CHEVAL GRAND (JPN) (h, 5, Heart's Cry {Jpn}–Halwa Sweet {Jpn}, by Machiavellian) improved on a third in last year's G1 Japan Cup to take the spoils at Tokyo on Sunday. Taking advantage of his rail draw, Cheval Grand hugged the fence throughout under Hugh Bowman about five lengths off the lead. Bearing out for running room in the stretch, the chestnut took dead aim on the pacesetting defending champion Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}). He rolled past that rival inside the final 100 metres and had enough left to hold off a late rally from this year's G1 Tokyo Yushun victor Rey de Oro (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}). The final time for the 2400 metres was 2:23.70.
O-Kazuhiro Sasaki. B-Northern Racing. T-Yasuo Tomomichi.
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