Glorious Days and Helene Spirit, the Hong Kong raiders for the G1 Yasuda Kinen, arrived in Japan on Tuesday.
The two 6YO geldings were taken from Narita Airport east of Tokyo to the JRA Horseracing School Quarantine Centre in Shiroi where they will train until early next week when they will move to the international stables at Fuchu in Tokyo.
The Australia-bred Glorious Days is trained by John Size and is back for his second crack at Japan's premier mile race after a failed bid last year.
He has since matched it with Ambitious Dragon as the best horse in Hong Kong, recording wins in the G1 Stewards Cup, G2 Jockey Club Mile and placing in the G1 HK Mile, G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup and G2 Sha Tin Trophy.
He last raced on May 5 in the G1 Champions Mile, where he finished fourth behind Dan Excel and 3 1/4 lengths off runner-up Helene Spirit.
Douglas Whyte has been Glorious Days' regular rider and is expected to have the ride in the Yasuda Kinen.
Kin Yiu Yan, travelling assistant to John Size, said, "The horse is in good shape, mentally and physically and is not showing any signs of fatigue from the journey.
"As for training we'll make plans while looking at the horse's condition. For now, we are planning to give him a bit of fast work on the 27th."
The Caspar Fownes-trained Helene Spirit currently has three wins from 19 starts in Hong Kong after winning twice from 11 starts in France.
Fownes accepted the invite for Helene Spirit to join Glorious Days in the Yasuda Kinen after his second to Dan Excel in the Champions Mile.
"He will be an outsider for sure but he has earned his spot in the race," said Fownes, on a high after his KrisFlying Sprint win in Singapore last weekend with Lucky Nine.
"He took on the good horses at level weights and got within a whisker of winning.”
"The owners are a great bunch of people and they wanted to go, so we will try our luck.
"He is honest and even if he is a big outsider, we'll be having some fun and trying our best."
