Sunday's G1 Japan Cup-the country's marquee race-has been renamed for the year in honour of its 2006 victor, the great Deep Impact (Jpn), who died in July aged 17. Fifteen will line up in the Japan Cup in Assocation with Longines – Deep Impact Memorial, four of those being progeny of the Shadai sire himself. Last year's G1 Tokyo Yushun winner Wagnerian (Jpn) would provide a particularly poignant victory as not only is a son of Deep Impact, but he is campaigned by Deep Impact's owner Makoto Kaneko, who also raced Wagnerian's broodmare sire, King Kamehameha (Jpn), who also died at Shadai this year.
Wagnerian is certainly in with a shot: although he has not won in three starts this year, he is a perfect two-for-two over this trip and, after a summer break, warmed up for this with a fifth behind Almond Eye in the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn over 2000 metres on Oct. 27. He should appreciate the step back up to his favourite distance on Sunday.
Three-year-old Deep Impact filly Curren Bouquetd'or (Jpn) will attempt to emulate the feat of her illustrious stablemate Almond Eye in this last year by beating elder males. Curren Bouquetd'or's record is not nearly as fancy as Almond Eye's-Almond Eye at this point last year had won five straight races including the Fillies' Triple Crown, while Curren Bouquetd'or has just a maiden and a listed win to her name. She was, however, second in the G1 Yushun Himba over this trip and most recently filled the same position in the G1 Shuko Sho on Oct. 13. As the only filly in the field, she gets an eight-pound weight break from her rivals.
The winner and runner-up of the 2017 Japan Cup, Cheval Grand (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Rey de Oro (Jpn) (King Kamehameha (Jpn}), should also feature prominently. Cheval Grand has not won since posting a mild upset under Hugh Bowman two years ago, but placings in the G1 Arima Kinen (twice), G1 Tenno Sho Spring and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic suggest he is still up to the task. A pair of Group 1 outings in Europe this summer didn't yield the desired results, and the 7-year-old returns to his home turf after beating one home in the G1 Juddmonte International S. on Aug. 21.
The 2017 Tokyo Yushun winner Rey de Oro added a second Group 1 in last year's G1 Tenno Sho Autumn, and while he has been off the board in three starts this year he returns to his favourite track; he has won three of his four starts at Tokyo, including two Group 1s, and his lone loss was his Japan Cup second. Rey de Oro tuned up for this with a fourth in the G2 Sankei Sho All Comers S. on Sept. 22 and he gets the services of William Buick on Sunday.
Also coming in from Europe for the occasion are Ryan Moore, who rides Jinambo (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}); Christophe Soumillon, who partners Cheval Grand; Oisin Murphy aboard Suave Richard (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Frankie Dettori, who looks to channel his momentum from a blockbuster European season into a win aboard Look Twice (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}). The 6-year-old Look Twice makes his Group 1 debut on Sunday, but he is one that deserves a second look, having won or hit the board in 14 of his 20 starts.
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