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Aussies' bid for Japan glory
By Ray Thomas
September 23, 2004
GRAND Armee, Elvstroem and Makybe Diva have been nominated for the $6million Japan Cup in Tokyo on November 28.
Each galloper is a dual Group One winner and together the trio could represent Australia's best chance of winning the Japan Cup in over a decade.
No Australian-trained horse has won the Japan Cup since Better Loosen Up's historic breakthrough triumph in 1990.
Gai Waterhouse, trainer of Grand Armee, has had one failed Japan Cup campaign with Stony Bay (1995) but believes she now has the right horse to be competitive in one of the world's most prestigious races.
"I spoke with Alan Bell, Grand Armee's owner, and I said it costs nothing to enter so we may as well keep all our options open," Waterhouse said.
"If the horse's form warrants it, then there is every chance he will go to Japan."
Waterhouse has also nominated Grand Armee for the $2 million Mile Championship, run at Kyoto a week before the Japan Cup.
She has entered Shamekha and Winning Belle for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, a race restricted to fillies and mares which is at Kyoto on November 14.
Makybe Diva's trainer Lee Freedman said a Japan Cup start was not out of the question for the mare.
"The primary target is the [Caulfield and Melbourne] Cups," Freedman said. "Japan is enticing but Hong Kong is the back-up mission."
Freedman said Makybe Diva had recovered quickly from minor hoof bruising which forced her out of last Sunday's Underwood Stakes.
Makybe Diva will be fit to contest the Turnbull Stakes
at Flemington on October 2 as her final lead-up to the Caulfield Cup.
Elvstroem won the Underwood Stakes brilliantly, prompting connections to enter for the Japan Cup.
Tony Vasil, trainer of Elvstroem, admitted he was concentrating his focus on the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate for now.
"I have more immediate races to think about with Elvstroem and it is a big ask to go that far," Vasil said.
The Daily Telegraph
By Craig Young
October 19, 2004
Gai Waterhouse's Cox Plate second favourite Grand Armee is heading to Japan, with the gelding's owner Alan Bell yesterday confirming that the six-year-old had been inoculated for an overseas campaign.
Waterhouse nominated Grand Armee for the Japan Cup in Tokyo on November29 and the Mile Championship a week earlier. Bell said the Japan Racing Association had already invited the horse for the latter race.
"I think if he is ever going to travel for a race like that, now is the time," Bell said. "It all really hinges on how he goes in the grand final on Saturday."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/18/1097951633165.html
'Moscow' possible for Japan Cup
By STEVE ANDERSEN
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Moscow Burning, who finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Lone Star on Oct. 30, is being considered for the $3.9 million Japan Cup against males at Tokyo Racecourse on Nov. 28.
Trainer Jim Cassidy said a decision on whether to try for the international race will be made in coming days. Moscow Burning is scheduled to resume training at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Cassidy said that if Moscow Burning does not start in the Japan Cup, she is likely to be given a three-week break to prepare for a 2005 campaign.
Moscow Burning was the lone California-bred in this year's Breeders' Cup. In the 1 3/8-mile Filly and Mare Turf, she led by as many as four lengths early. Her lead dwindled to 1 1/2 lengths on the final turn and she was caught in midstretch, finishing 4 1/2 lengths behind the heavily favored Ouija Board.
A 4-year-old, Moscow Burning has had a remarkably consistent season. A winner of 2 of 10 starts and $612,970, Moscow Burning won the Fran's Valentine Stakes for statebreds in April and scored the most important win of her career in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay Handicap at Belmont Park on May 29.
Moscow Burning is winless in five subsequent starts, a span that includes runner-up finishes in the Beverly Hills and John Mabee handicaps and third-place finishes in the Del Mar Handicap and Flower Bowl Invitational.
The Del Mar Handicap was against males. Moscow Burning stalked the pace throughout and held third, losing by 2 1/4 lengths to Star Over the Bay.
Claimed for $25,000 in August 2003 by partners Don Van Kempen, Jeffrey Mariani, and Michael Nentwig, Moscow Burning is a top candidate for the 2004 California-bred horse of the year title.
Cassidy said that if Moscow Burning does not start in Japan, her next major goal will be the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf for California-breds and Florida-breds over 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 29. In the 2004 running at Santa Anita, Moscow Burning finished second, rallying from fifth in the final furlong to finish three-quarters of a length behind Valentine Dancer.
Cassidy said he will be watching Moscow Burning closely in coming days to see if this year's 10-race campaign has taken a toll.
