Japan: Contrail finishes race career with Japan Cup triumph
Contrail, Japan’s champion 3-year-old male of 2020, reversed a three-race losing streak with a two-length win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japan Cup, his final start before retirement to stud.
Contrail ($3.90 in American pools) closed from the middle of the field of 18 to take the lead in the final sixteenth and win comfortably over 8-1 Authority. Shahryar, who won the Grade 1 Japanese Derby in May, finished third at 5-1.
Broome and Japan, who were second and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6, finished 11th and eighth for Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Owned by Shinji Maeda, Contrail won 8 of 11 starts, including the 2020 Triple Crown for 3-year-old males – the Japanese 2000 Guineas, Japanese Derby, and Japanese St. Leger. In his final start of 2020, Contrail was second in the Japan Cup.
Sunday’s $5.61 million Japan Cup was Contrail’s first win since the Japanese St. Leger in October 2020. In two starts earlier this year, Contrail was third in the Grade 1 Osaka Hai in April and second in the autumn running of the Grade 1 Tenno Sho at Tokyo Racecourse on Oct. 31.
Contrail was ridden by Yuichi Fukanaga, who rode the colt in his final 10 starts.
“All I did today was believe in him,” Fukanaga told Japan Racing Association publicists after Sunday’s race. “He broke well and everything went just perfectly. He has given me every jockey’s dream.
“I’m relieved we can send him off to his next career with this victory.”
Contrail, by Deep Impact, is trained by Yashito Yahagi, who also trains Loves Only You, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6.
The field included one other runner from Europe: Grand Glory, a 5-year-old mare from France, finished fifth.
Grand Glory won the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles at Deauville, France, in August and was second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 3.