By Christina Bossinakis
Undefeated Serifos (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}), coming off a last out win in the G2 Daily Hai Nisai S. Nov. 13, will try to give trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida his second consecutive victory in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. at Hanshin Sunday. Leading the trainers' table this year, Nakauchida won the race last year with Grenadier Guards (Jpn). A debut winner at Chukyo last June, the chestnut returned to score in the G2 Niigata Nisai S. in August. Visiting jockey Christian Demuro will be on board.
Also undefeated, Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong) kicked off with a first-out win at Tokyo in June before exhibiting late speed to take the G2 Sapporo Nisai S. by four lengths in September. Returned from a pre-training farm to Miho Training Centre in November, he worked six furlongs over woodchip course at Miho Dec. 15, completing the final furlong :11.9.
Yu Ota, assistant to Tetsuya Kimura said, “He ran well in the Sapporo Nisai S., even though he was a bit too relaxed. Returning from the farm recently, he looks sharp, and the jockey reports the horse to be in good shape in training. With two wins over 1,800 meters, there shouldn't be any problem over a mile.”
Geoglyph will be accompanied by Christophe Lemaire, who has ridden the colt in both prior starts.
Looking for his first group title, Danon Scorpion (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) graduated at Hanshin in June before adding that track's Listed Hagi S. (1800m) in October. Trainer Takayuki Yasuda explained, “He is a very talented horse. He also has lots of scope.”
In a recent work over the woodchip course at Ritto Training Centre, the bay covered six furlongs, with the final furlong completed in :12.1 seconds under jockey Kohei Matsuyama.
“He moved better than last week. He showed great acceleration and he is fit going into the race,” said Matsuyama.
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