Japan: Contrail gets last shot at victory in Japan Cup
Contrail’s undefeated record ended with a second-place finish in his eighth start in the 2020 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse.
The losses have continued this year, with narrow misses in two starts in Grade 1 races in April and October. A 4-year-old colt, Contrail has one more chance for redemption before retirement. Contrail will be an odds-on favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1 Japan Cup at 1 1/2 miles.
The Japanese 3-year-old champion of 2020, Contrail will start with the benefit of a solid prep race when second by a length to Efforia in the autumn running of the Tenno Sho at 1 1/4 miles on Oct. 31 at Tokyo. Efforia was not among the 18 runners entered in the $5.61 million Japan Cup.
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Contrail is trained by Yashito Yahagi and will be ridden by Yuichi Fukanaga. Yahagi trains Loves Only You, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Since the loss in the Tenno Sho, Contrail has worked steadily, Yahagi recently told Japan Racing Association publicists. He described a recent workout as “too good to waste.”
“I think he’s even a rank above what he was,” Yahagi said. “He looks to have really come into his own.”
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Contrail’s greatest threat among the domestic runners is Shahryar, winner of the Grade 1 Japanese Derby in May.
The Japan Cup field includes Broome and Japan, who were second and fourth in the BC Turf for Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. They are rated as longshots, although both have the sort of form that could translate into a top-three finish.
Broome, 5, led in the stretch of the BC Turf, but could not hold off the English 3-year-old Yibir, losing by a half-length at 9-1. Broome is winless in four starts since winning the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at 1 1/2 miles in Paris in July.
Japan, a 5-year-old English-bred horse by Galileo, had a troubled trip in the BC Turf, racing in traffic a quarter-mile from the finish. Japan recovered to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind Yibir.
Earlier this year, Japan won two Group 3 races in England and Ireland. The BC Turf was his third consecutive start in a Grade 1 race in the United States, preceded by a game second in the Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga in August and a sixth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park in October.
Ryan Moore rode Japan in the BC Turf, but will ride Broome in the Japan Cup. Japan will be ridden by the former Japanese champion Yutaka Take, who has won a record four runnings of the Japan Cup.
O’Brien is winless with four Japan Cup runners.
There are three females in the field, including the 5-year-old Grand Glory, who 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.