Sprinters Stakes (G1) - Preview

Satono Reve

Mama Cocha

Toshin Macau

Namura Clair

Puro Magic

Lucky Sweynesse

Kangchenjunga

Lugal

The Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes is first out of the gate in the Japan Racing Association’s lineup for the autumn’s big events. The Sprinters Stakes this coming Sunday, Sept. 28, is a 1,200-meter turf competition at Nakayama Racecourse and follows the spring sprint Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen held at Chukyo, both races the top showcases for Japan’s best short-distance Thoroughbreds.

Open to horses 4 years old and up, the 59th running of Sprinters Stakes has attracted 17 nominees ranging in age from 4 to 8, with six fillies/mares, and one gelding going up against four colts and six older males.

Adding to the exciting competition this year will be foreign raider Lucky Sweynesse, in from Hong Kong to compete for a share of the near JPY370 million purse and the top prize of JPY170 million, as well as to take a shot at becoming the only the fourth foreign raider to scoop the Sprinters Stakes.

In addition to the international touch this year, the field boasts three other Grade 1 champions -- the 2023 Sprinters Stakes winner Mama Cocha, 2024 victor Lugal, and this year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen champion Satono Reve.

And there’s an old favorite, the always reliable, perpetually in the shadow with a 5-3-3 Sprinters Stakes record Namura Clair, who will be running for her fourth year straight, and hoping for her day of glory at last.

All males carry 58kg, while fillies and mares carry 56kg. The race is the 11th on the Tokyo card of 12, with a post time of 15:40 on Sunday.

Here’s a look at some of the expected popular picks:

Satono Reve: Satono Reve is considered out in front by far as the race favorite. The 6-year-old son of Lord Kanaloa (whose record time of 1 minute, 6.7 seconds set in 2012 still holds) returns from two overseas bids following his win of the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at the end of March. Trained by Noriyuki Hori, Satono Reve finished seventh in last year’s Sprinters Stakes, then competed in the Hong Kong Sprint for a third. He landed his first big prize with the Takamatsunomiya Kinen before returning to Hong Kong for a second by two lengths in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at the end of April and was then off to Ascot for yet another second place in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, all run over 1,200 meters. After returning to Japan, Satono Reve spend the summer training at Hakodate Racecourse before returning to his Miho base. Back at the training center, Hori has upped the pace and Satono Reve is looking well primed to score his second big win. Last year, crossing the line in seventh place, he was only 0.4 seconds off the winner Lugal and since has proven himself to be highly competitive on the world level.

Mama Cocha: Winner of the 2023 Sprinters Stakes and fourth last year, the now 6-year-old Mama Cocha has never finished out of the Top 3 in her four starts this year. All at the graded level, those four included a win of the Grade 3 Ocean Stakes, also run over 1,200 meters at Nakayama, and a third place in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. She followed that up with a second in the Grade 2 Keio Hai Spring Cup over 1,400 meters at Tokyo, then returned in the fall for a second place in the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes over 1,200 meters at Hanshin. The years look to have treated this girl well. She is still in top shape and jockey Mirai Iwata, who rode the Centaur Stakes, is expected up on Sunday.

Toshin Macau: Following Mama Cocha over the line in third place in the Sept. 7 Centaur Stakes by only a neck margin was another 6-year-old, Toshin Macau. After starting the year off with a fourth in his third run in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (he previously posted 15-6 in the race), the son of Big Arthur scored first place in the Keio Hai Spring Cup before returning in the fall with the Centaur Stakes. In the Spring Cup, he rewrote the record with his time of 1 minute, 18.3 seconds and, with a margin of one-and-a-half lengths over Mama Cocha, scored his fifth graded-stakes victory. Toshin Macau’s sire captured only one top event in his career, the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2016. His two bids in the Sprinters Stakes ended with a 12-6. Jockey Takeshi Yokoyama, who has ridden four of Toshin Macau races and won twice, is expected to take the reins on Sunday. 

Namura Clair: The highly consistent 6-year-old daughter of Mikki Isle, Namura Clair heads in to her fourth bid of the Sprinters Stakes. With a previous 5-3-3, twice-in-the-money Sprinters results, and a second in the Takamatsu by less than a length, if anyone should be handed the race for effort alone, it’s Namura Clair. Her eighth-place result in the Grade 3 Hakodate Stakes on June 14 may have raised some concerns, but they are likely unwarranted given that the race was decided in record time, that she had been affected when Myriad Love broke down, and that she had thus found herself only two from the rear at the top of the straight. Namura Clair, with Christophe Lemaire the possible rider, should not be dismissed too lightly.

Puro Magic: A daughter of Asia Express, the 4-year-old Puro Magic suddenly drew the spotlight following her win in the 1,000-meter Grade 3 Ibis Summer Dash at Niigata. It was not that win alone that turned heads, it was that result coupled with her effort in last year’s Sprinters Stakes under jockey Norihiro Yokoyama. Though she finished eighth then, she had shot from the gate to lead, covering the first 3 furlongs in a blistering 32.1 seconds, a time that far surpassed the early times of the previous two years.With the tight finish in last year’s Sprinters, her eighth-place finish was in actuality a mere 0.5 seconds off the winner, and she finished only a neck behind Satono Reve. Following last year’s Sprinters Stakes, Puro Magic was off to Meydan in April, where she placed fifth under Oisin Murphy in the top-level Al Quoz Sprint over 1,000 meters. It was Christophe Lemaire who rode her win at Niigata, but Kohei Matsuyama is her likely partner on Sunday.

Lucky Sweynesse: Aiming to become Hong Kong’s third winner in the Sprinters Stakes after Silent Witness in 2005 and Ultra Fantasy in 2010, is the 7-year-old gelding Lucky Sweynesse. By the Australian-bred Sweynesse, Lucky Sweynesse had seemed invincible from late 2022 until early 2024, as he claimed a total of 11 graded races, including four Group 1s. He last saw the winner’s circle in April of 2024, when he won the Group 2 Sprint Cup at Sha Tin. His three starts since, two of them at the graded level, brought only 6-4-2 results. Just before leaving for Japan, Lucky Sweynesse showed himself still very capable, as he followed Ka Ying Rising over the line by only 0.3 seconds in second place in a handicap event at Sha Tin. Arriving in Japan on Sept. 16, he was moved to the JRA Horseracing School, then to Nakayama. Hong Kong rider Derek Leung is expected up.

Others to watch are:

The 5-year-old Kangchenjunga finished 10th in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen this year, followed that up with two off the board, but returned four months later and, despite a difficult run largely at the back of the field, managed to clinch the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes 3/4 length over Mama Cocha. Ryusei Sakai expected in the saddle is an added plus.
It would seem a shame not to mention Lugal (winner of the 2024 Sprinters Stakes)  amid the top choices, but his lackluster performance since (11-7-5) give little to sustain hope. That said, he had dropped jaws last year as the ninth pick when he followed his 10th-place performance in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen with a win of the Sprinters Stakes. This time, however, his three-way loss prior to this race leaves little wiggle room for charm.