"The thing about going to Japan is she won't give you much indication she's had enough until you run her," he said. "She's tough as hickory. They said the final decision is up to me."
drf.com
NEWS
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Zenno Rob Roy is bookmaker's tip to lift Japan Cup
MURRAY BELL
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Leading Melbourne bookmaker Michael Eskander has posted Japan's top galloper, Zenno Rob Roy, as a $3.75 favourite (dividend to $1) for tomorrow's Japan Cup after a barrier draw that put the two best-fancied visitors almost out with their fans.
Hong Kong-bound Warrsan and Powerscourt will both have to be exceptional to overturn a strong recent trend in favour of inside alleys after drawing gates 16 and 15 respectively for the world's richest race on turf.
The past four winners of the mile-and-a-half event have been drawn in single figures, with the last two - Tap Dance (2003) and Falbrav (2002) - both starting from barrier one.
However, there have been successes from wider alleys, including Jupiter Island (10 of 14) in 1986 and the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Singspiel, who came from 14 when successful in 1996.
Eskander's head analyst, Ken Goodwill, is a keen student of international form and gave Zenno Rob Roy the nod after a careful study of the lead-up form from around the world.
"Zenno Rob Roy is a last-start winner of the autumn version of the Tenno Sho, Japan's biggest weight-for-age race at 2,000 metres," Goodwill explained.
"It's Japan's equivalent of our Cox Plate and he's beaten a cracking field.
"The filly Dance In The Mood ran second, and has then come out to finish second again in the big Group One Mile at Kyoto last weekend, the third placegetter was a Group One winner, the fourth horse won their biggest mile, the Yasuda Kinen [Gr 1] in June, and the fifth horse was another top-class miler, Lohengrin.
"And they've run the 2,000 metres in one minute and 58.9 seconds, so it's safe to assume the form is very solid," Goodwill added.
Trainer Clive Brittain - who won the 1986 Japan Cup with Jupiter Island - has been delighted with Warrsan since his arrival in Tokyo and big-race jockey Kieren Fallon had his chance to voice his opinion after partnering the six-year-old and stablemate Membership, who runs in today's Capital Stakes, in a strong workout on the turf at Fuchu racecourse yesterday morning.
"Both horses seemed in very good form, and I'd be hopeful of a good showing from both," Fallon told Britain's Racing Post.
"Warrsan is straightforward and you can ride him from the front if necessary. Hopefully there'll be a decent pace, he can settle in and make a run over the last two furlongs and be there at the finish."
The Aidan O'Brien-trained Powerscourt was another to step out on Thursday morning but he did no more than canter on the dirt for Seamus Heffernan.
Pat Keating, assistant trainer to O'Brien, said afterwards: "This horse thrives on travelling. He's fit enough."
The French-trained pair of Lune d'Or and Policy Maker were both seen out on the track for the first time where they were ridden by their respective big-race jockeys, Thierry Jarnet and Stephane Pasquier.
Richard Gibson, trainer of Lune d'Or, said: "She's progressive, and she was found to have a throat infection after her only disappointing run in the Prix Vermeille in September. We treated her with antibiotics and she bounced back six weeks later to win her Group One in Italy.
"This is a harder task, but she has a great mental attitude and has travelled well, she's tough and she stays."
Elie Lellouche, trainer of the other French challenger, said: "Policy Maker is tough, he's travelled well and I think he's the sort of horse that will be suited by the demands of this race."
Japan Cup - overseas prices: $3.75 Zenno Rob Roy, $4.50 Powerscourt, $6.00 Warrsan, $8.00 Hearts Cry, $11.00 Hookipa Wave, Lune D'Or, $13.00 Cosmo Bulk, $16.00 Delta Blues, Higher Game, Policy Maker, $21.00 Narita Century, Phoenix Reach, $26.00 Hishi Miracle, $51 Er Nova, $67.00 Magnaten, $81.00 Tosen Dandy. (Source: Michael Eskander, Melbourne).
SCMP
http://www.jra.go.jp/english/jc/news/041126.html
Japan photos/ workouts
28 November 2004
THE 24TH JAPAN CUP (GI)
This year's JAPAN CUP welcomed five foreign contenders-LUNE D'OR and POLICY MAKER from France, PHOENIX REACH and WARRSAN from England, and POWERSCOURT from Ireland.
Top favorite ZENNO ROB ROY partnered with Olivier Peslier claimed this year's JAPAN CUP with a 3-length margin to capture his second Group-one victory following the Tenno Sho Autumn a month ago. COSMO BULK followed in second, with DELTA BLUES a neck behind in third.
