'Japan Road to KY Derby' Rolls on at Tokyo Racecourse

The third and penultimate leg of the "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby," the Hyacinth Stakes, goes to the post Feb. 20 at Tokyo Racecourse with 14 entries and the certainty a new series leader will emerge from the 1,600-meter (about one mile) event.

Topping the leaderboard halfway through the series are Dry Stout , with 20 points, and Consigliere  with 10. Neither is entered for the Hyacinth. Combustion , third on the chart with eight points, is in the field.

Neither Dry Stout nor Combustion is nominated to the U.S. Triple Crown although they could be supplemented.

Five of the 14 colts in the Hyacinth are Triple Crown nominees. Of those, only one, Geraldo Barows , racked up any points in the first two races of the series. The Sinister Minister colt finished third in the Cattleya Stakes Nov. 27, earning two points. That puts him in a tie for sixth—fourth when counting only Triple Crown nominees.

The Hyacinth awards 30 points to the winner with 12-6-3 points for minor placings. The final race in the series, the Fukuryu Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse March 6, stretches contenders out to 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) and offers points on a 40-16-8-4 scale so the issue remains very much in doubt.

Combustion, a Godolphin colt by Discreet Cat , enters the Hyacinth with a record of two wins and two seconds from four starts, all on the dirt and at four different tracks. He returns to Tokyo where he started his career.

Geraldo Barows, out of the Arch  mare What a Spot , sports one win, two seconds, and the Cattleya third from four trips and makes his 2021 debut.

Several others have promising, albeit limited, résumés.

There is one filly in the field—Sea Vixen , a Kentucky-bred daughter of Into Mischief  , who was bred by Breeze Easy and purchased by Yuji Hasegawa at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale 2-Year-Olds in Training for $500,000 from the Gene Recio consignment. She has one win from six starts but showed promise while finishing second in her 3-year-old debut.

On name appeal alone, it would be interesting to see Blitz Fang, a Hokko Tarumae  colt, take a step toward Louisville. A winner at first asking Jan. 22, he is nominated to the Triple Crown.

While the "Road" series has not had a major impact on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), three Japan-based horses have made it to the Louisville starting gate. In 2016, the year before the Derby-qualifying series started, Lani  finished fifth in the Hyacinth and advanced to an upset win in the UAE Derby Sponsored by The Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2). He reported ninth in the Run for the Roses but then was fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).

In 2019, Master Fencer  finished fourth in the Hyacinth and second in the Fukuryu and became the first graduate of the "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby" to compete in the big race, finishing seventh, placed sixth after the disqualification of Maximum Security  .

The only other Derby runner based in Japan was Ski Captain, who finished 14th in 1995, long before the series started.