Indy Champ Earns BC Mile Berth in Yasuda Kinen

Silk Racing's Indy Champ rallied by pacesetting Aerolithe in the final strides to win the Yasuda Kinen (G1) June 2 at Tokyo Racecourse, setting a track record while also earning a berth into the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) in November.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge series, Breeders' Cup will pay entry fees for Indy Champ to start in the Mile. It will also provide a $40,000 travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. 

Heavy favorite Almond Eye could not overcome traffic issues and settled for a late-running third.

Trained by Hidetaka Otonashi, Indy Champ, a 4-year-old son of Stay Gold, was making his first start at the grade 1 level and broke well in the one-mile Yasuda Kinen, taking station in fourth behind Aerolithe, who set a brisk pace.

As the field turned into the uphill climb at the top of the stretch in front of a crowd of 74,008 in cloudy weather, Indy Champ briefly lacked running room and appeared to bump briefly with Mozu Ascot before finding daylight. Once clear, Indy Champ and jockey Yuichi Fukunaga closed sharply outside Aerolithe, completing the mile in 1:30.9 over a firm course and lowering by 0.4 seconds the course record set by Strong Return, also under Fukunaga, in the 2012 Yasuda Kinen. 

After a poor start, Almond Eye and jockey Christophe Lemaire were bottled up well back with 300 meters to run. When the 4-year-old Lord Kanaloa filly finally found a clear path, she closed with her trademark rush but ran out of track, finishing a nose behind Aerolithe. It was her first time running as short as a mile since the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas, G1) in April 2018.

Indy Champ and Almond Eye are both owned by Silk Racing.

"He was tuned up well, was in great shape, and had a good draw," Fukunaga said. "I just tried hard not to miss our break. He tends to get distracted when he's up front, so I kept him off the pace. We were up against fierce competition, but I believed he had a good chance as long as I didn't make any mistakes, and he certainly responded beautifully to our expectations."

Indy Champ came into the Yasuda Kinen with five wins from nine starts. Only one of those victories came in a group stakes—the Feb. 3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai (G3) over the same course and distance. He finished fourth in the April 21 Yomiuri Milers Cup (G2) at Kyoto.

Almond Eye, by contrast, saw a seven-race winning streak go by the boards. That stretch included the 2018 Japan Triple Tiara for fillies, the Japan Cup (G1), and the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1) on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan.

After the Dubai trip, Almond Eye's connections reported her "dehydrated and leg weary" from the travel. Although she appeared to have overcome the effects of the long trip, the one mile of Tokyo traffic proved too much.

Aerolithe, a 5-year-old Kurofune mare, also finished second in last year's Yasuda Kinen and ninth in the Jan. 26 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Gulfstream Park. The Yasuda Kinen second choice, Danon Premium, beaten only once in seven previous starts, tired to finish last of 16.

The Yasuda Kinen was the fourth Breeders' Cup Mile "Win and You're In" race to be run on the fourth continent this year. Do It Again won the Jan. 5 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate (G1) at Kenilworth in South Africa to earn the first automatic Mile berth of 2019. The 4-year-old homebred Tamburo Di Oro won the May 26 Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella (G1) in Santiago, Chile, and the 5-year-old Bolo won the May 27 Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.