Liberty Island

I love Paris in the springtime, sang Ella Fitzgerald, and I'm pretty sure it was a thinly-veiled reference to her secret passion for heavy ground three-year-old maidens at Saint-Cloud. What Classic clues may we glean there? Well, maybe none. But I liked the look of Narkez (Fr), who gave his rivals a six-length walloping in the Prix Comrade last Tuesday, picking up where he left off after winning at Clairefontaine last October. Bred by Nurlan Bizakov under his Sumbe banner, the colt represents that magic Siyouni (Fr)-Galileo (Ire) cross, though...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Twelve of the world's top middle-distance dirt horses representing a half-dozen racing nations will clash in Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at sprawling Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The fields and post positions for the evening's four non-Group 1 races--including the Dubai Kahayla Classic for the Purebred Arabians--were announced Monday, while stalls for the five elite-level contests were allotted during a ceremony Wednesday evening emceed by Rishi Persad and Laura King at the Armani Hotel at the iconic Burj Khalifa in Central Dubai. Ushba Tesoro...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- In the form of Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), Japan is liable to field the favourites for the distance turf races at Saturday's Dubai World Cup meeting and those two gallopers, as well as several of their compatriots, did fast work over the Meydan course Wednesday morning. Do Deuce would likely have been at the top of the markets for last year's G1 Dubai Turf, but was withdrawn in the days leading up to the race, helping pave...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- It has been a circuitous first three decades of life for Pat Comerford, from big city Melbourne to Alice Springs smack dab in the middle of Australia and from studying in Central Missouri to New Zealand to the bright lights of Dubai. At age 28, Comerford is set to call his first Dubai World Cup meeting, having cut his teeth on the mic in the Northern Territories almost by accident. Called up into a similar role at the Singapore Turf Club--a job that has proved...

Back in 2000, the amateur rider Mr Mitsumasa Nakauchida rode the first of what would be two eventual winners from just 10 rides on the Flat in Britain, following three appearances in Irish bumpers a couple of years earlier.  Having left Japan at the age of 16 to study initially in Ireland, the young would-be jockey had just turned 22 at the time of his first victory for Richard Hannon aboard Dolphinelle (Ire), beating Eve Johnson Houghton, on her father's Corn Dolly (Ire), by a head.  That was half a...

The Longines World Racing Awards were held in London last week, but it could just as easily have been in Tokyo, such was the level of support from visitors from Japan. It is easy to understand why. For as well as this event being in part a coronation for Equinox (Jpn), the best horse in the world in 2023, it was also the first time in the 43-year history of the G1 Japan Cup that it was awarded the accolade of the Longines World's Best Horse Race. The line-up for...

LONDON, UK -- Japan stole the show at the Longines World Racing Awards in London, with Silk Racing's Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) named the Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2023 while the G1 Japan Cup claimed the title of Longines World's Best Horse Race. The top-rated three-year-old filly in the world was Japan's Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}). Equinox's top rating of 135 - the highest ever awarded to a Japanese horse - was achieved in his four-length romp in the Japan Cup, his final appearance...

For the third time in the last six years, the colours of Silk Racing Co. Ltd. were carried to victory in the G1 Japan Cup, this time by the world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) following the dual success of Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) as a 3-year-old in 2018 and again two years later. It was a sixth Group 1 tally on the trot for the beautifully conformed son of the 2016 Japan Cup hero and Group 3 winner Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (King Halo {Jpn}), just...

Having given the race a pass in 2022 after taking a thrilling renewal of the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), Silk Racing Co. Ltd.'s world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) looks to complete that particular double--most recently accomplished by the syndicate's two-time Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in 2020--as the warm favourite in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse. It has been a meticulously managed preparation for the 4-year-old colt with the broad blaze, as his abilities were on display for all to...

The 2023 Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting to be held at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday, Dec. 10, has attracted some 189 entries--including a whopping 68 from Japan--from a total of 12 racing jurisdictions. The four Group 1 races, collectively deemed the 'World Turf Championships, will offer record prizemoney of HK$118 million (£12.4 million/€14.3 million/A$23.8 million/US$15.1 million). The entries include no fewer than 55 Group 1 winners from around the globe, including Sunday Racing's exciting Japanese Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), who was given the option of...

Given a Yuga Kawada ride befitting a $1.10 (1-10) mortal, Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.'s Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) became the seventh filly to win the Japanese Triple Tiara with a deceptively easy one-length victory in Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho before a packed grandstand of better than 45,000 onlookers at Kyoto Racecourse. Masked Diva (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}), the 12-1 third favourite, flashed home for second ahead of narrow second pick Harper (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). Making her first start since smashing her rivals by six lengths in the 2400-metre G1...

The last time the G1 Shuka Sho was staged at Kyoto Racecourse in 2020, Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) validated a quote of 1.4 (2-5) favouritism to become the fifth winner of the Japanese Fillies Triple Tiara in the modern era. Closed for two years for reconstruction, racing returned to Kyoto this spring and Sunday afternoon, the fans will pack the grandstand to watch Sunday Racing's Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) try to add her name to the list at what will be a similarly skinny price, if not shorter....