RESULT of the 38TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1) Japanese Horse Racing, Which Is Influenced by British Racing, Is Held Mainly on Turf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FROM: Media & Publicity Department, THE JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION (JRA) DATE: February 21, 2021 SUBJECT: RESULT OF THE 38TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1) Japanese horse racing, which is influenced by British racing, is held mainly on turf. However, dirt tracks that were popular in the U.S., quickly became widely used around the country since the Tokyo Racecourse implemented a new dirt track in 1960. While the mainstream of major JRA races remained over turf, the February Stakes (then called February Handicap), which was established in 1984 in conjunction with the new grading system, was one of just three graded dirt races at the time—the current number of graded dirt events is 15. The race was upgraded to G2 in 1994 and then to G1 in 1997, and stood as the highest-prized event until the Japan Cup Dirt (called the Champions Cup from 2014) took over in 2000. The race also joined the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2016, enabling its winners to earn automatic starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1, dirt, 2,000m). Past winners include Wing Arrow (JPN, by Assatis; ’00), Agnes Digital (USA, by Crafty Prospector; ’02), Gold Allure (JPN, by Sunday Silence; ’03), Admire Don (JPN, by Timber Country; ’04), Kane Hekili (JPN, by Fuji Kiseki; ’06), Vermilion (JPN, by El Condor Pasa; ’08), Espoir City (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’10), Transcend (JPN, by Wild Rush; ’11), Copano Rickey (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’14&’15) and Gold Dream (JPN, by Gold Allure; ’17)—all ten are winners of multiple-G1 races as well as JRA Award winners. Last year’s victor Mozu Ascot (USA, by Frankel) retired from racing at the end of the season after finishing fifth in the Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m, Dec.6). Held without any spectators from January, the season’s first JRA-G1 event included 2019 champion Inti who came off a disappointing 12th in the one of main prep races, the Tokai Stakes (G2, dirt, 1,800m, Jan.24), in which Auvergne won the race while notching his first graded title. In another prep, the Negishi Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,400m, Jan.31), Red le Zele also scored his first grade-race win and was followed by Wonder Lider in second with last year’s Mile Championship Nambu Hai (dirt, 1,600m) victor Arctos in fourth. Other key runners coming straight off their Champions Cup challenges were Cafe Pharoah (6th) and Sunrise Nova (12th) who finished third in last year’s February Stakes. The field also included Wide Pharaoh, winner of 2020 Kashiwa Kinen (dirt, 1,600m) and Soliste Thunder who recently marked a win in the Moji Stakes (dirt, 1,700m, Jan.17). THE 38TH FEBRUARY STAKES (G1) 4-year-olds & up, 1,600 meters (about 8 furlongs), dirt, left-handed Sunday, February 21, 2021 Tokyo Racecourse 11th Race Post time: 15:40 Total prize money: ¥ 216,000,000 (about US$ 2,058,000 <US$1=¥105>) 4-y-o & up: 57kg (about 126 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares, 1 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2017 Course Record: 1:33.8 Race Record: 1:34.0 [Moanin (USA, by Henny Hughes), 2016] Safety factor: 16 runners Going: Standard Weather: Fine S&A Sire Owner Horse Odds Margin FP BK PP Color Dam Breeder Jockey (Fav) (L3F) Wgt (Dam’s Sire) Trainer C4 American Pharoah Koichi Nishikawa Cafe Pharoah (USA) 3.3 1:34.4 1 2 3 b. Mary's Follies Paul P. Pompa Christophe Lemaire (1) (35.6) 57.0 (More Than Ready) Noriyuki Hori H8 King Kamehameha Lucky Field Co., Ltd. Air Spinel (JPN) 28.0 3/4 2 5 10 ch. Air Messiah Tsunebumi Yoshihara Katsuma Sameshima (9) (35.2) 57.0 (Sunday Silence) Kazuhide Sasada H8 Statue of Liberty Yoshinari Yamamoto 7 Wonder Lider (JPN) 19.3 1-3/4 3 4 b. Astrea Peace Oshima Bokujo B Norihiro Yokoyama (8) (35.7) 57.0 (Mayano Top Gun) Shogo Yasuda H5 Lord Kanaloa TokyoHorseRacing Co. Ltd Red le Zele (JPN) 6.0 1/2 4 8 16 b. French Noir Shadai Farm Yuga Kawada (3) (35.5) 57.0 (French Deputy) Takayuki Yasuda H6 Majestic Warrior Lucky Field Co., Ltd. Air Almas (USA) 37.1 1-1/4 Sekie Yoshihara 5 1 1 b. Nokaze Kohei Matsuyama (10) (36.6) & Tsunebumi Yoshihara 57.0 (Empire Maker) Manabu Ikezoe H7 Came Home Shigeo Takeda Inti (JPN) 17.5 Neck 6 1 2 ch. Kitty Shigeo Takeda Yutaka Take (7) (35.5) 57.0 (Northern Afleet) Kenji Nonaka H5 Pyro Jotaro Ishise