The race started off with MAGNATEN taking the lead to set the pace, followed by COSMO BULK and TOSEN DANDY. The field of 16 stretched out into a long file in the backstretch with the frontrunner maintaining a 4 to 5-length lead. Traveling in 8th position, Olivier Peslier steered ZENNO ROB ROY to the outside through the last corner and closed in on COSMO BULK who had taken the lead in the beginning of the homestretch. Capturing the front before the 200-meter line, the dark bay colt accelerated toward the wire to a 3-length victory.
COSMO BULK, declining to third position at one point, exerted its last strength under the urgings of Christophe Lemaire to capture POLICY MAKER 50 meters out to a second-place finish. Waiting in midfield by the rail, DELTA BLUES surged out after ZENNO ROB ROY turning for home and showed a magnificent stretch of leg from behind and captured POLICY MAKER just before the wire to finish third, a neck behind COSMO BULK.
Stephane Pasquier settled POLICY MAKER in 6th position two wide and the bay colt surged out to second position in the homestretch and held well to finish fourth. "I was able to ride him well and thought that we could win until the middle of the homestretch but the colt tired out in the last 100 meters," commented Pasquier.
PHOENIX REACH with Martin Dwyer ran in 5th position by the rail and although holding well in the homestretch, was overtaken by several horses in the last furlong to a sixth place finish. "The colt ran well and was in great condition but the pace was a little too fast," recalled Dwyer.
LUNE D'OR mounted by Thierry Jarnet hugged the rail in 7th position and held on well in the homestretch to finish 7th. Jarnet commented: "Being a little nervous with the overwhelming crowd, the filly was keen after the start and flattened out in the homestretch. I think she ran very well, nevertheless."
POWERSCOURT ridden by James Spencer traveled wide in the rear and was one paced at the stretch to finish dead heat 10th with HEART'S CRY. "It's just too bad that the colt could not show his real ability," recounted Spencer.
WARRSAN mounted by Kieren Fallon traveled three wide in the rear and edged forward through the last two corners but failing to respond in the homestretch, faded to 15th. Fallon commented: "I was able to settle him in good position but he came up empty at the stretch."
4 NARITA CENTURY-Waited in midfield, rallied well in homestretch to finish 5th.
8 ER NOVA-Hugged rail in midfield, showed effort in homestretch to finish 8th.
11 HISHI MIRACLE-Settled 4th, up to 3rd in backstretch, rallied well to finish 9th.
3 HEART'S CRY-Delayed start, trailed last, improved position in homestretch to 10th.
13 TOSEN DANDY-Settled 3rd then to 4th by 3rd corner, flattened to 12th.
12 HIGHER GAME-Trailed 3rd from last, made no bid, finished 13th.
6 MAGNATEN-Set pace till last corner, tired in homestretch to 14th.
14 HOOKIPA WAVE-Settled in midfield, faded to rear in backstretch to finish last.
JRA
Zenno Rob Roy lives up to his top billing
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE and REUTERS in Tokyo
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Olivier Peslier celebrates with Zenno Rob Roy (centre) after easing past Cosmo Bulk (right) to win the Japan Cup. Associated Press photo
Top shot Zenno Rob Roy made a strong final spurt on the home straight to beat second favourite Cosmo Bulk to win the 2,400-metre Japan Cup yesterday.
French jockey Olivier Peslier led the four-year-old favourite home in two minutes and 24.2 seconds, a superb strategic race adding to his win at the Tenno-sho in October.
"I had confidence that the horse could win," said Peslier after winning the first prize of US$2.4 million. "The pace was just perfect for us and it was very comfortable."
Cosmo Bulk, with another French jockey Christophe Lemaire in the saddle, went behind French colt Policy Maker on the home straight, but burst ahead in the last 100 metres to take second place, three lengths behind Zenno Rob Roy.
It was a repeat performance for Peslier and Lemaire, who also had a one-two finish in the Emperor's Cup last month with Peslier winning on Zenno Rob Roy ahead of Lemaire's Dance In The Mood.
Japan's Delta Blues finished third, a neck behind Cosmo Bulk, followed by Policy Maker a head further back. Among the rest of the field, Britain's Phoenix Reach finished sixth and French filly Lune d'Or came in seventh, while Powerscourt from Ireland was in a 10th-place tie with Japan's Heart's Cry. Britain's Warrsan was a lowly 15th.
Earlier in the day, Time Paradox held off pre-race favourite Admire Don on the home straight, leading a Japanese 1-2-3 finish to win the 2,100-metre Japan Cup Dirt race.
Japan's leading jockey Yutaka Take guided the six-year-old to victory with a time of two minutes and 8.7 seconds, beating Admire Don by 2 1/2 lengths. Gene Crisis came in third, one length further back.
