He's Apples

TOKYO, Japan–Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) may not have taken up her entry in the G1 Japan Cup, but that didn't stop her raceday rider Hugh Bowman from taking the spoils of that race on Sunday aboard the 5-year-old Cheval Grand (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). Bowman picked up the ride on last year's Japan Cup third after Mirco Demuro opted for the G1 Hong Kong Vase and G1 Takarazuka Kinen victor Satono Crown (Jpn) (Marju {Ire}), and Bowman–who first sat on Cheval Grand in a piece of work on Wednesday–admitted that as the events of the week unfolded, his confidence continually grew.

“He's a very relaxed horse, a very unassuming horse,” Bowman said. “On a Wednesday morning he wouldn't give you the feel of a horse with exceptional talent, but the stable assured me he was much more comfortable on the turf and I only had to watch his replays to get a good understanding of that. I thought last year's Japan Cup was a great guide and the stable thought the horse was in better condition this year.”

Bowman's confidence was further bolstered on Thursday when Cheval Grand landed barrier one.

“I can't express how important the barrier draw was, because it allowed me to be fourth, fifth, sixth with spending no petrol,” he said. “Obviously, Kitasan Black was going to lead and that allowed me to be within two or three lengths of Kitasan Black instead of eight or nine lengths or more.”

As Bowman predicted, it was indeed the defending winner Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}) who took charge from the break, and Bowman kept Cheval Grand on the fence and about three lengths off the favourite first time past the stands. Kitasan Black, in the same spot from which he served up his victory last year, carved out honest but not wicked fractions, with Decipher (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and German raider Guignol (Ger) (Cape Cross {Ire}) shadowing him and One and Only (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Cheval Grand following further back. Kitasan Black's early exertions began to show as they straightened for home, with Yutaka Take going to the whip as Bowman tipped Cheval Grand off the fence and to his outside, with this year's G1 Tokyo Yushun winner Rey de Oro (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) in hot pursuit. Kitasan Black refused to fold until the 100 metre mark, when Cheval Grand at last got his measure, and the chestnut notched his first Group 1 win by 1 1/4 lengths as Rey de Oro nipped Kitasan Black for second. It was four lengths back to Makahiki (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in fourth, and Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) fared the best of the foreign raiders, running on late from the back of the pack to be fifth.

“I thought that the pace may have been a bit quicker but it didn't concern me that it was a steady pace because I was able to stay close to Kitasan Black,” Bowman said. “I was able to move outside the German horse and make my way towards Kitasan Black and for a jockey, when the leading horse is the short favourite, it gives you great confidence. When Yutaka Take increased the speed from the 600 and then again at the 400 metre mark, it gave me great confidence that I was able to judge exactly how fast we were going. At the 300 I felt as though I had so much respect for that horse, and I didn't feel as though I was going to beat him. I knew my horse still had power to give and as we got to the 200 mark it was very clear to me that we were certainly going to beat Kitasan Black, but whether something was going to come from behind and beat me I didn't know at that stage.”

Cheval Grand finished third in last year's Japan Cup three weeks after taking Tokyo's G2 Copa Republica Argentina, and it could have been that the seven-week break he enjoyed before this year's race played an important part in the victory–a number of the Japan Cup's leading contenders, including Kitasan Black and Satono Crown, had prepped four weeks out in the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn, which was contested over a brutally soft track. Cheval Grand opened his 5-year-old campaign with a pair of seconds behind heavyweights Satono Diamond (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Kitasan Black, respectively, in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten on Mar. 19 and the G1 Tenno Sho Spring on Apr. 30, but he dropped back to eighth with a bit of give in the ground in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen on June 25. Cheval Grand was beaten just three-quarters of a length when third after some early traffic skirmishes in the Oct. 9 Kyoto Daishoten, and was not given much attention in the wagering by punters on Sunday.

For trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, it was a second Group 1 win of the year after he saddled Cheval Grand's year-younger half-sister Vivlos (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) to take the G1 Dubai Turf for the same ownership, and Tomomichi stressed that Cheval Grand's campaign this year was focused on achieving a win in either the Japan Cup or the G1 Arima Kinen, which will be the horse's next start on Dec. 24.

