Red Falx eyes three-peat in Japan's Sprinters Stakes

Red Falx won the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in 2017 for the second consecutive year en route to being named Japan’s champion sprinter or miler for that season. If he wins the same race for a record third time Sunday, Red Falx must overcome an outside post in a field of 16 in the six-furlong turf race.

The $1,891,011 Sprinters Stakes is the top six-furlong race of the autumn in Japan and has drawn an international runner in Lucky Bubbles, the champion sprinter in Hong Kong in the 2016-17 season.

The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

Red Falx, trained by Tomohiti Ozeki, is winless in four starts since the 2017 Sprinters Stakes, including an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs on turf at Chukyo Racecourse in March. The Takamatsunomiya Kinen is Japan’s top sprint race in the spring.

The outside draw is not ideal, but Red Falx is a closer. Jockey Keita Tosaki should be able to save some ground on Nakayama’s right-handed course, which has a decline in the first furlong and a rise in the final furlong.

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen was won by Fine Needle, who was later fourth in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs on turf at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on April 29. Fine Needle, owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Yoshitada Takahashi, rebounded to win the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes at Hanshin Racecourse on Sept. 9 in his comeback.

Fine Needle is expected to be favored in the Sprinters Stakes, though there will be solid support for Nac Venus, who won the Group 3 Keeneland Cup at six furlongs on turf at Sapporo on Aug. 26 and was third in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen earlier this year.