Maurice, Contentment Work for Yasuda

Reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) and Contentment (Aus) (Hussonet), most recently first and second, respectively, in the G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin, May 1, are set to meet for the third time overall in Sunday's G1 Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo Racecourse.

The 5-year-old Maurice entered last year's Yasuda Kinen as a horse on the rise and announced his arrival really and truly with narrow success while stopping the clock in 1:32 flat. He has since run his winning streak to seven on the bounce, as he belied six months of inactivity with a comfortable defeat of Contentment in the Champions Mile. Rumors had been flying earlier this week that Maurice was at something short of his peak heading into his title defence this weekend, but he capped off a 1000-metre workout Thursday with a final furlong in :12.4 to the satisfaction of his connections.

“We did five furlongs and drove a little more in the last three furlongs,” said Masanori Watanabe, assistant to trainer Noriyuki Hori. “We didn't want to do too much and I think it worked out just as we imagined. If we had another week he'd be 100% percent; as it is he's around 80 to 90%; if we had one more week I think he would be at the peak of his form, but I'm sure that he will give a hell of a performance this Sunday, nevertheless.”

Contentment will attempt to become the third Hong Kong-based winner of the Yasuda Kinen and first since Bullish Luck (Royal Academy) in 2006. Trainer John Size, who sent out Armada (NZ) (Towkay {Aus}) to a runner-up effort behind the supermare Vodka (Jpn) (Tanino Gimlet {Jpn}) in the 2008 Yasuda Kinen, announced himself satisfied with what he saw Thursday morning, albeit after some concern earlier in the week.

“He's done very good,” Size said. “When he first arrived in quarantine he lost a little bit of weight and he looked like he would take some time, but Wednesday morning here at Tokyo racecourse he looked very good. I came to see him on Tuesday afternoon and he looked a bit quiet, then Wednesday morning he was very bright, keen to get out of the box and do some work, so I 've taken a bit of heart from that. Since then he's eaten well and drank well and I think he's maintained his level of fitness.”