“Last year, he was still a little bit tired from his spring campaign into his fall debut but this year he was in great form even after the Kyoto Daishoten, so I had a great amount of confidence for this race,” the trainer said. “Hugh Bowman said after riding him on Wednesday the horse was in great form and that he was very confident and it was a matter only of the draw. After Thursday, after we drew one, the first thing he said today before the race was, 'aren't we lucky, we have a very good draw.'”

Pedigree Notes…

As previously mentioned, Cheval Grand's dam, Halwa Sweet, also provided Tomomichi and owner Kazuhiro Sasaki with this year's G1 Dubai Turf heroine Vivlos, also the winner of last year's G1 Shuka Sho, and the mare has in fact provided connections with three Group 1 winners, her second foal being the G1 Victoria Mile winner Verxina (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Tomomichi said, “when I opened my own yard as a licensed trainer, Halwa Sweet herself was one of my first horses. She herself won five races, and since becoming a broodmare has produced three Grade I winners for me. I feel so grateful for this great dam.”

Halwa Sweet is out of an unraced half-sister to G1 Prix Vermeille winner Mezzo Soprano (Darshaan {GB}). Halwa Sweet is a half-sister to Martinborough (Jpn) and Frere Jacques (Jpn), both Group 3 winners by Deep Impact. Her third dam is the excellent producer Glorious Song, responsible for champion Singspiel and fellow sires Rahy and Rakeen.

Bowman Seals Longines Award…

With the Japan Cup win, Bowman also sealed his first Longines World's Best Jockey Award, which is awarded to the rider who, throughout the year, accumulates the most points in the world's 100 best-rated races. Bowman, the regular rider of Winx who also earned his fourth Sydney jockeys premiership for the 2016/17 season, said, “This has been my most amazing year since I began riding 20 years ago. Obviously my association with Winx, she's a world-famous racehorse and she's the best horse on turf in the world. She hasn't been beaten in 22 runs, 15 at Group 1 level, so she's a very special equine athlete and she's certainly taken my career to new level, but I've also been the regular rider of a horse called Werther, who was Hong Kong's Horse of the Year in 2016 and he's provided me with two Group 1 wins this year. I also rode Lucky Bubbles to win in Hong Kong, the Chairman's Sprint Prize.”

Bowman was humble in accepting praise.

“It's a great honor, but the reality is being a jockey isn't like being a golfer or a tennis player,” he said. “I don't really feel like you can take the top five or 10% of jockeys around the world and say one is much better than the other. It's circumstantial, the horses you're riding and the conditions you're riding in. I take great pride in the fact that I've been able to achieve success in different parts of the world, but I don't think that makes me a better jockey than the people I'm riding against. I might have better opportunities, but you only get the opportunities if you give yourself the chance to get them.”

Sunday, Tokyo, Japan
JAPAN CUP-G1, ¥575,220,000, Tokyo, 11-26, 3yo/up, 2400mT, 2:23.70, fm.
1–CHEVAL GRAND (JPN), 126, h, 5, by Heart's Cry (Jpn)
1st Dam: Halwa Sweet (Jpn), by Machiavellian
2nd Dam: Halwa Song, by Nureyev
3rd Dam: Morn of Song, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Kazuhiro Sasaki; B-Northern Farm;
T-Yasuo Tomomichi; J-Hugh Bowman; ¥303,654,000. Lifetime
Record: 22-7-5-5. *1/2 to Verxina (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}),
G1SW-Jpn, $5,209,490; and Vivlos (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}),
G1SW-Jpn & UAE, $5,128,964. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Rey de Oro (Jpn), 121, c, 3 King Kamehameha (Jpn)–La
Dorada (Jpn), by Symboli Kris S. O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern
Farm; ¥121,044,000.
3–Kitasan Black (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Black Tide (Jpn)–Sugar Heart
(Jpn), by Sakura Bakushin-Oh (Jpn). O-Ono Shoji Inc;
B-Yanagawa Farm; ¥75,522,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, NK, 4. Odds: 12. 30, 2.80, 1.10.
Also Ran: Makahiki (Jpn), Idaho (Ire), Rainbow Line (Jpn), Soul Stirring (Jpn), Yamakatsu Ace (Jpn), Guignol (Ger), Satono Crown (Jpn), Sciacchetra (Jpn), Sounds of Earth (Jpn), Boom Time (Aus) & Last Impact (Jpn) (DH), Iquitos (Ger), One and Only (Jpn), Decipher (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart and video. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.