Mozu Ascot Upsets Yasuda Kinen

Mozu Ascot, a Kentucky-bred son of Frankel, shot through a seam between Aerolithe and favorite Suave Richard in deep stretch and rallied to an upset victory in the Yasuda Kinen (G1) June 3 at Tokyo Racecourse.

With Christophe Lemaire aboard, Mozu Ascot scored his first top-level victory—a "Win and You're In" guaranteed entry to the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) at Churchill Downs in November—and dispatched not only Japan's most successful milers but also middle-distance grade 1 winner Suave Richard.

The only foreign runner, Hong Kong's Western Express, chased the pace and finished 10th. Real Steel, exiting a third-place finish in the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1) on World Cup night at Meydan, showed little and finished 15th out of 16 in the field.

Mozu Ascot raced toward the back of the pack down the backstretch in the one-mile feature, was blocked and bumped entering the turn, and had to bide his time while climbing the hill through the first part of the stretch.

Aerolithe emerged with the lead 100 meters out, with Suave Richard to his outside, but Lemaire found the spot between them, drove through, and Mozu Ascot finished a neck in front. Aerolithe held second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Suave Richard.

"I didn't have any specific plan before the race," Lemaire said. "The only thing I wanted to do was to have my horse relaxed and to follow a good horse in the straight. I also didn't plan whether to go inside or outside. As a result, the space became narrow, and we were bumped and pushed towards the inside. I didn't want him to lose his balance, so I waited for a clearing and a good horse to follow.

"Once I found a gap, I asked for full power from the horse with my whip, and he responded very well and kept on strongly to the finish line."

Mozu Ascot started his 4-year-old season with three consecutive runner-up efforts in the Hankyu Hai (G3) at 1,400 meters (seven furlongs) in February, the Yomiuri Milers Cup (G2) in April, and the Azuchijo Stakes at 1,400 meters last weekend.

Mozu Ascot was bred by Summer Wind Farm in Georgetown, Ky. Out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Hennessy mare India, he now races for Capital System and trainer Yoshito Yahagi. 

"Of course, being a Frankel colt, there are lots of expectations for bigger titles and later becoming a great sire," Yahagi said. "Many of the fillies sired by Frankel tend to be rather highly strung, but this colt is easy to handle and great to work with."

John Size saddled Western Express, his 10th Yasuda Kinen runner with nary a win to show it.

"We thought that he ran as good as he could, but the horses in the race, they were just too strong for him" Size said. "He stood in the gate quietly, jumped well on the terms of the other horses. He had a nice run in the first section of the race, he was fifth one off the fence, so you couldn't ask for better than that. He committed to make a run and just wasn't strong enough to get up the hill and up to the line."