Japan: Lemon Pop looks for dirt Grade 1 sweep in Champions Cup

The Kentucky-bred Lemon Pop won the Grade 1 February Stakes at a mile on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse in February and will attempt to sweep Japan’s other Grade 1 race on dirt in Sunday’s $1.58 million Champions Cup at 1 1/8 miles at Chukyo Racecourse.

Lemon Pop, by Lemon Drop Kid, is part of a field of 15 in the Champions Cup, a race known at times in the past as the Japan Cup Dirt.

A $70,000 purchase as a weanling at Keeneland in 2018, Lemon Pop figures to be among the leading choices along with the undefeated Seraphic Call, a winner of five starts, and Crown Pride, who was second in the 2022 Champions Cup.

Lemon Pop, a winner of 9 of 13 starts, followed his win in the $1.73 million February Stakes with a 10th-place finish in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen at six furlongs on dirt at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates in March. Rested through the summer, Lemon Pop returned to win the Mile Championship Nambu Hai at Morioka Racecourse, a track on the second-tier NAR circuit, on Oct. 9.

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Lemon Pop drew the outside post in the Champions Cup and will be ridden by Ryusei Sakai, who has been aboard the 5-year-old horse since the February Stakes.

Seraphic Call will start in a Grade 1 for the first time in the Champions Cup. He closed from 11th of 16 to win his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Miyako Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Kyoto Racecourse on Nov. 5.

The well-traveled Crown Pride was fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February and fifth in the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan in March. Last year he was 13th in the Kentucky Derby.

In June, Crown Pride won the Teio Sho at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at Ohi Racecourse in Tokyo, another NAR track, before a win in the Group 3 Korea Cup at 1 1/8 miles in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 10.

The Champions Cup has a post time of 1:30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday or 10:30 p.m. Pacific on Saturday.

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