Japan: Curren Chan looks to reboiund in Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo

Curren Chan, the 5-year-old mare who was Japan’s champion sprinter of 2011, will attempt to end a two-race losing streak in Sunday’s $2.4 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo Racecourse, Japan’s first Grade 1 of the year.

Curren Chan earned her title with a victory in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes last October, but has lost her last two starts.

By Kurofune, Curren Chan ended 2011 with a fifth-place finish in a field of 14 in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in Hong Kong. In her first start of 2012, Curren Chan was fourth of 16 in the Grade 3 Yukan Fuji Sho Ocean Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse over a yielding turf course she did not like, according to jockey Kenichi Ikezoe.

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen gives Curren Chan a chance for her fifth graded stakes win. She has won 8 of 14 starts.

The field also includes One Carat, the winner of the Ocean Stakes who is scheduled to be bred after this race, and the red-hot Lord Kanaloa, who has won his last five starts including the Grade 3 Silk Stakes over about six furlongs on turf at Kyoto Racecourse on Jan. 28.