Defending winner Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}) faces 16 runners in his attempt to defend his title in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup, and the 5-year-old entire has done little wrong in the interim, suggesting he stands a good chance of becoming just the second dual winner of the Japanese showpiece, following Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in 2012/13. Second to Satono Diamond (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Christmas Day G1 Arima Kinen, Kitasan Black began his 5-year-old campaign with back-to-back Group 1 wins in the Osaka Hai and Tenno Sho Spring, but suffered a blip when ninth in the June 25 G1 Takarazuka Kinen. He bounced back to gut out a win over the Takarazuka victor, Satono Crown (Jpn) (Marju {Ire}), when coming from the back in the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn on Oct. 29. This was a change in tactics from his front-running win in last year's Japan Cup, and jockey Yutaka Take praised the entire's versatility.
“Last year, he was in good shape but he also had the number one gate and was able to travel at his own pace,” the rider said. “It was a very impressive win and different from the way he'd won before that. He's not the kind of horse that has to have things a certain way in order to do well. He has been able to win in a variety of ways and because of that I don't think I need to limit our options. I have never thought that he absolutely needs to race from the front in order to win. I'll be taking his start, the competition, the draw and the weather into consideration and coming up with what I think will be the best strategy for him.”
It is worth noting, however, that favourites–including Kitasan Black last year–have won only seven runnings of the Japan Cup since its inception in 1981. Others waiting in the wings to put in a big performance include this year's G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Rey de Oro (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}). The Carrot Club representative has made just one start since his Classic score, a win in the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai on Sept. 24, but jockey Christophe Lemaire said after partnering him in a workout on Wednesday that the bay has matured ahead of his first start against elders.
“He is in really good shape–he's perfect,” the jockey said. “He wasn't tired at all after the workout. I think he's in tip-top shape. After the Kobe Shimbun Hai, I did say that I thought he would improve and he has. He's gotten better than he was coming off that layoff. He had gotten better after his fast work leading up to that race but he wasn't quite 100%. He has gotten better now. Compared to when he ran in the Tokyo Yushun, he's much more mature.”
Also in the Japan Cup lineup is last year's Tokyo Yushun winner, Makahiki (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Makahiki hasn't won at the elite level since then and hasn't won a race of any kind since taking the G2 Prix Niel in France last year, but in his fifth-place finish in the Tenno Sho Autumn he recorded the second-fastest final furlong.
Also looking to bounce back off a series of defeats is the Frankel (GB) filly Soul Stirring (Jpn). The champion 2-year-old filly of 2016 built on her CV in the spring when adding the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), but faded to eighth when racing against males for the first time in the G2 Mainichi Okan on Oct. 8. She put in a sharper performance, coming wide and from behind, to be sixth in the Tenno Sho.
Last year, Kitasan Black and Sounds of Earth (Jpn) (Neo Universe {Jpn}) both contested the G2 Kyoto Daishoten before running one-two in the Japan Cup. Cheval Grand (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) was third behind that pair in last year's Japan Cup and he uses a third in the Daishoten, where he had Sounds of Earth well behind him, as a stepping stone this year. He gets a further month of spacing heading into this year's Japan Cup than he did last year, when he prepped in the G2 Copa Republica Argentina.
Four runners will attempt to become the first foreign-trained winner of the Japan Cup since 2005. Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) won the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot this summer and followed that with a third in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. The full-brother to the globetrotting Highland Reel (Ire) ran a big figure when eighth in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but fizzled in the deep ground when fourth in the Oct. 15 GI Canadian International. The bay has looked a picture of health in Tokyo this week, however, and TJ Comerford, assistant to trainer Aidan O'Brien, has said the 4-year-old is in better form than on previous travels.
G1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner Guignol (Ger) (Cape Cross {Ire}), the best-backed of the foreign quartet at 50-1 ante-post, and G1 Caulfield Cup victor Boom Time (Aus) (Flying Spur {Aus}) are each chasing a $2-million bonus if they can double up those wins with a victory on Sunday, and Iquitos (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) looks to improve off a seventh here last year.
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