NHK Mile Marks Important Step for Japan's 3-Year-Olds

The scramble that is Japan's 3-year-old division retreats to Tokyo Racecourse May 9 for the NHK Mile Cup (G1) with a pair of foreign-bred horses featuring prominently.

The lack of dominance in the division is reflected by the 25 nominations for the 18 spots in the starting gate—even though all 18 initially were taken by horses that had earned their way in through trials or bankrolls.

The foreign-breds are Schnell Meister (Kingman ), and Shock Action (Gleneagles ). Either would be the first non-Japanese-bred winner in 20 years.

Schnell Meister won his first two starts, then finished second to Titleholder in the Hochi Hai Yayoi Sho Deep Impact Kinen (G2) when asked to tackle 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles). Shock Action had two back-to-back wins but then turned in two dismal efforts.

Schnell Meister's trainer, Takahisa Tezuka, said his charge is "looking like a grade 1 horse now and I'm looking forward to the race." Shock Action's trainer, Ryuji Okubo, said he's looking for improvement in that colt's pre-race behavior.

"He's quiet in the saddling enclosure, but once into the pre-parade ring, he starts getting worked up until it's pretty bad," Okubo said. "Then he can't race balanced. When he was a 2-year-old, his potential made up for that but this is a problem that has to be cleared up."

That duo will contend with plenty of locally bred talent, starting with Grenadier Guards. Although bred in Japan, he's by Frankel  out of the Harlington  mare Wavell Avenue . Campaigned by Sunday Racing Co. Ltd, Grenadier Guards won the Asahi Hai Futurity (G1) to wrap up his 2-year-old season but trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida said he, too, has temperament issues.

"He's much improved from last year," Nakauchida said of Grenadier Guards. "He's a Frankel colt and he gets excited so the biggest point of concern is having him run balanced."

Rooks Nest defeated Grenadier Guards by a head in the Chunichi Sports Sho Falcon Stakes (G3) at Chukyo March 20 and returns for this test. Rooks Nest is one of two in this field by freshman sire Maurice , the other being grade 3 winner Pixie Knight, most recently fourth in the Arlington Cup (G3).

The top three from that 1,600-meter race, run on yielding sod at Hanshin—Ho O Amazon, Rickenbacher, and Raymond Barows—all are set to contest the Mile Cup. Yutaka Take, back from an injury, is slated to ride Ho O Amazon for the first time.

Land of Liberty, a Deep Impact  colt who has used a variety of frustrating tactics to lose big races, will be put to another test. Racing for Teryuda Yoshida, he has at various times dwelt badly before closing with a rush, bolted to the outside rail turning for home, and faded through the final meters to miss the frame—all the while being dispatched as the favorite or second-favorite in each of his races.

"If he can settle well and get a good trip, I think he'll run solidly to the end," said Land of Liberty's ever-hopeful trainer Yuichi Shikato. "If he gives it all he has, he'll measure up amid this field."

The NHK Mile can have implications for longer events around the globe. King Kamehameha  went from victory in this event to taking out the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby-G1) at 1 1/2 miles just three weeks later. He went on to a spectacular career at stud with progeny including stellar sprint champion Lord Kanaloa  who, in turn, sired the equally spectacular mare Almond Eye , winner of the 2020 Japan Cup.