Almond Eye a star, even far from home

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Like Winx in Australia, the Japanese filly Almond Eye has captured the imagination of racing fans in her home country.

Unlike Winx, whose epic career has unfolded entirely on familiar home ground, Almond Eye already has left her home country.

Almond Eye has nearly no chance to equal Winx’s incredible 32-race win streak – including 24 Group 1’s – but Almond Eye, seven starts into her career, has won six in a row, and her four-race Group 1 win streak includes the Japan Fillies Triple Crown and a last-start victory over older horses in Japan’s biggest race, the Japan Cup.

And already she has taken her show on the road.

It’s not 2018 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow nor any other horse slated to run on the World Cup card here Saturday night standing in the limelight; this is Almond Eye’s stage.

One of the most popular horses ever in racing-crazy Japan, Almond Eye is priced as low as 5-4 to beat 12 rivals in the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Turf, and she’s an odds-on favorite to be the most-covered horse here this week.

“I think all the horse-racing lovers, they can feel she has something special,” said Christophe Lemaire, who has ridden Almond Eye in six of her seven starts. “She can become unique in horse-racing history – that’s why so many people are watching her.”

Sakae Kunieda trains Almond Eye, a 4-year-old daughter of Lord Kanaloa and the Sunday Silence mare Fusaichi Pandora, and this is not Kunieda’s first stop in the big leagues. Kunieda has trained other stars, including 2010 Fillies Triple Crown winner Apapane, but Almond Eye stands out.

“When I saw her gallop the first time at the new training center, her movement was unusual,” said Kunieda, a cheerful 63-year-old with a solid command of English. “I felt she’s special.”

Almond Eye finished second debuting in a seven-furlong sprint, but no one has come close to beating her since. She has won Group 1 races between one mile and 1 1/2 miles and has done so from a forward position and by charging from the back of the field at Tokyo Racecourse.

“She’s a very special horses in terms of potential and abilities,” said Lemaire, a former French stalwart who has become a Japanese star. “She’s got a big stride; she covers a lot of ground with a lot of power. Mentally, she’s also very strong. She understands very well what she has to do, where she is, and what she is there for. The combination of her of her attitude and her physical ability, that’s what makes her very special. And she’s a very easy horse to ride, very relaxed.”

Almond Eye rates as the most popular Japanese filly since Gentildonna, who won the 2012 Fillies Triple Crown but was defeated here the following March, finishing second to St Nicholas Abbey in the Sheema Classic (a race she won the following year) over about 1 1/2 miles. Almond Eye has no issue seeing out that distance, and the Sheema initially was said to be her World Cup night target, but Kunieda said Lemaire suggested the Dubai turf over about 1 1/8 miles would offer a more suitable starting point to her campaign.

Almond Eye, Kuneida said, wasn’t especially pleased with her accommodations doing about a week’s quarantine in Japan, but she was comfortable on her flight here and has been a happy horse since arriving. Lemaire worked her about five furlongs over the Meydan turf course Wednesday morning, Almond Eye flying down the lane with fluid strides, and said he felt the same horse underneath him as at home.

In fact, Almond Eye might not race at home during 2019. The Japanese racing community, Almond Eye’s camp included, is dead set on winning a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and while Almond Eye still must show this weekend that her talent travels, the Arc represents the true target of her campaign. Kunieda said Almond Eye might have just one more start this year before the Arc in early October, and he’s considering a European prep race for the filly.

In the shorter term, Kunieda is considering how it might feel winning a $6 million race in Dubai with a budding global star. “I did my job a long time, and my dream is to win international races,” he said.

Win streaks before the home crowd can satisfy. So can winning just one or two special races far away from home.