So far in 2011, for Japanese owner Teruya Yoshida has won the Dubai World Cup with Victoire Pisa and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Danedream. Both horses are leading contenders in Sunday’s $6.7 million Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse.
The winner’s trophy for the Japan Cup has not left these shores in six years. This year, there are 12 Japan-based runners in the field of 16 , and several of them are capable of extending the streak of domestic success.
When the brothers Terikchand and Naipaul Chatterpaul claimed Mission Approved at Belmont Park in June 2010, they thought they were getting “a nice New York-bred,” Terikchand Chatterpaul remembers.
Rose Kingdom and Buena Vista return for owner Shunsuke Yoshida in Sunday's Japan Cup after finishing one-two last year, when Buena Vista was disqualified and placed second.
There will never be another autumn like 2011 for German jockey Andrasch Starke. On Sunday, Starke will ride Danedream in the $6.7 million Japan Cup. Danedream can become the first Arc winner to win the Japan Cup.
Danedream, the upset winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Oct. 2, had a seven-furlong workout on the dirt track at Tokyo Racecourse on Wednesday, her last major exercise for Sunday’s $6.7 million Japan Cup on turf.
The 4-year-old Eishin Apollon recorded the most important victory of his career Sunday at Kyoto in Japan when he captured the Group 1 Mile Championship by a neck over Fifth Petal.
Three-year-old French filly Immortal Verse has made her first international trip, shipping to Japan where she starts Sunday at Kyoto in the Mile Championship, worth a little less than $2.5 million.
The 3-year-old colt Frankel – to the surprise of no one – has been named Cartier Horse of the Year for 2011.
Workforce, a top European 3-year-old of 2010 but something of a disappointment this season at 4, has been sold by owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms to owner Teruya Yoshida and retired to stud at Yoshida’s Shadai Farm in Japan.
