Field of 15 expected for Japan Cup; Wagnerian slight favorite

Almond Eye won the 2018 Japan Cup by nearly two lengths and would have been heavily favored to repeat in the race, but she is going to Hong Kong for the Dec. 8 Hong Kong Cup, leaving Sunday’s Japan Cup open for business.

Fifteen horses, none from out of the country, are expected for this renewal of the Group 1, $5.25 million Japan Cup, a 1 1/2-mile grass race run around left-handed turns at expansive Tokyo Racecourse.

While last year’s Japan Cup winner won’t be present, the 2017 hero, Cheval Grand, is among the expected runners, as is that renewal’s runner-up, the venerable Rey de Oro. Rey de Oro appears to be nowhere near the horse he was at his 2017 and 2018 peak. Rey de Oro finished sixth in the $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic last March, was fifth in the June 23 Takarazuka Kinen, got the rest of the summer off, and was only fourth in his Sept. 22 comeback run, a Group 2 at Kyoto. Rey de Oro went through a similar schedule the year he won the Japan Cup but was a sharp winner of his prep for the big day.

Cheval Grand, the field’s senior member at age 7, holds more appeal. He’s back in Japan after spending much of 2019 racing abroad, finishing third in the Sheema Classic before going on to England where he finished sixth in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Cup and eighth in the Group 1 International Stakes. Cheval Grand finished fourth in the 2018 Japan Cup but comes into this edition a fresher horse and turned in an extremely eye-catching in-company workout for Sunday’s race.

Mildly favored in international early betting markets is Wagnerian, whose candidacy rests heavily on his 3-year-old form from 2018. In May that season Wagnerian won the Japanese Derby, another 1 1/2-mile race at Tokyo, beating 17 rivals, but since has raced only four times, winning once.

Three-year-old filly Curren Boquetd’or never has run anything but solid to strong races through her career and gets just shy of nine pounds from her older male rivals. She was second to Loves Only You over 1 1/2 miles at Tokyo this past spring in the Japanese Oaks, has two well-spaced starts this fall, and a chance to improve at a fair price Sunday.

You Can Smile, who had a spell as a staying horse late last year and early in 2019, also has come in for decent betting support, but would need the race of his life to win. Suave Richard was third in this race last year but hasn’t actually won since April 2018 and would need a major step forward from his Japan Cup prep.

Post time for the Japan Cup is 1:40 a.m. Eastern.