Imperative, Soi Phet to race in Japan

DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2014 stakes winners Imperative and Soi Phet will start in stakes in Japan in December.

Imperative, the winner of the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April, arrived in Japan this week for the $1,665,172 Champions Cup at Chukyo Racecourse in Nagoya, trainer George Papaprodromou said.

The Champions Cup was previously known as the Japan Cup Dirt. The race is run over about 1 1/8 miles on a left-handed track.

Owned by Kenji Morinara, Imperative was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 after a troubled start. The 4-year-old gelding, claimed for $50,000 last December, has earned $1,265,700 this year. He was third in two Grade 1 races during the summer – the Gold Cup at Santa Anita and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Soi Phet is scheduled to be sent to Japan in mid-December for the $1,003,000 Tokyo Daishoten, a Grade 1 race over about 1 1/4 miles at Ohi Racecourse in Tokyo on Dec. 29. The track also is known as Tokyo City Keiba.

Soi Phet, trained by Leonard Powell for the partnership of Gerald Benowitz, Paul Viskowich, and Sandra and Mathilde Powell, was fifth in the Big Bear Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 30. Soi Phet has won two stakes at Los Alamitos this year – the Bertrando Stakes in July and the $200,000 Los Alamitos Mile in September. Soi Phet was claimed for $16,000 in May 2013.