Maurice and Contentment, first and second in the G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin a month ago, stretched their legs at Tokyo racecourse this morning, Thursday 2 June, ahead of a return clash in Japan’s premier summer mile test, Sunday’s G1 Yasuda Kinen.
Contentment is aiming to become only the third Hong Kong winner of the famous race and the first in a decade, Bullish Luck (2006) and Fairy King Prawn (2000) being the previous victors to have flown the Bauhinia flag. The Hussonet gelding will need to rise to a new peak if he is to reverse placings with the all-conquering Maurice.
Trainer John Size and owner Benson Lo were on hand this morning to watch Contentment work under near perfect conditions, a fresh breeze blowing beneath a clear blue sky. The five-year-old emerged once Maurice had departed and warmed up with six laps of the small trotting ring before setting out on the dirt track, upon which he progressed into a steady gallop and closed out his first circuit at a middling tempo, winding down through another lap at a decelerating canter.
“Normally he doesn’t work very fast and he normally works on a dirt rack, which is the reason I leave him on the sand here,” said Size. “In quarantine he worked along twice and then again this morning, just a slow gallop. That’s his normal routine and that’s what he’s used to doing so I’d expect that everything is in order for him and I’m quite hopeful that he’ll run well.”
Size arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon and had cause for some apprehension upon seeing the chestnut for the first time since his departure from Hong Kong a week and a half ago. But in the past day or so, this season’s G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) hero has pleased the seven-time champion trainer.
“He’s done very good,” Size said. “When he first arrived in quarantine he lost a little bit of weight and he looked like he would take some time, but Wednesday morning here at Tokyo racecourse he looked very good.
“I came to see him on Tuesday afternoon and he looked a bit quiet, then Wednesday morning he was very bright, keen to get out of the box and do some work, so I ‘ve taken a bit of heart from that. Since then he’s eaten well and drank well and I think he’s maintained his level of fitness.”
This excursion marks the first time Contentment has travelled since his import to Hong Kong from Australia in 2014. Size, whose best Yasuda Kinen result from seven previous runners came in 2008 when Armada ran second to the local super mare, Vodka, is banking on Contentment’s calm temperament to help him handle the new environment.
“He always gave us the impression he’d be a good traveller because he has an extremely good temperament – the horse is very quiet,” said the trainer. “He doesn’t have the normal range of problems that a racehorse would have. He’s sound and he always looks good. He’s been in training and racing for a long period this season, but even after his last start he didn’t show me that he’s getting tired, so hopefully he’s got one more run in him at his best and he can earn some prize money.”
Maurice has done plenty of travelling in recent times, his last two runs having produced G1 wins in Hong Kong in December’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and an impressive success in the recent Champions Mile.
Talk locally had been downbeat after the Screen Hero five-year-old’s gallop last week but there was nothing amiss with last year’s Yasuda Kinen winner this morning. Not asked for anywhere near maximum effort, the bay stretched powerfully up the home straight after winding up from the 1000m, clocking 67 seconds with a final 200m split of 12.4s.
Trainer Noriyuki Hori was on hand to watch the work but departed quickly to oversee Duramente gallop elsewhere, leaving assistant trainer Masanori Watanabe to face questions.
“We did five furlongs and drove a little more in the last three furlongs,” said Watanabe. “We didn’t want to do too much and I think it worked out just as we imagined.
“If we had another week he’d be 100 percent; as it is he’s around 80 to 90 percent; if we had one more week I think he would be at the peak of his form, but I’m sure that he will give a hell of a performance this Sunday, nevertheless.
“He was nervous in his first week here, he tended to get very keen but this week he’s back to normal and is just like being at home.”
A field of 12 is slated to go to post for Sunday’s G1 feature with the field also set to include G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) winner Real Steel, as well as Satono Aladdin, Isla Bonita, Logotype and Danon Platina.
