2016 Japan Cup - Tough Assignment For Foreign Stayers

The past 35 running of the Japan Cup have been won by 21 Japanese horses and the locals are favoured to continue their dominanve over three foreign challengers in Sunday’s premier international contest in Tokyo.

Alkaased was the last foreign runner to take home the Japan Cup trophy in 2005 before a run of 10 consecutive wins by Japanese stayers.

The three foreigners bidding to end the local winning streak this year are Erupt from France and the German pair Iquitos and Nightflower.

Erupt and Nightflower hope to make use of their experience in last year’s Japan Cup but the standard of the current Japanese staying ranks is high and the competition is predicted to be extremely tough to beat.

The Japanese lineup comes from all generations.

Dubai Turf victor Real Steel and Tenno Sho Spring winner Kitasan Black represent the four-year-olds while the five-year-olds are headed by Gold Actor, winner of the Arima Kinen in 2015.

The leading three-year-old is Dee Majesty, who won the Satsuki Sho (2000 Guineas).

REAL STEEL is a talented and consistent runner at the highest level who has secured his place among the best of his generation.

As a three-year-old he turned in runner-up efforts in two Triple Crown racess, the Satsuki Sho and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), while finishing fourth in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby).

He registered his first G1 victory in the Dubai Turf at Meydan early this year and following a summer break finished second in the Tenno Sho Autumn to multiple G1 winner Maurice.

His three career wins have all been over 1800 meters but he has been placed up to 3000m and proved adaptable to the slow pace in the Tenno Sho and should not find the extra 400m in the Japan Cup to be a problem.

He was rated 120 his seasonal best and the highest among the Japan Cup field this year after his runner-up effort in the Tenno Sho Autumn.

KITASAN BLACK leads this year’s lineup in most number of graded race wins with five, including two at the highest G1 level and has been in the money in 11 out of 12 career starts.

His performances since the fall of his three-year-old season are especially impressive with a record of 4-1-2 out of seven starts.

However he has only been race favorite once, at his last start the Kyoto Daishoten (2400m), which may be due to the fact that he has yet to show the power to pull away in the closing stages to earn the punters’ trust.

His only start over 2400m at Tokyo was in the Tokyo Yushun, where he was a heavily beaten 14th and while having speed to dictate the pace, he falls behind some of the other strong contenders in finishing speed.

His best rating this year was 119L when third in the Takarazuka Kinen (2200m) and his victory in the Kyoto Daishoten.

GOLD ACTOR is a late developer whose true form began to take effect from the fall of his four-year old campaign.

He has won four of his five career graded race starts since, and, while he disappointed in the Tenno Sho Spring (3200m) as favorite, he bounced back after a long break to win the Sankei Sho All Comers (2200m) while carrying top weight.

He has performed well with plenty of spacing between his races and is coming into the Japan Cup off a two-month break.

Nakayama is his best-suited track but he also won at Tokyo last year in the Copa Republica Argentina (2500m) and his ability to keep up with the pace combined with his finishing speed is an advantage.

His rating of 119L came from his victory in the Nikkei Sho (2500m).

CHEVAL GRAND, while the winner of just two G2 races, has good reason to be recognized as a threat at G1 level after demonstrating impressive finishing speed to pulling away for a 2-1/2 length victory in the Hanshin Daishoten (3000m).

He then carried 58kg in the Copa Republica Argentina and executed a powerful late charge to pin down the leader while holding off the rest to prevail by 1/2 length.

His lasting speed and stamina has enabled him to register 5-1-1 out of seven starts over distances at 2400m and beyond and he should improve in his second start following the summer break.

His rating off his two G2 wins as well as his third in the Tenno Sho Spring is 115L,E.

ROUGE BUCK is an improving four-year-old mare who, after three straight wins from her debut, was unable to meet expectations as race favorite in both the Oka Sho (1000 Guineas and the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and went winless for the rest of her three-year-old season.

She got her fourth career win and first in 16 months in the Epsom Cup (1800m) in June and progressed during the summer, to win the Mainichi Okan (1800m) against a field of tough male opponents.

She went off third favorite in the Tenno Sho Autumn where she met traffic before a belated charge for seventh.

The spacious Tokyo course should be an ideal track to make use of her dynamic late kick and although her best distance is at 1800m she has shown ability to handle 2400m with her runner-up effort in the 2015 Oaks.

Her rating, 111M, is off her victory in the Mainichi Okan.

Only four three-year-olds have succeeded in claiming the Japan Cup title in the past but the sophomores this season are considered to have a good chance led by Dee Majesty.

DEE MAJESTY ran a race record when claiming the Satsuki Sho (2000m) and his close third in the following Tokyo Yushun (2400m) secured his position among the top three-year-olds of the year.

He progressed well to add another grade-race win in the St. Lite Kinen (2200m) prior to his fourth in the Kikuka Sho (3000m) , in which he was well beaten by his archrival Satono Diamond.

He has two wins including the Kyodo News Service Hai (1800m) and a third in the Tokyo Yushun among three starts at the Tokyo course where he can make use of his ability to the fullest over the long stretch.

His rating of 119I,L is from his victory in the Satsuki Sho and third in the Tokyo Yushun.

Another 3YO contender RAINBOW LINE was mainly raced between a mile and 1800m in the spring during which he scored a third in the NHK Mile Cup (1600m) before he was stepped up in distance beginning with the Tokyo Yushun.

He turned in an impressive third in the Sapporo Kinen (2000m) in which he beat Nuovo Record and closed the gap to a neck margin behind runner-up Maurice in a realistic indication of this year’s three-year-olds’ strength against senior proven contenders.

Rainbow Line finished second in the Kikuka Sho and his bursting late kick was just as impressive in the Sapporo Kinen when he bested the rest of the field including Dee Majesty.

His rating 116E is as of his runner-up effort in the Kikuka Sho.

The 3YO filly BICHE won the Shion Stakes (2000m) in September following her third in the Yushun Himba in May and was sent to the post favorite for the last leg of the fillies’ Triple Crown, the Shuka Sho (2000m) where she disappointed when 10th.

Her suitability to the Japan Cup has already been proven by her close third over the same course and distance in the Oaks and she is well qualified to be a threat if she bounces back to form.

Biche will be making full use of her weight advantage on the minimum of 53 kilos in the hope of following in the footsteps of other fillies Gentildonna, winner of the 2012 Japan Cup, and 2013 runner-up Denim And Ruby.

Her rating of 110L is as of her third-place finish in the Yushun Himba.