Japan: Kitasan Black tries to regain form in Tenno Sho
Kitasan Black, the winner of the 2016 Japan Cup, will be favored in Sunday’s Grade 1 Tenno Sho Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse, a key prep to this year’s Japan Cup on Nov. 26.
Kitasan Black, a 5-year-old horse who has won 10 of 17 starts, won the spring running of the Grade 1 Tenno Sho at two miles at Kyoto Racecourse in April in course record time, but finished ninth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse on June 25 in his last start.
Trainer Hisashi Shimizu told Japan Racing Association publicity that Kitasan Black may have been “fatigued” from the Tenno Sho when he was beaten 8 1/4 lengths in the Takarazuka Kinen by Satono Crown, another contender in Sunday’s Tenno Sho.
Satono Crown won the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong last December. Satono Crown was 14th in the autumn running of the Tenno Sho last year, and has won three of his last four starts.
The $2.56 million Tenno Sho drew a field of 18, including the 3-year-old filly Soul Stirring, who won the Grade 1 Japanese Oaks in May.
Other leading contenders are Real Steel, who was fifth in the 2016 Japan Cup and won the Grace 2 Mainichi Okan at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Tokyo on Oct. 8, and Neorealism, who won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on April 30.