Euros Inside and Out After Japan Cup Draw

The barrier draw did nothing to hurt the chances of the already strong home team for the Nov. 30 Japan Cup in association with Longines (Jpn-I) as the European runners drew gates 2 and 18.

 

For the locals, the news generally was better following the selection of starting posts for the field of 18 at Tokyo Race Course.

 

Two-time winner Gentildonna got post 3. The 3-year-old filly Harp Star, who finished sixth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) in her last start, got gate 6. And last year's runner-up to Gentildonna, Denim and Ruby, will start from the No. 8 stall.

 

The draw wasn't a total washout for the visitors, though, as Canada's Up With the Birds was installed in post 7, giving jockey Eurico Da Silva options for the 2,400-meters turf race, run left-handed around the Tokyo oval.

Just a Way, winner of the Dubai Duty Free (UAE-I) in March, was the unlucky local and will have to chart a course from the inside post, while multiple Japanese group I winner Fenomeno will break from the 16 gate.

 

The Japan Cup usually is run at a good clip over good to firm ground, requiring consideration for early placement. Gentildonna won last year from gate 7 with a good late effort and in 2012 from the post 15 stall.

 

Kevin Manning, set to ride Irish Derby (Ire-I) Trading Leather Sunday, said before postions were set that his mount "is a very straightforward horse" but that positioning him early in the race "will depend on the draw." He got the No. 18 gate.

 

Of more concern, Manning said, is the condition of the track. "He hasn't had quick ground in any of his starts this year," he said, although the going was listed as either "good" or "good to firm" in each of his three starts including a third to The Grey Gatsby and Australia in the Irish Champion Stakes (Ire-I) in September.

 

Tokyo had a soaking rain on Nov. 26, but Manning said when he rode the course the following morning, he found "good ground" and even downplayed the potential for more rain before the race. "I don't think that's going to change the ground, to be quite honest," the rider said.

 

Trading Leather, an Irish-bred colt by Teofilo, is owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by James Bolger.

 

Germany's entrant, Ivanhowe, by contrast, would like more give to the ground as he starts from the post 2, said trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho. "A soft track is better for him so I'm hoping for some rain before Sunday," he said.

 

Ivanhowe won two group I events in Germany this year—the Grosser Preis von Baden in September and the Grosser Preis von Bayern Nov. 1—but finished 18th in the Arc. The Soldier Hollow colt will have Filip Minarik in the irons.

 

Up With the Birds won the Nijinsky Stakes (Can-IIT) at Woodbine this summer and finished second on yielding ground in the Knickerbocker Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Belmont Park in his last start.

 

Da Silva said Up With the Birds is unlikely to contest the early pace. "I always leave it up to him. He's a very smart horse and where he's happy is where he will be."

 

Up With the Birds, a Stormy Atlantic   colt, is a Sam-Son Farm homebred.

 

A good showing Sunday would be a boost for Japanese racing after three of their top runners failed to make an impact in the Arc and stayer Admire Rakti collapsed and died after finishing last in the Melbourne Cup (Aus-I) earlier this month. It also would be a springboard for a large contingent of Japanese horses headed for the Longines Hong Kong International races at Sha Tin in two weeks' time.

 

Gentildonna would be the first horse to win three straight runnings of the Japan Cup and will have the services of Ryan Moore, who guided her to victory last year and again this spring in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I).

 

Just a Way went to the Arc off a four-month layoff and will need a rebound from that effort. Before that loss, however, he won four straight races, including one over Gentildonna.

 

Harp Star, winner of the 2013 Oka Sho (Jpn-I), the Japanese equivalent of the One Thousand Guineas, will make her ninth career start seeking her sixth win.

 

Gentildonna, Harp Star and Denim and Ruby all are by the Japanese sire Deep Impact, as are two others in the field, Spielberg and Decipher.

For the complete Japan Cup barrier draw, see http://japanracing.jp/en/index.html.