Japanese tracks offer some exciting action this weekend. In this article, we’ll look at the Graded races highlighting Saturday’s programme. Three-year-old and older dirt specialists will appear in the G3 Musashino Stakes at Tokyo Race Course.
The event is perceived as the trial for the G1 Champions Cup and lured in especially the G2 Godolphin Mile victor, Bathrat Leon, who ran against some outstanding European horses in the summer. Subsequently, two-year-old colts will compete in the G2 The Daily Hai Nisai Stakes at Hanshin Race Course.
The trial for the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity and Hopeful Stakes will see ten juniors, including a promising bay named Danon Touchdown.
Musashino Stakes
This mile race is held on a dirt surface and is open to three-year-old and older horses who will compete for the purse of 76,000,000 Yen. As it is a G3 event, it didn’t really attract any bright stars; however, Bathrat Leon had his moment in the spotlight at the Dubai World Cup meeting in March.
Being one of the outsiders, he shocked the spectators at the Meydan Race Course with a runaway win in the G2 Godolphin Mile over a mile. Back then, the son of Kizuna recorded his second G2 victory in 2021.
Although he looked like a promising three-year-old by scoring the New Zealand Trophy on the turf surface, he didn’t live up to the expectations whatsoever, failing to place in the rest of the season, and because Bathrat Leon, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, similarly commenced the season 2022, his triumph in Dubai wasn’t short of shocking. Since then, he has recorded two starts.
At first, he finished fourth in the Sussex Stakes after a very solid run against horses of an entirely different league – Baaeed and Modern Games. Then he crossed the wire in seventh in the G1 Prix Jacques la Marois in France, and if the four-year-old colt displays his usual zest for racing, he should return to the dirt surface with a bang.
Besides Bathrat Leon, three-year-old Sekifu has also enjoyed several trip to foreign tracs. The Koshiro Take trained bay collected three victories as a junior, including a Listed triumph, while for his debut in 2022, he was sent to Riyadh to compete in the Saudi Derby over a mile.
Sekifu showed a great turn-of-foot to take second place behind the USA-bound Pinehurst, and even though he failed to repeat such a performance in the UAE Derby and also Japan Dirt Derby, he placed third in the Korean Cup at Seoul Race Course in September. At this point in his career, Sekifu looks like a solid G3 colt who should perform well on Saturday.
Four-year-old Lemon Pop is another interesting contestant, given he has recorded eight outings and hasn’t been worse than second. He triumphed on six occasions, achieving successes mostly at the Stakes scene, and on Saturday, we’ll see whether he’s capable of succeeded also among the Graded company.
Since this weekend, some brilliant European jockeys have relocated to Japan for the winter, namely Ryan Moore or Hollie Doyle; Christophe Lemaire still draws the most attention to himself and any horses he pilots.
This time, he’ll accompany five-year-old Admire Lupus, a Stakes winner who might be good enough to become a G3 horse. The last to mention is the G3 Elm Stakes victor Full Depth Leader, attempting to add another Graded victory to his resume.
| HORSE | JOCKEY | ODDS BY JAZZSPORTS |
| Ashaka Tobu | D.Lane | +3340 |
| Admire Lupus | C.Lemaire | +1020 |
| Air Spinel | T.Marquand | +1020 |
| Gilded Mirror | K.Miura | +1150 |
| Cadence Call | H.Doyle | +22200 |
| Sunrise Nova | F.Matsuwaka | +4870 |
| Smashing Hearts | K.Sameshima | +1050 |
| Sekifu | M.Demuro | +2530 |
| Tagano Beauty | S.Ishibashi | +680 |
| Dieu du Vin | R.Moore | +22200 |
| Due Process | A.Sugawara | +11080 |
| Hayabusa Nandekun | Y.Fukunaga | +1300 |
| Bathrat Leon | R.Sakai | +4370 |
| Full Depth Leader | Y.Ishikawa | +5490 |
| Bratty Kid | Y.Mizuguchi | +6290 |
| Lemon Pop | K.Tosaki | -125 |
Musashino Stakes Betting Prediction
Bathrat Leon. Because he managed to win on the international scene, he should be able to score also among the locals.
The Daily Hai Nisai Stakes
Ten two-year-old colts will hit the turf track in this G2 race, boasting a purse of 72,000,000 Yen. They will cover the distance of a mile, with Danon Touchdown being one of the juniors who caught the eye in his debut.
The son of Lord Kanaloa showed up at the beginning of October in a Newcomer race. The Takayuki Yasuda trained colt settled in the field, then circled his rivals in the final turn, and even though he ran wide and wasted some energy on that, he still managed to take command in the final stretch. He had to fight for his premiere victory, and he did so successfully; therefore, Danon Touchdown, there should be some undebatable qualities about this handsome bay.
On Saturday, he might feel the lack of experience, though, as, for example, Silver Duke has already been out three times. The Silver State son started off with third place among Newcomers in July, then scored a maiden easily, and last time out, Silver Duke faced the G3 company in the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup in October.
Back then, the bay galloped in third and basically occupied the position throughout the whole race until he crossed the wire. It was a fine effort, yet it’s a question of whether he is smart enough to shine in Saturday’s exciting field.
Shomon displayed some talent in his sole victorious attempt as well. After finishing second in a Newcomer race, he showed up in a maiden race over seven and a half furlongs in September, where he delivered a fine finish to secure an easy success. The son of Mind Your Biscuits is trained by Shinsuke Hashiguchi and actually could be the biggest threat to Danon Touchdown alongside Cruzeiro do Sul.
The Godolphin-owned bay fought bravely for victory in a maiden in late October and was rewarded for his effort as he prevailed in the end. This was his second outing as also his debut went quite well, given he finished second behind Liberty Island, who only narrowly failed to score the G3 Artemis Stakes last time out. It quite boosted Cruzeiro do Sul’s form. The last to mention is All Parfait , who scored his second start from the front and still looked like he had plenty in the tank left.
| HORSE | JOCKEY | ODDS BY JAZZSPORTS |
| Emi Sakihokoru | K.Fujioka | +18740 |
| All Parfait | T. Ono | +1250 |
| Cruzeiro do Sul | R. Wada | +270 |
| Shonan Alexa | M. Iwata | +1250 |
| Shomon | T.Yokoyama | +850 |
| Silver Duke | C.Demuro | +360 |
| Danon Touchdown | Y.Kawada | +160 |
| Daydream Beach | Y.Kido | +37500 |
| Tosen Tram | Y.Take | +1790 |
| Four Side Nine | K.Ikezoe | +1620 |
Daily Hai Nisai Stakes Betting Pick
Danon Touchdown, who boasted the most class of all the participants here.
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