Iron Barows (Jpn)

by Alan Carasso, Heather Anderson & Jill Williams Following the Thursday scratching of Meisho Hario (Jpn) (Pyro), Japan is left with a team of four as they look for back-to-back victories in the world's richest horserace, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. After fielding five starters in the first three runnings of the 1800-metre contest--a pair of sixth-place efforts were the best they could do--no fewer than a half-dozen jetted in from the Land of the Rising Sun 12 months ago, and the results were...

Hiroshi Yamada's Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) looms large in Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) at Kyoto. The accomplished 5-year-old entire, if he defends his crown in the 3200-metre affair, will be the sixth horse to pull off the double in consecutive years. Successful in the 3000-metre G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) as a 3-year-old, the versatile bay added the 2022 edition of this race and the G1 Takarazuka Kinen, cutting back 1000 metres, last June. An attempt at the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in boggy ground was...

A full field of 18 line up for Sunday's ¥380,000,000 G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) at Hanshin. Leading the charge in the 3200-metre feature, one of the most lucrative staying contests on the planet, is Deep Bond (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}). Still hunting for his first Group 1 win, the 5-year-old has won two editions of the G2 Hanshin Daishoten, and even took his show on the road last year, with a victory in the G2 Prix Foy at ParisLongchamp. He detested the heavy going in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de...