O Dionysus wires Japan Turf Cup
In 24 races before Saturday, O Dionysus never had led at the first or second point of call, but jockey Jevian Toledo put him right on the lead Saturday at Laurel Park in the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup Stakes and O Dionysus never looked back.
O Dionysus had to fend off a host of challengers and did so gamely, hanging on to win by a head over longshot Lemon Twist. Another head back in third came Postulation, who was disqualified and placed fifth for bumping Surprise Twist at the sixteenth pole. That elevated Nakamura, who made a solid run up the inside, from fourth to third. Highland Sky, the 2-1 favorite, finished a tepid sixth.
Whether by design or circumstance, O Dionysus, racing wide around the first turn, found himself leading through a slow half-mile split of 50.03 seconds. The 5-year-old Maryland-bred son of Bodemeister and Safe Journey, by Flatter, typically stalks or closes, and even the last time he raced the JRA’s 1 1/2-mile distance, in the Cape Henlopen Stakes this summer at Delaware, O Dionysus had come from behind. In the Cape Henlopen he’d surged to the lead at the stretch call before being run down by two rivals, looking like a horse who couldn’t quite stay this long distance, but he saw the trip out bravely on Saturday. He ran his final quarter mile in a quick 23.27 for a final time of 2:28.42 over firm going.
O Dionysus is trained by Gary Capuano for Marathon Farm and paid $14.80 winning for the seventh time in 25 starts. It was how he went about it that was especially surprising.
