Derby Dreaming Begins In Japan

TOKYO, Japan–The first of three races in Japan's “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series was contested at Tokyo Racecourse on the eve of the G1 Japan Cup on Saturday, and it was Ruggero (Jpn) (Kinshasa no Kiseki {Jpn}) who threw his hat into the ring for the First Saturday in May with a neck victory in the Cattleya Sho, an allowance race going a mile on the dirt.

Japan's Road to the Kentucky Derby, which is contested separately to Churchill Downs's points system by the same name, originally consisted of the Cattleya Sho and the Hyacinth S., also over a mile on the dirt in late February, and this year the series was expanded with the addition of the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki on Dec. 13. The top four finishers of the Cattleya Sho and the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun receive points on a 10-4-2-1 scale, with 30-12-6-3 points awarded for the Hyacinth. The horse that accrues the most points in the series earns a spot in the 20-horse starting gate for the GI Kentucky Derby. Lani (Tapit) won the 2015 Cattleya Sho en route to competing in all three Triple Crown races the following season, and Epicharis (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) won the Hyacinth this past February. After traveling to Dubai to finish second to Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) in the G2 UAE Derby, Epicharis flew to New York for the GI Belmont S. but was an 11th-hour scratch due to injury.

Ruggero is the early front-runner in the points race after posting a win in his first try on the dirt on Saturday. Traveling in the two path and about two lengths off the lead down the backstretch, the $4.90 shot swung three wide into the straight and slowly began to roll as jockey Keita Tosaki wound him up. He hit the lead inside the final 200 meters and had enough left to hold off late burners Mic Ben Hur (Jpn) (Smart Boy {Jpn}) and Meiner Yukisubaki (Jpn), a son of 2012 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner I'll Have Another, who stands in Japan at Big Red Farm.

There was some drama inside the final furlong when, to Ruggero's inside when he was gaining the lead, Morito Yubu (Jpn) (Agnes Digital {Jpn}) suddenly ducked left and hit the rail, falling and dropping jockey Hiroshi Kitamura. Both horse and rider emerged unscathed.

Ruggero was recording the second win of his four-race career. A debut winner going 1400 meters on the grass at Niigata on July 29, he was third in a one-mile turf allowance at Nakayama on Sept. 9. He was dropping down in class here coming off an eighth in Tokyo's G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup on Oct. 7.

Ruggero is out of Silver Cup (Ire) (Almutawakel {GB}), who won the G2 Premio Regina Elena in Italy before relocating to the U.S., where she won the G2 San Gorgonio S., G2 Buena Vista H. and G2 Santa Ana H., all on the turf.

CATTLEYA SHO-Alw, ¥19,290,000, 2yo, 1600m, 1:38.20, gd.
1–RUGGERO (JPN), 121, c, 2, Kinshasa no Kiseki (Jpn)–Silver
Cup (Ire) (MGSW-US & GSW-Ity, $559,485), by Almutawakel
(GB). (¥42,120,000 Fl '15 JRHAJUL). O-Takashi Muraki;
B-Shadai Farm; T-Yuichi Shikato; J-Keita Tosaki; ¥10,203,000.
Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-1, ¥19,729,000.
2–Mic Ben Hur (Jpn), 121, c, 2, Smart Boy (Jpn)–Kuroechan
(Jpn), by Spicule (Jpn). O-Kiratto One Co. Ltd. ¥4,058,000.
3–Meiner Yukitsubaki (Jpn), 125, c, 2, I'll Have Another–White
Meteor (Jpn), by Zenno Rob Roy (Jpn). O-K Thoroughbred Club
Ruffian. ¥2,529,000.
Margins: HF, NO, 3HF. Odds: 4.90, 25.80, 3.70. VIDEO