Fame Game will attempt to become the first Japanese-trained winner of Australia’s most famous race, the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday.
Fame Game was the 3-1 favorite in future-book betting this weekend to win the two-mile turf race. He is one of several international runners in a race that has drawn successful imports from Europe in recent years.
Lovely Day will be favored to win the Japan Cup on Nov. 29 after winning his second Grade 1 race of 2015 Sunday in the $2,593,850 Tenno Sho at Tokyo Racecourse.
Ridden by Suguru Hamanaka, Lovely Day, the 2-1 favorite, always was near the front, took the lead in early stretch, and won the Grade 1 race at 1 1/4 miles on turf by a half-length over the 33-1 Staphanos. Isla Bonita, a 10-1 chance, finished third in the field of 18.
Spielberg, winner of the 2014 Tenno Sho and third in the 2014 Japan Cup, finished 10th.
Spielberg won the Grade 1 Tenno Sho Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse in October 2014 prior to finishing third in the Japan Cup a month later.
The 6-year-old Spielberg is on the same career path this fall. Sunday, Spielberg is part of a field of 18 in the $2,593,850 Tenno Sho at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Tokyo Racecourse.
Spielberg must prove he can rebound from a recent 10th place finish in the Grade 2 Mainichi Okan Stakes at Tokyo on Oct. 11, his first start since a sixth-place finish in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England in June.
A maiden race winner in July, Vazirabad won his Group 1 debut and fifth consecutive stakes in Sunday’s $385,000 Prix Royal-Oak at 1 15/16 miles on turf at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris.
Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, Vazirabad (12-5) closed from the back of a 13-horse field to take the lead in the final sixteenth. Vazirabad won by a length over Siljan’s Saga, who was eighth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse on Oct. 4.
Cirrus des Aigles, the 9-year-old gelding with 22 wins, finished fourth in the longest race of his career.
Winx, a Street Cry filly, won her fifth consecutive stakes and third Group 1 in that span Saturday in the $2.16 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia.
The only filly in a field of 14, Winx rallied on the inside under jockey Hugh Bowman to take the lead in the final quarter-mile. She pulled clear to win the 1 1/4-mile turf race by 4 3/4 lengths over the multiple stakes winner Criterion, a 5-1 shot. Highland Reel, winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park in August, finished third at 7-1.
Marcel won his Group 1 debut in Saturday’s $302,800 Racing Post Trophy for 2-year-olds at Doncaster Racecourse in England, rallying wide in the final three furlongs of the race at a straightaway mile on turf and avoiding the troubled that plagued odds-on favorite Foundation.
The remarkable 9-year-old Cirrus des Aigles starts in the longest race of his career in Sunday’s $385,000 Prix Royal-Oak at about 1 7/8 miles on turf at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris. Trained by Corinne Barande Barbe, Cirrus des Aigles has won 22 of 65 starts in his career.
Cirrus des Aigles is part of a field of 13 in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak, which has been transferred from Longchamp Racecourse while that course undergoes a redevelopment of its grandstand. Longchamp is scheduled to reopen in 2017.
The 2-year-olds Foundation and Deauville might be stuck racing against each other for a while.
They were first and second in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England on Sept. 26 in their first meeting and are the first two choices with many bookmakers for the English Derby in June.
For their expected final starts of the year, Foundation and Deauville are the top two choices in Saturday’s Group 1 Racing Post Trophy for 2-year-old colts and fillies at Doncaster Racecourse. Geldings are excluded from the race.
Highland Reel, winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park in August, is a moderate favorite to win Saturday’s $2.16 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia.
The Cox Plate is run at 1 1/2 miles on turf and is Australia’s top weight-for-age race. The Group 1 Cox Plate could produce a few runners for the Melbourne Cup on Nov. 3, Australia’s most popular race.
Mikki Queen, winner of the Japanese Oaks in May, won her second major stakes for 3-year-old fillies in Japan in Sunday’s $1,548,614 Shuka Sho at Kyoto Racecourse, a win that solidified her status as the leader of the division.
Ridden by Suguru Hamanaka for trainer Yasutoshi Ikee, Mikki Queen, the 2-1 favorite, set a track record of 1:56.90 for about 1 1/4 miles on turf. Mikki Queen raced in midpack before overcoming a touch of trouble on the turn. Mikki Queen took the lead in the final sixteenth and won by a neck over the 13-1 Queens Ring.