Tokyo stakes linked to U.S. Grade 1 events

The race card Sunday at Tokyo has linkages to America.

The Group 1 February Stakes over 1,600 meters on dirt is a Breeder’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race linked to the BC Classic, while the Hyacinth Stakes, another 1,600-meter dirt race, is the third race in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.

The February has drawn a field of 16 headed by Mozu Ascot, Inti, Sunrise Nova, and Arctos. Inti, who won the February Stakes one year ago, was the narrow antepost favorite with English bookmakers as of Friday but Mozu Ascot is the early betting choice in Japan. Inti, a 6-year-old, has an American dirt-leaning pedigree top and bottom as a son of Came Home and the Northern Afleet mare, Kitty, and has made all 13 of his starts in dirt races. Inti won seven races in a row, culminating in the 2019 February Stakes, but has failed to find the wire first in five subsequent races. He was third over a sloppy track in his Jan. 26 prep for Sunday’s race.

Six-year-old Mozu Ascot, a son of Frankel and the Hennessy mare, India, raced only on turf – the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen in 2018 his signature victory – before trainer Yoshihito Yahagi switched him to dirt Feb. 2, Mozu Ascot scoring a sharp victory over 1,400 meters at Tokyo in the Group 3 Yegishi Stakes. Mozu Ascot should take a step forward Sunday and looks formidable. Arctos and Sunrise Nova have mainly been dirt specialists and are capable, if a half-notch below the top pair, on their day.

Vacation leads the four-race Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby with 20 qualifying points but neither he nor any of the other points leaders are entered in the Hyacinth, which distributes points 30-12-6-3 to the top four finishers. The last race in the series, the Fukuru on March 28, has a 40-16-8-4 points scale, and at series end the horse with the most points whose connections want the chance are assured a spot in the 20-horse Derby gate.

There are a number of lightly raced entrants with attractive pedigrees such as debut winner Nile River, a son of American Pharoah and the Smart Strike mare Jeweliana who scored a course and distance victory last Nov. 19, his lone start to date. Cafe Pharoah, another American Pharoah, this one out of the More Than Ready mare Katies Follies, won an 1,800-meter newcomers race in December at Nakayama. Daimei Corrida, who raced five times at age 2 and was third in the Cattleya Sho, earning two Derby qualifying points, looks like he might be best of the horses with more experience.