Gran Alegria cuts back in Takamatsunomiya Kinen

There will far more horses than racing fans when the Group 1, $2.53 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen is run Sunday at Chukyo Racecourse outside Nagoya, Japan.

The Japan Racing Association, like so many racing jurisdictions globally, has mandated that races be run this weekend spectator-free, an order that carries some weight in Japan, where racing attendance remains high. No fans, but 18 horses are set to go to post in this important 1,200-meter (about six-furlong) sprint race contested around one left-handed bend. Rain was forecast around Chukyo throughout Saturday, and though it was expected to end Sunday morning, the course will have some give to it.

There’s a clear preference in early betting, both in Japan and with English bookmakers offering fixed-odds wagering, for three horses – Gran Alegria, the 4-year-old filly likely to be favored, Danon Smash, and Tower of London.

Gran Alegria has raced only six times, winning four of her starts, and on Sunday races for the first time at a distance shorter than 1,400 meters. It was only in her most recent race, the Hanshin Cup in December, that she was backed up to a trip shorter than 1,600, the distance of her first five starts, and Gran Alegria showed more than ample brilliance last out while posting a five-length victory over Group 2 competition.

Gran Alegria raced handily throughout the Hanshin Cup, working out a perfect trip thanks to her athleticism, and she burst to the lead a quarter-mile out, crushing the competition. Gran Alegria, by Deep Impact out Tapitsfly, by Tapit, landed her only Group 1 in the 2019 Oka Sho, the Japanese 1000 Guineas, and was turned back in distance after a somewhat disappointing fourth-place finish in the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup last May. Her regular rider, Christophe Lemaire, is in quarantine after traveling to Dubai for the canceled Dubai World Cup card, and Kenichi Ikezoe has the mount Sunday on Gran Alegria, who is well drawn in post 8.

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Danon Smash, fourth in this race a year ago, ran well below his best in the Hong Kong Sprint in December, but tuned up for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen with a solid win March 7 in a Group 3 sprint at Nakayama. Five-year-old Danon Smash, a stalk-and-pounce type, is a true 1,200-meter horse, and while he has yet to win a Group 1, he had a trickier trip finishing third in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes last September than did victorious Tower of London.

Tower of London, another 5-year-old, always has shown some quality but has found his niche since being cut back to races less than 1,600 meters in May 2019, going 3-1-2 from six subsequent starts, one over 1,400 meters, the rest at 1,200. He finished third behind Danon Smash in the Ocean Stakes and will need a decent pace to spread the field and racing luck to weave his way through it.

The other two horses seeing some measure of real betting support are Diatonic and Mozu Ascot, the latter coming off a pair of good dirt wins.

Post time for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen is 2:40 a.m. Eastern.