Japan

Sent off the $2.30 (13-10) favorite to make the necessary improvement off a debut third at Hanshin in late June, Aguri (Jpn) (Caravaggio) became the first Japanese winner and 22nd winner overall for leading freshman sire (by Scat Daddy) with a facile victory in a one-mile maiden over the turf at Tokyo Racecourse Saturday afternoon. Drawn the middle of the gate in a field of 13, the gray colt took up a forward position beneath jockey Yuga Kawada, settling just off the pacesetter behind modest early sectionals. Maintaining that stalking...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The 3-year-old fillies' Classics concluded with last weekend's G1 Shuka Sho and 3-year-old males get their final chance at Classics glory in Sunday's G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at Hanshin. A full field of 17...

Coolmore America's successful first-crop sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief) was represented by his first Japanese winner and 15th overall when Dugat validated even-money favoritism in a 1200-meter turf maiden Saturday afternoon at Hanshin Racecourse. Bred in Kentucky by Erv Woolsey and Ralph Kinder, the son of the mutiple stakes-placed Untraveled (Canadian Frontier) was knocked down to trainer Hideyuki Mori for $190,000 from the McKathan Bros. draft at this year's OBS March Sale after the Mar. 31 foal breezed an eighth of a mile in the bullet time of :9 4/5....

Sunday's final leg of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown, the G1 Shuka Sho, looms a championship event and serves as a rubber match between the winners of the first two races in the series--Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune), the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) victress and Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}), who took out the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)--over a 2000-metre distance that is a quarter-mile longer than the Guineas and two furlongs shorter than the Oaks. Sodashi, a white filly just like her extremely popular dam Buchiko (Jpn) (King...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Niigata, Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The last mentioned is the site of Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho, featuring G1 Oka Sho (1600mT) heroine Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune) against Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}), the G1 Yushun Himba (2400mT) winner, squaring off over...

Trainer Hideyuki Mori will send four Japanese-based American-bred horses under his care to the Breeders' Cup, according to the Daily Sports newspaper, including 2-year-old colt Jasper Great (Arrogate), who became the first Japanese winner for his late sire (by Unbridled's Song) with a victory over the past weekend. Mori has become an active buyer at American bloodstock sales and acquired Jasper Great for $200,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase. The half-brother to GISW Power Broker (Pulpit) and SW Fierce Boots (Tiznow) was sent off at debut odds of...

The first two across the line in a thrilling renewal of this summer's GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S. will face off once more in a seven-horse renewal of the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. over 1 1/2 miles on the Belmont turf Saturday. Otter Bend Stables' Gufo (Declaration of War) has yet to be out of the trifecta in 12 career outings and picked up stakes scores in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S., GIII Kent S. and English Channel S. last year as a sophomore to...

Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief--White Pants Night, by Speightstown), the romping 5 1/2-length winner of this year's GI Carter H. at Aqueduct, will enter stud in 2022 at the Shizunai Stallion Station on the island of Hokkaido, according to a release from the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association (JBBA). Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Mischevious Alex was a $75,000 Keeneland September yearling and was acquired privately by Charles Zacney's Cash Is King LLC after failing to meet his reserve at $140,000 at OBS April in 2019. A debut winner at Parx...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Tokyo Racecourses. While no Group 1 racing is scheduled for the weekend, 'TDN Rising Star' Command Line (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}--Condo Commando) makes a much-anticipate second trip to the races in Saturday's G2 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup (1800mT)...

A diverse field of 16 short-track specialists converges on Nakayama Racecourse Sunday as Japanese Group 1 racing emerges from a three-month hiatus in the 1200-metre Sprinters' S. Koji Maeda's Gendarme (Kitten's Joy) was a Group 2 winner over a mile and Group 1-placed going 10 furlongs at two, but has gone through a renaissance of sorts since being cut back to distances between six and seven panels about this time last year. A listed winner at Niigata at seven-eighths last October, the homebred son of 2002 Sprinters' heroine Believe (Jpn)...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Chukyo and Nakayama Racecourses. A trio of American-bred runners takes their place in a field of 18 for Sunday's Sprinters' S. at the latter venue as Group 1 racing returns to Japan for the first time since late June: Saturday,...

The once-beaten Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and reigning G1 Tokyo Yushun hero Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) each return to begin their autumn preps in Group 2 events Sunday in Japan. Carrot Racing's Lei Papale worked her way through the grades in under-the-radar fashion, missing the 3-year-old filly Classics while running the table in five starts, including a breakthrough success at group level as the lone female in a field of 11 in the G3 Challenge Cup at Hanshin last December. Connections could scarcely have selected a more...