La Perouse Takes Lead on Japan Road to Kentucky Derby
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Photo: Courtesy of Japan Racing Association
La Perouse wins the Hyacinth Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse
La Perouse jumped to the lead in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby with a late-running victory Feb. 21 in the Hyacinth Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse.
The win earned the colt 30 points on the Churchill Downs leaderboard, vaulting him ahead of the winners of the first two races in the series, Alain Barows and Lemon Pop, neither of whom contested the Hyacinth.
La Perouse's prospects looked dim through much of the 1,600 meters (about one mile) of the Hyacinth. The Pelusa colt missed the break as the race commenced on the edge of the turf course and trailed most of the field down the dirt backstretch.
Turning for home, jockey Christophe Lemaire had La Perouse on the shortest course along the rail but still near the back of the field with 100-1 longshot Probatio leading the way. La Perouse made quick progress when shown daylight and got by that rival with some 150 meters to go, winning by 1 1/2 lengths.
Probatio, a Transcend colt, held second. Ladybug was third, best of three fillies in the race. Ladybug now has two wins and a second from three starts. La Perouse finished in 1:36.80 over a fast track.
La Perouse, trained by Kazuo Fujisawa for his owner-breeder Nobutaka Tada, is out of the Empire Maker mare Hat Shite Good. He won three of his last four starts as a 2-year-old, winding up with a victory at Nakayama Racecourse going 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles).
He was the only United States Triple Crown nominee in the 12-horse Hyacinth field. Lemon Pop, a Lemon Drop Kid colt who won the Cattleya Sho over the same course Nov. 28, and Alain Barows, a Henny Hughes colt who won the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun Dec. 16 at Kawasaki Racecourse, also are Triple Crown-nominated.
The issue will be decided in the final leg of the series, the Fukuryu Stakes on March 27 at Nakayama Racecourse. That event awards 40 points to the winner with 16, eight, and four points to the minor place-getters.
The 2020 renewal of the Hyacinth was won by Café Pharoah, who stepped up to win the February Stakes (G1) over the same course two races after La Perouse's triumph.
The series, as is the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, is run separately from the main competition that includes U.S. races and the UAE Derby Sponsored by Emirates NBD (G1). While neither of the overseas competitions has produced a winner at Churchill Downs, they have had an impact on the Triple Crown.
Master Fencer emerged from the 2018-19 competition, finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and placed sixth after the disqualification of Maximum Security . Lani, the winner of the 2015 Cattleya Sho, was unplaced in both the 2016 Derby and the Preakness Stakes (G1) but finished third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).