Already a three-time Grade 1 winner in Japan, Jantar Mantar will be favored to record another win at the highest level in Sunday’s $2.2 million Mile Championship at Kyoto Racecourse. The champion 2-year-old male of 2024, Jantar Mantar starts against a field that includes three other recent Japanese champions and Docklands, the winner of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in Britain in June. Jantar Mantar has had only two starts this year, both at a mile at Tokyo Racecourse. He won the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen in June and finished second by a half-length at 4-5 to Gaia Force in the Grade 2 Fuji Stakes on Oct. 18. Gaia Force is part of the Mile Championship field and regarded as capable of an upset. Jantar Mantar is a Japanese-bred colt by Palace Malice. Her dam is India Mantuana, the winner of the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar in 2018. Jantar Mantar, who will be ridden by Yuga Kawada for trainer Tomokazu Takana, starts from post 15 in the 18-runner Mile Championship. :: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for international racing, including Australia The field includes Soul Rush, who won the 2024 Mile Championship and was named Japan’s champion miler for that season; Cervinia, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2024; and 4-year-old Ascoli Piceno, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2023. Docklands and Soul Rush were not helped by the draw and will start from posts 16 and 17. Soul Rush won the Group 1 Dubai Turf at 1 1/8 miles at Meydan Racecourse in April and was later third in the Yasuda Kinen and Fuji Stakes. Ascoli Piceno had an outstanding start to 2025, winning the Group 2 1351 Turf Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs in Saudi Arabia in February and the Grade 1 Victoria Mile for fillies and mares at Tokyo in May. In her last start, Ascoli Piceno was sixth of 10 as the 5-2 favorite in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois for turf milers at Deauville, France, in August, another of Europe’s leading one-mile turf races. Docklands, trained in Britain by Harry Eustace, was fourth in the Prix Jacques le Marois and fourth in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 18 in his last two starts. Post time for the Mile Championship is 1:40 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.