weather: Fine

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 15,567,832,700       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 26,931,439,800       Attendance: 46,121

Winner= 11 starts: 8 wins & 3 seconds / Added money: ¥ 123,402,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 288,438,000

* 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), Gold Dream (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’17) and Cafe Pharoah (USA, by American Pharoah; ’21&’22)—all eleven are winners of multiple-G1 races as well as JRA Award winners.
This year’s edition welcomed the first foreign participant in the race’s history, Shirl’s Speight from North America, who claimed the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1, 1,600m) and put in a good runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1, 1,600m) last year. The Speightstown horse aimed for the G1 title over dirt in Japan in his first overseas endeavor. The home team taking on the challenge included Lemon Pop, winner of the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m, Jan.29), Red le Zele, runner-up of the 2022 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1, dirt, 1,200m), Dry Stout, Shonan Nadeshiko and Meisho Hario, respective winners of the 2021 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun (dirt, 1,600m), 2022 Kashiwa Kinen (dirt, 1,600m) and 2022 Teio Sho (dirt, 2,000m), and T M South Dan and Soliste Thunder who finished second and fourth, respectively, in last year’s February Stakes.