Mutually (JPN) 120.1 1-1/4 7 8 15 g. God Beloved Me Teppei Yoshizumi Norifumi Mikamoto (13) (35.6) 57.0 (Brian's Time) Yoshiyuki Yano H6 Toby's Corner M.Murakami Soliste Thunder (JPN) 11.0 Neck 8 7 13 d.b. Love So Sweet Murata Bokujo Hiroshi Kitamura (5) (35.9) 57.0 (Special Week) Daisuke Takayanagi H6 Admire Aura Koichiro Yamaguchi Arctos (JPN) 4.7 1-1/4 9 3 6 b. Hoshini Inorio Suzaki Bokujo Hironobu Tanabe (2) (36.6) 57.0 (Symboli Kris S) Toru Kurita M7 Sinister Minister H.Doi Yamanin Imprime (JPN) 187.7 Neck 10 6 12 b. Yamanin Ellipse Hajime Doi Takeshi Yokoyama (14) (36.4) 55.0 (Sunday Silence) Kodai Hasegawa H7 Gold Allure Takao Matsuoka Sunrise Nova (JPN) 6.0 3/4 11 5 9 ch. Bright Sapphire Yanagawa Bokujo Fuma Matsuwaka (4) (35.9) 57.0 (Thunder Gulch) Hidetaka Otonashi H7 Empire Maker Toru Okawa Smart Dandy (JPN) 313.3 2 12 6 11 b. Smart Ocean Smart Project Incorporated Shinichiro Akiyama (16) (36.7) 57.0 (Mr. Greeley) Mamoru Ishibashi H5 Smart Falcon Tadakuni Sugiyama Auvergne (JPN) 11.8 3 13 7 14 b. Guyenne Tadakuni Sugiyama Genki Maruyama (6) (37.5) 57.0 (Tanino Gimlet) Masayuki Nishimura H5 Henny Hughes Masanobu Habata Wide Pharaoh (JPN) 41.0 1 14 4 8 ch. Wide Sapphire Masanobu Habata Yuichi Fukunaga (11) (38.2) 57.0 (Agnes Tachyon) Katsuhiko Sumii H7 Kinshasa no Kiseki Tetsu Takashima Success Energy (JPN) 228.6 2-1/2 15 3 5 d.b. Success Ai Ni Tetsu Takashima Manabu Sakai (15) (37.5) 57.0 (Jungle Pocket) Yoshihito Kitade G5 Orfevre Kuwata Farm Co., Ltd. 4 Helios (JPN) 48.6 4 16 2 d.b. Ange Chouette Kuwata Bokujo B Mirco Demuro (12) (38.7) 57.0 (French Deputy) Ryo Terashima FP: Final Position / BK: Bracket Number / PP: Post Position / B: Blinker / S&A: Sex & Age / Wgt: Weight (kg) / L3F: Time of Last 3 Furlongs (600m) Color: b.=bay / bl.=black / br.=brown / ch.=chestnut / d.b.=dark bay / d.ch.=dark chestnut / g.=gray / w.=white NOTE 1: No Foreign Contenders NOTE 2: Figures quoted under Odds are shown in form of decimal odds (single unit is ¥100), and Fav indicates the order of favorites. Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 13,288,942,400 Turnover for the Day: ¥ 22,972,279,600 Pay-off (for ¥100) Win No.3 ¥ 330 Bracket Quinella 2-5 ¥ 980 Quinella 3-10 ¥ 6,620 No.3 ¥ 180 3-10 ¥ 2,130 Exacta 3-10 ¥ 9,300 Place No.10 ¥ 510Quinella Place 3-7 ¥ 1,560 Trio 3-7-10 ¥ 24,940 No.7 ¥ 400 7-10 ¥ 3,620 Trifecta 3-10-7 ¥ 101,710 Winner= 7 starts, 5 wins / Added money: ¥ 103,360,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 201,809,000 Cafe Pharoah Claims Dirt Grade 1 Win in February Stakes Race favorite and four-year-old Cafe Pharoah captured his first G1 victory in this year’s February Stakes. The bay colt debuted claiming his first two career starts and went on to win the Unicorn Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,600m) but failed to deliver in the following Japan Dirt Derby (dirt, 2,000m) where although sent off race favorite, he was beaten to seventh. Bouncing back and marking a win against older foes in the Sirius Stakes (G3, dirt, 1,900m) last autumn, he finished sixth in the other JRA-G1 dirt event, the Champions Cup (G1, dirt, 1,800m), as second favorite. While Danon Pharaoh, also sired by American Pharoah, captured the NAR’s Japan Dirt Derby last season, this is the first JRA-G1 race claimed by a foal of the legendary American Triple Crown winner. Since his latest JRA-G1 win in the 2019 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes with Salios, trainer Noriyuki Hori now boasts 13 JRA-G1 titles, while jockey Christophe Lemaire earned his 36th JRA-G1 victory, his first since last year’s Japan Cup with Almond Eye. The French jockey also celebrates a back-to-back February Stakes victory following his win with Mozu Ascot in last year’s version. Absent of the fans and cheers, the first G1 event of the season was on its way on the backstretch with Air Almas, Helios and Wide Pharaoh fighting for the lead. As Helios slipped back in the early stages, Cafe Pharoah, breaking from stall three, stalked the two frontrunners while saving ground before smoothly angling out right beside them to enter the lane in third. From there on, the American Pharoah colt unleashed a powerful stretch drive stealing the lead by the furlong marker and held off the fast-closing Air Spinel by a 3/4-length margin. “His condition was super, and I had confidence already at the paddock. We decided to use cheek pieces hoping for a more aggressive performance. His start was good, we were positioned well and he responded beautifully. The colt has such high potential. I had no doubt that he could land a G1 win if he gave his best.