Total Impact due in Japan

The California-based 6-year-old Total Impact was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday morning in Japan at Narita International Airport near Tokyo for his date in the Japan Cup Dirt. Upon landing, Total Impact will be vanned 26 miles to the Japan Racing Association's quarantine center at Shiroi, where he will remain until next Tuesday before making the 40-mile trip to Tokyo Racecourse.

The $2.6 million Japan Cup Dirt, a 1 5/16-mile race, will be run on Nov. 28, a date that will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Japan Racing Association. Total Impact will be the lone American representative in a race won last year by American runner Fleetstreet Dancer. In this year's race, the Laura de Seroux-trained Total Impact will be pitted against Admire Don, the recent winner of the 1 1/4-mile, Grade 1 JBC Classic on dirt and second by a nose in last year's Japan Cup Dirt.

While the $4.5 million Japan Cup, run at 1 1/2 miles on turf on the same day as the Japan Cup Dirt, will be without an American runner, it has attracted Powerscourt, third in last month's Breeders' Cup Classic, as well as last year's Canadian International winner, Phoenix Reach.