Tokyo Daishoten

Friday's G1 Tokyo Daishoten marked a first and much-anticipated battle between reigning G1 Dubai World Cup hero Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and the upstart 3-year-old Mick Fire (Jpn) (Sinister Minister), perfect in his seven starts and winner of the unofficial Japan Dirt Triple Crown this past season. The showdown never really materialized, however, as the latter never reached contention after playing up in the stalls, and the odds-on Ushba Tesoro ran down his commonly owner front-runner Wilson Tesoro (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) to successfully defend his title in the...

While the final of the roughly two dozen Group 1 races on the Japan Racing Association was scheduled for Thursday, the Tokyo Daishoten--the only recognized international Group 1 event and pattern race of any variety on the National Association of Racing circuit--takes place Friday afternoon at Ohi Racecourse in the Japanese capital. Under normal circumstances, the discussion of the 2000-metre dirt affair would begin and end with Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), whose victory here 12 months ago catapulted him to future success on the world stage in the G1...

Omega Perfume (Jpn) (Swept Overboard), arguably the best Japanese dirt horse not named Chrysoberyl (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}), has drawn nicely in gate seven of 16 as he goes for a third consecutive victory in Tuesday's G1 Tokyo Daishoten, the final top-level event for 2020 and the lone race at group level held on the National Association of Racing (NAR) circuit. The 5-year-old gray defeated Nonkono Yume (Jpn) (Twining) by a length in defence of his title 12 months ago and won the G3 Keian Hai at Kyoto first off...