Daring Tact

Some eleven years have transpired since the great Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) carried Ryan Moore to a second consecutive victory in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup and it will be up to reigning G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks winner Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to put a halt to the locals' 10-race winning streak Sunday afternoon at Hanshin Racecourse. It has been a magical season, indeed, for Yuesheng Zhang's talented bay filly, who used a runner-up effort in the Listed Salsabil S. at Navan in late April as a springboard...

Hanshin Racecourse is the site of Sunday's fan-voted G1 Takarazuka Kinen over the metric 11-furlong trip, with the winner earning a fees-paid berth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland Race Course the first weekend of November. And with scarcely an exception, 18 of Japan's best middle-distance horses--with formlines from all over the world--are set to face the starter. A logical case can be made for perhaps as many as nine runners Sunday afternoon, including reigning Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}), who looks to bounce...

A deep and diverse field of 18 distaff turf milers will take to the Fuchu course at Toyko Sunday afternoon for the G1 Victoria Mile, a race won in its last three renewals by the outstanding Normcore (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}, 2019), two-time Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}, 2020) and treble champion Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}, 2021). The Victoria Mile serves as a 'Win and You're In' event for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland this November. Several of Sunday's entrants are on...

Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown Winner Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) has injured her right foreleg and will be sidelined for at least nine months, reported www.p.nikkansports.com. The 4-year-old filly was diagnosed with ligamentitis upon her return to Shiga Prefecture to quarantine after a trip to Hong Kong, according to Makio Okada of Okada Stud Group. Daring Tact will return to Normandy Farm to recover. "She was diagnosed and will require nine-months off to heal," said Okada. "It's not good to overdo it. If you overdo it, the range of motion...

Japanese-based gallopers have left their mark on FWD Champions Day at Hong Kong's Sha Tin Racecourse, and as many as five raiders from the nearby island nation will attempt to continue that trend this weekend in front of as many as 6,000 racegoers as COVID restrictions ease in the region. The day's richest event at HK$25 million is the G1 FWD QE II Cup (2000mT), in which Japan owns four of the seven entries with a cloud hanging over the participation of 2019 G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase hero Glory...

Barriers were drawn Thursday morning in the Sha Tin parade ring for Sunday's FWD Champions Day meeting, featuring a trio of Group 1 events worth a combined HK$63 million (about US$8.1 million). Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) is perfectly drawn for his get-back, run-on style that has seen him greet the judge on no fewer than 13 straight occasions, including the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile and G1 Stewards' Cup in his two most recent trips at the 1600 metres. He faces just five others in the G1 FWD Champions...

Silk Racing Co. Ltd.'s Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who was retired from racing following a second victory in the G1 Japan Cup last November, was named the recipient of the Horse of the Year award for the second time in the last three years Wednesday. She easily outpointed Triple Crown winners and unanimous champions Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}), while champion sprinter/miler elect Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) garnered a single vote for HOTY. Almond Eye, who was also the champion...

The G1 Japan Cup rarely fails to deliver an epic clash of sexes and generations at Tokyo Racecourse on the last weekend in November, and this year's lineup on Sunday features a historic showdown of three individual Triple Crown winners. Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) is the most widely known of those internationally, Silk Racing's 5-year-old having swept the Japanese fillies' Triple Crown in 2018 en route to victory in this race. She dropped back in trip to take the G1 Dubai Turf the following spring, and has since...

Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) is likely to have the final start of her illustrious career in the G1 Japan Cup (2400m) at Tokyo Racecourse, her trainer Sakae Kunieda announced through the Twitter account of the Silk Horse Club syndicate that campaigns her. The 5-year-old daughter of Fusaichi Pandora (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) swept the Japanese Filly Triple Crown in 2018 and capped a Horse of the Year campaign with a smooth 1 3/4-length defeat of front-running Kiseki (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) in the Japan Cup. She added the G1 Dubai...

Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho will mark the first time since February that limited fans will be permitted to attend a Group 1 race in Japan, and it is fitting that it coincides with a fillies' Triple Crown bid by Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}). Daring Tact is unbeaten in four runs including the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) over a mile and the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) at 2400 metres. There is little that appears to be causing fear for connections-she recorded the fastest-ever final three furlongs in...

Today's the day that trainers in Britain can make entries for the first race meeting to be staged in Britain since March 17. Never will there have been so much interest in a Class 6 handicap at Newcastle as there will be next Monday at 1pm when the gates ping back to deliver a long awaited resumption of activity. As we have seen in France and Germany with last-minute interventions and location changes, it is perhaps unwise to assume that racing will actually take place on Monday in Britain, but...

Des Ailes (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the first foal out of 2014 G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victress Avenir Certain (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), puts her unbeaten record on the line and jumps up into group-race company for the first time in Sunday's G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). A debut winner at Hanshin on Mar. 15, she added the Listed Sweetpea S. at Tokyo on May 3 to her resume. Both those starts were over 1800 metres, and she adds another three furlongs on Sunday...