Billed as a showdown between the top two favorites, this year’s Japan Cup Dirt was claimed by first pick and defending champion Transcend, who measured up to expectations by successfully defending his title to second favorite and 2009 champion Espoir City. With Shinji Fujita in the saddle once again, Transcend, breaking from the farthest stall, demonstrated good tactics by desperately grabbing the front position early, and exerted a powerful drive down the stretch to prevail by a convincing two lengths. This marks the fourth G1 triumph in ten career wins for the 2011 Dubai World Cup runner-up, and puts him on par with triple-crown winner Orfevre in seasonal G1 wins.
In a fierce early battle for the lead between Espoir City, and wide starters Nihonpiro Ours, Tosho Freak and Transcend, it was the defending champion who grabbed the crucial front position by the initial turn. The five-year-old bay set the pace with Espoir City and Tosho Freak running abreast two lengths behind, followed by La Verita and Nihonpiro Ours side-by-side another two lengths from that down the backstretch. Wonder Acute who stumbled at the gate, sat on the rails near the rear.
As the field closed up while turning the third corner, Espoir City gradually moved up beside Transcend from his outside with Tosho Freak right at his heels. La Verita still sat off the pace saving ground while Wonder Acute also remained in a rearward inner position before the last turn. Transcend not only held on to his lead, but steadily pulled away a furlong out while Espoir City and La Verita dueled for the runner-up seat. As the winner romped to a clear victory, Wonder Acute skillfully threaded his way between horses and showed a good turn of foot in the final furlong to catch the two at the wire for a photo-finish second. A nose behind Wonder Acute was Espoir City who out-dueled La Verita in the final strides to finish a half-length in front of her for third.
Comments from the winning jockey, Shinji Fujita;
“I’m happy we were able to defend the title. After pressing the pace in our two recent starts, I thought it would be best to send him up front again, so I never hesitated to take the lead even though we were breaking from the widest stall. He deserves to cap off the season with a big win like this.”
Comments from the winning trainer, Takayuki Yasuda;
“To be honest, I did have some doubts after drawing stall no.16. Fujita insisted that he should take the lead and with full confidence in him, I let him do what he thought best. After he took the lead, the pace was perfect and our horse showed a strong performance. He has improved remarkably this season. We will kick off the next season in the February Stakes and will challenge the Dubai World Cup once again.”
OTHER HORSES:
5th: (13) Danon Come On– lost ground in mid-field, edged up from 3rd turn, even-paced down straight
6th: (11) Miracle Legend– in lower mid-division, fought well down stretch, a neck short to make the board
7th: (14) Yamanin Kingly– sat near rear, took wide path in final turn, showed good effort in straight
8th: (2) Solitary King– traveled in upper mid-pack, mustered mild rally in stretch
9th: (12) Nihonpiro Ours– bumped at first turn, sat in 4th to 5th, weakened in last 100m
10th: (8) Birdie Birdie– camped near rear of mid-field and 3-wide, mild late response
11th: (1) Makani Bisty– trailed in rear, improved position without reaching contention
12th: (5) Testa Matta– broke poorly, steadily edged up in backstretch, had nothing left
13th: (10) Chryso– lost ground in mid-field, late in entering stretch, failed to respond
14th: (7) Daisho Jet– sat in mid-field in front of runner-up, near the rear at top of lane, never fired
15th: (15) Tosho Freak– fought for lead with winner, pressed pace to last turn, faded from early efforts
16th: (3) Eishin Dash– was off slow, traveled wide near rear, was last to enter lane, never a factor
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