"I feel like `I made it'," Take said of his victory over Admire Don. "Rivals are not only Admire Don, but I thought Don is the biggest rival. Before the home straight, I felt really good at the fourth corner, so I just tried to go for it coming into the straight," added Take.
The race was led by Lohengrin, who started from the 16th position but charged into the lead at the first corner.
Gene Crisis with Masayoshi Ebina in the saddle snatched the lead after the final corner, only to see Time Paradox and Admire Don go ahead of him soon after.
It was Take's second win in the US$2.46 million Japan Cup Dirt race, following his victory with American-born Kurofune in 2001.
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Japan Cup a victim of its own success
ON THE RAILS, with ALAN AITKEN
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The Japan Cup is not only having an influence on how selections are made and completed for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races but sometimes one wonders if there is perhaps a lesson or a shadow of things yet to come for Hong Kong's showpiece.
Last year, we copped a dreadful hiding with dropouts and form slumps from the Japan Cup's proximity to our big meeting, and this year the Jockey Club even left vacant slots in two of the International Races pending the outcome of the Tokyo race. Doubtless that proximity in the calendar is having a negative effect on both race meetings.
And then there is the more mysterious question: at what point do you come to before the success of an international race starts to erode its international worth?
Certainly the message in Japan's results at home is clear - don't mess with us if you aren't serious.
French jockeys may have been to the fore in Sunday's Japan Cup, but it was the Japanese horses who held sway again. Wins by visitors are starting to become a distant memory and as the history builds, it must be getting more and more discouraging for connections of the world's top-end horses.
Surely the Japanese themselves have recognised the problem, which is why huge bonus offerings have been put in place for horses which have previously won other World Series legs during the year and then go to the Japan Cup and win. But despite the extra dollars, only the redoubtable Clive Brittain was in there pitching for it with Warrsan, winner of the Grosser Preis von Baden.
This is a question inside a riddle wrapped in a conundrum and you can throw in a Rubik's Cube for good measure.
In pursuit of higher domestic standards, Japan had to suffer at the hands of the marauding invaders for many years. Now the race has done its job and brought Japanese runners to the point where nobody particularly wants to come and take them on at home, at least no real A-graders.
The visitor contingent has narrowed and now comes from just a few jurisdictions. Many of them are fringe horses hoping to pull off a surprise in the kind of race they can't win at home against those A-graders. Having opened their prime race to outsiders, the Japanese have now made such a success of it that the race itself is becoming the loser.
To a lesser extent, because it is a handicap, a similar thing was threatening the internationalised Melbourne Cup until Media Puzzle won it and gave the northern hemisphere raiders a second win.
Sure, the visitors had contributed to the situation by taking the wrong sorts of horses and their own jockeys. But after the locals ranted "they'll win it every year" after Vintage Crop's 1993 win, the perception changed to "what a bunch of overrated plodders" before Media Puzzle broke through in 2002.
Now that cycle has begun anew and a few years from now, it will be back to lower-rated British horses making the trip in the hopes of a lottery win rather than high-class stayers like Vinnie Roe.
Can the same thing happen here? In some regards, it is already happening. When the cap on local runners was replaced by a policy of inclusion on merit regardless of country of representation, some of the fringe candidates from overseas were squeezed out and the message was that we want quality not quantity. Easier said than done except in the longer events, where foreigners are likely to be superior.
If Hong Kong continued, for example, to churn out sprinter-milers of the calibre of Fairy King Prawn, Electronic Unicorn or Silent Witness - unlikely but not impossible given the emphasis on sprinter-milers here - would high-grade European horses want to turn up?
The Hong Kong Sprint, in particular, is vulnerable since the Americans rarely threaten, the Europeans are by and large uncompetitive and, as their meagre participation this year shows, the Australians aren't that keen to travel if they have no edge.
And despite all their success at Sha Tin, the Japanese have not got into the call down the straight 1,000 metres and unless they become more prominent at the business end, they are going to become shy about turning up, too. This year might be the crunch time, with their undisputed best two sprinters coming for the race.
And what do you do about this syndrome anyway? It's like the old argument that once you have racing running with good skills, without interference, well-policed and your public well-informed, there is no longer any incentive for anyone to have a bet. The success of the endeavour brings it undone.
The idea of International Day is to showcase how far Hong Kong horses have come and foster some kind of world championship mentality with benefits for the sport overall, but in doing one thing, the other withers, as Tokyo's big race is starting to show.
SCMP
Video Japan Cup 2004 Zeno Rob Roy
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