Fine Needle wins Sprinters Stakes to qualify for BC Turf Sprint

Fine Needle won his second Grade 1 sprint in Japan this year in Sunday’s $1,891,011 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse and is expected to have his next start in Kentucky or Hong Kong later this fall.

Fine Needle, owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, earned a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. Fine Needle is also a candidate for the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin in December, Godolphin officials said after the race.

Trained by Yoshitada Takahasi, Fine Needle won the Sprinters Stakes at six furlongs on turf by a neck over 31-1 Love Kampf. Ridden by Yuga Kawada, Fine Needle, the 9-5 favorite, closed from midpack in a field of 16 to challenge the leaders in the final furlong. Fine Needle was fully extended to catch Love Kampf.

Rhein Spirit, a 63-1 outsider, finished third. Red Falx, who won the Sprinters Stakes in 2016 and 2017, finished 10th, beaten 4 1/4 lengths.

Lucky Bubbles, the champion sprinter in Hong Kong in the 2016-17 season, was pulled up in the stretch with a suspensory injury and has been retired, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Fine Needle, a 5-year-old Japanese-bred horse by Admire Moon, was 12th in the 2017 Sprinters Stakes. Earlier this year, Fine Needle won the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs at Chukyo Racecourse in March and was fourth in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin in April.