Japan Cup

In the blink of an eye, that's another turf season in the books, which means that this is the final Seven Days column for 2024. Next week Adam Houghton will be starting a new column which aims to keep tabs on those two-year-olds who are rising three and could make more of a name for themselves next year. An eagle-eyed former Timeform employee, Adam guarantees that if the next Notable Speech (GB) is out there, about to make his debut on the all-weather this winter before marching on to Classic...

All season we seem to have been marvelling at 'another brilliant ride by Ryan Moore.' But the man himself chuckles at the idea that this has been a special year for him. "I suppose looking back there've been good days, but you only remember the last day," he says. "We didn't win the Arc - so it doesn't feel satisfying at the moment." As he says it, he really is laughing at how a recent disappointment can obscure the glories. This is life in the super-elite of world sport, where...

The dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) will make one final appearance in the Japan Cup on November 24 before retiring to stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.  The four-year-old son of Japan's breed-shaping stallion Deep Impact (Jpn) has won at the highest level in each of his seasons in training, landing the Vertem Futurity after his initial black-type success in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes.  At three, despite disappointing in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on his seasonal debut, he put together a formidable CV of four Group/Grade 1...

The Longines World Racing Awards were held in London last week, but it could just as easily have been in Tokyo, such was the level of support from visitors from Japan. It is easy to understand why. For as well as this event being in part a coronation for Equinox (Jpn), the best horse in the world in 2023, it was also the first time in the 43-year history of the G1 Japan Cup that it was awarded the accolade of the Longines World's Best Horse Race. The line-up for...

Crossing the line as Equinox sauntered home in the Japan Cup, Christophe Lemaire gave a little shake of his head and beamed as he tried unconvincingly to pat the horse's neck. Lemaire's disbelief was such that he went floppy with delight. Championship races are not meant to be processions. Even legendary horses aren't supposed to be so superior to their contemporaries. While others bobbed and heaved with effort, Equinox arrived at the front in his races on the bridle, with Lemaire perched as if for a portrait painter. Then he...

The world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) has been retired to Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido after winning last weekend's Japan Cup in spectacular fashion. Last Sunday's Group 1 success was the Japanese superstar's sixth consecutive victory at the highest level. In 10 lifetime starts he was beaten twice when second to Geoglyph (Jpn) in the GI Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) and also second in the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) to Do Deuce (Jpn). Bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm from the Group 3-winning King Halo...

The long-awaited appearance of Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup did not disappoint and his four-length victory over the fillies' Triple Crown winner Liberty Island (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) was deemed to be a career-best performance by the assessors at Timeform. Already rated the best horse in the world, his previous mark of 135 has been raised to 136, which rates him 3lb ahead of G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact (Ire) (Cracksman {GB}), who has recently been retired to Haras de Beaumont. "Equinox...

For the third time in the last six years, the colours of Silk Racing Co. Ltd. were carried to victory in the G1 Japan Cup, this time by the world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) following the dual success of Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) as a 3-year-old in 2018 and again two years later. It was a sixth Group 1 tally on the trot for the beautifully conformed son of the 2016 Japan Cup hero and Group 3 winner Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (King Halo {Jpn}), just...

Having given the race a pass in 2022 after taking a thrilling renewal of the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), Silk Racing Co. Ltd.'s world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) looks to complete that particular double--most recently accomplished by the syndicate's two-time Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in 2020--as the warm favourite in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse. It has been a meticulously managed preparation for the 4-year-old colt with the broad blaze, as his abilities were on display for all to...

Aidan O'Brien's St Leger winner Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) will miss the Japan Cup next weekend due to stiffness. His scheduled run at Tokyo racecourse on November 26 had garnered plenty of interest amongst the locals. Not only was he due to take on the brilliant Equinox, currently rated as the best horse in the world, but Continuous is a son of the popular Japanese stallion Heart's Cry. Heart's Cry was a quality performer in Japan and beat Deep Impact, the sire of O'Brien's dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin,...

The St Leger winner Continuous (Jpn), a son of the late Shadai stallion Heart's Cry (Jpn), is set to return to the land of his birth to take on Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in the Japan Cup on November 26. Fifth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after his Classic success, the colt missed Saturday's Champion S. with a raised temperature. "But he's back fine, he's back cantering again, so the plan with him is to go to the Japan Cup," said trainer Aidan O'Brien on Racing TV. ...

Despite having run out the convincing winner of the G2 Prix Niel, one of Sunday's key Arc trials at Longchamp, the Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) will not run in this year's G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Instead he has potential trips to America and Japan on his agenda, according to Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten, who manages the colt's ownership syndicate Liberty Racing.  "We have decided not to sell him. We've had big offers from all over the world but we have decided to run him....