Red Falx notches second straight Sprinters Stakes in Japan

Red Falx won the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes for the second consecutive year at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan on Sunday, a race that moves the 6-year-old closer to the title of Japan’s top sprinter of the 2017.

Red Falx earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4 for Sunday’s win, although there was no immediate confirmation that he would be sent on the trans-Pacific trip.

In the $1,702,887 Sprinters Stakes, Red Falx closed from midpack in a field of 16 to win by a neck over Let’s Go Donki, a 5-year-old mare best known for winning the 2015 Japanese 1000 Guineas.

Let’s Go Donki, a 9-1 shot, finished a half-length in front of 15-1 Once in a Moon, a 4-year-old filly. There were five fillies and mares in the field.

Red Falx, sent off at 2-1, is a horse by Swept Overboard, who has won 10 of 23 starts for Tokyo Horse Racing Co, Ltd., and trainer Tomohito Ozeki. Mirco Demuro rode Red Falx, who has won four graded stakes in his career.