Efforia

Five years after his sire clinched a second consecutive Horse of the Year title in Japan with a victory in the G1 Arima Kinen, Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) stated his case for top year-end honours for 2022 with a dominating display in front of a pandemic-restricted, but boisterous crowd of roughly 47,000 fans Christmas Day at Nakayama Racecourse. The firming 13-10 favourite in the fan-voted affair, Equinox left without incident from gate nine and landed in midfield on the back of defending champion and reigning Horse of the Year...

Sunday's G1 Arima Kinen offers fans of international racing the ultimate Christmas gift, as a field of 16--largely selected by the public--will face the starter in one of the world's most valuable Group 1 races not held in a desert environment. Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) was the leading votegetter and looks to atone for his speed-and-fade 11th-place effort in that boggy-ground renewal of the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp Oct. 2. He'd earned the right to contest Europe's weight-for-age championship, having defeated fellow Arc runner Deep Bond...

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 bit more than three months removed from a championship-clinching victory in the G1 Arima Kinen, Japan's reigning Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) makes a much-anticipated return to the races in a high-class renewal of the G1 Osaka Hai (2000m) at Hanshin Racecourse. Winner of six of his seven career starts, the bay son of Katies Heart (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) won the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) by three easy lengths and looked all over a winner of the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) before...

Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) became the first 3-year-old since Orfevre (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) in 2011 to be named Japanese Horse of the Year as year-end honors were revealed Tuesday. The Carrot Farm colorbearer received 277 of the 296 possible votes, easily outdistancing the globetrotting Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who received 18 first-place votes for the top prize. Efforia was also unanimously named champion 3-year-old male. A son of the Heart's Cry (Jpn) mare Katie's Heart (Jpn) and from the same family as fellow Horse of the...

By Alan Carasso With the possible exceptions of Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), currently training in America towards the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and the G1 Japan Cup-bound Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), this year's G1 Tokyo Yushun hero, Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo has attracted the creme of the crop in Japan, including Classic winners from each of the last three seasons. Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) commences a two-race farewell tour back where he celebrated one of his finest hours in...

Perfect in four career attempts to this point, including a facile success in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (2000mT) last month, Carrot Farm's Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) will jump a warm favourite to take his winning streak to five in Sunday's G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at the Fuchu Racecourse in the Japanese capitol. Blessed with excellent tactical speed, Efforia has managed to be a forward factor in each of his races to date, sitting fairly handy to the pace when besting Victipharus (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) by...

Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) will look to take his career mark to a perfect four-from-four and will attempt to give the Carrot Farm syndicate a second victory in three years in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) over the metric 10 furlongs Sunday afternoon at Nakayama Racecourse. Descending from the family of G1 Japan Cup hero Admire Mooon (Jpn) (End Sweep) and champion Hishi Amazon (Theatrical {Ire}), Efforia made a successful debut over a right-handed 2000-metre trip at Sapporo last August and made it two straight with a Tokyo...