Japan Cup Preview: A Prestigious Race with a Rich Tradition

Late November brings the Japan Cup to racing fans, with the 44th running of the 2,400-meter Grade 1 turf event set for Sunday afternoon, November 24. Fourteen horses are set to go to the gate.

The international invitational has morphed from an event to bring the world to Japan to one that has helped bring Japan to the world. However, although the race was pivotal in raising Japan's competitiveness on the world stage, the race itself has lost much of its international flavor. Japan has monopolized the winner's circle for 18 years straight. Some years, the race attracts no runners from abroad.

That's not the case this time. Three competitors have jetted in from abroad and 2024 could be the year the money jets back with them. If it does, it's going to be a lot of money. All three candidates are eligible for the incentive bonuses (as winners of designated overseas races). The top prize is an extra $3 million USD (¥465 million JPY) on top of the Japan Cup's first-place prize of ¥500 million (over $3.5 million).

Keep an Eye on Auguste Rodin, Goliath and Fantastic Moon

Headlining the three from abroad is the Irish-bred, six-time G1 champion Auguste Rodin, who won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot in June 2024 securing his eligibility for the Japan Cup bonuses. France fields Goliath, the winner of this year's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. And Germany brings 2024's Grosser Preis von Baden champion Fantastic Moon to the racecourse.

Meanwhile, Japan lost 2023 Japan Cup runner-up Liberty Island to the Hong Kong Internationals in early December, meaning she'll skip Sunday's big race in Tokyo.

But October's Tenno Sho champ Do Deuce, 2024 double classic winner Cervinia, 2023 Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Justin Palace, double G1 winner Stars on Earth and seven others will go to the gate Sunday, gunning to keep the big money at home.

Do Deuce Vies for His 3rd G1 Win

The 5-year-old Do Deuce has been running at the top level for his last seven races. In his last time out on October 27 at the Tenno Sho (Autumn), he scooped his second G1 victory. He clinched the top prize with a late drive from behind and a final three-furlong time of 32.5 seconds (the top time of the field by half a second) over the grueling Tokyo stretch. 

Do Deuce not only marked his fourth career G1 win, he also became only the seventh horse in JRA history to win a Grade 1 event four years in a row. Now he heads into the Japan Cup for the second time. 

In 2023, he placed fourth, finishing 5¾ lengths behind the winner, Equinox. Among those horses returning this year, only one, Stars on Earth, was ahead of him in the '23 Japan Cup, by 3/4th of a length. 

In 2023, after regular rider Yutaka Take was injured on the day of the Tenno Sho (Autumn), Keita Tosaki replaced him in both the Tenno Sho and the Japan Cup. 

Take and Do Deuce Seek to Recapture Winning Form

On Sunday, Take, a four-time Japan Cup winner, is scheduled to ride Do Deuce, hoping to repeat their victorious form over Tokyo's 2,400 meters in the 2022 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). 

Do Deuce's sire, Heart's Cry, tried three times to land the Japan Cup (placing 10th, second and 10th, respectively). He missed the win by a mere nose to foreign raider Alkaased in 2005. 

Do Deuce will be attempting to become the seventh horse since 1984 ― when Japan initiated the graded-race system ー to go from the Tenno Sho winner's circle to the Japan Cup's winner's circle. 

Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, who holds the record among current trainers for most appearances in the Japan Cup, has one win in the race, with Cheval Grand in 2017.

Cervinia Looks Poised to Be a Title Contender 

Thought to present Do Deuce's biggest threat is the filly Cervinia, a Harbinger-sired 3-year-old fresh off a win in the fillies' G1 Shuka Sho on October 13. 

On May 19, Cervinia collected her maiden G1 victory in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), which she won over 2,400 meters at Tokyo with a time 0.3 seconds faster than the winning time of this year's Japanese Derby. 

Admittedly, her times are slower than those Do Deuce has clocked. Also, this will be only her second time up against males, and her first against older males. But, Cervinia will enjoy a weight allowance of 4 kg lighter than the top weight of 58 kg.

She'll also have an ace in her pocket with Christophe Lemaire in the saddle. The French jockey has ridden all but one of her six career starts and has had a tremendous year. He's way out in front in the jockey rankings, 32 wins ahead of No 2 Yuga Kawada. Since the beginning of September alone, he's bagged eight graded wins, including two Grade 1s.

Lemaire in Pursuit of Japan Cup History

Lemaire is tied with Take for the most Japan Cup wins (four). Having triumphed aboard Equinox in 2023, two in a row would normally present the harder feat. 

Only one jockey, Yasunari Iwata, in 2011 and '12 with Buena Vista and Gentildonna, has won back-to-back Japan Cups.

In the Japan Cup's 44-year history, only two horses have won the race with a mere six starts behind them. And only seven 3-year-olds have won the race. Of those, only two were fillies. Gentildonna, who achieved the feat in 2012 and then repeated as winner in 2013, and Almond Eye (2018).

Auguste Rodin Brings Impressive Credentials to Tokyo

The Ireland-born, Ireland-based, Aidan O'Brien-trained Auguste Rodin is a 4-year-old colt by Deep Impact out of the Galileo mare Rhododendron. On Sunday, he'll become the first foreign-based Deep Impact progeny to participate in a JRA race. 

Auguste Rodin comes to the table with an impressive resume including six G1 victories (the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby among them). Most recently, he missed winning his second Grade 1 Irish Champions Stakes in a row (2,000 meters, Leopardstown) when he trailed winner Economics by a neck. (Japan's Shin Emperor followed in third, a further 3/4 lengths adrift.) 

In 2024, Auguste Rodin has only added one top-level triumph, the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot. It followed his earlier five, scored over the previous two years in England, Ireland and the United States (2023 Breeders' Cup Turf) over distances from 1,400 to 2,400 meters. 

If Auguste Rodin can win, he'll become only the second Ireland-based runner to do so, after the mare Stanerra in 1983. 

Jockey Ryan Moore, who has won two Japan Cups (2013, 2022,) is set to saddle up for the high-stakes race. 

Trainer Aidan O'Brien claims Auguste Rodin's fifth-place finish in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1, 2,390 meters) at Ascot two starts ago was due to the ground being much softer than the official "good to firm." However, he expects the colt to take well to the fast ground likely at Tokyo on Sunday.

Read the rest of this article about the Japan Cup and the Japanese horses in contention on JRA News.

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Author: JRA News