By the time this blog goes online, I will be in Tokyo as I'm attending the Japan Cup raceday at Tokyo Racecourse tomorrow. This was the first international race to be staged in Japan, dating back to 1981 when it was established by the Japan Racing Association with the aim of providing an opportunity for their horses to compete with top overseas runners on home turf. Like our own International Races, it has steadily grown in quality and reputation in the years since then.
Although foreign contenders dominated this event in the early years, the performances of the home team have been outstanding in recent editions, as Japanese horses have won eight of the past ten renewals. These winners have included the likes of Deep Impact, Admire Moon and T M Opera O, which have become well known names even to our racing fans in Hong Kong.
This Sunday's Japan Cup will be the 29th and it looks to me as though the home line-up will again be very competitive. The leading Japanese contender will be prolific mare Vodka, who will be going for her 7th career Group One victory before being retired at the end of the season. I've watched her performances twice in Tokyo, in the Yasuda Kinen this year and last, and her late kick was really impressive. It would be a fitting swansong if Christophe Lemaire could steer her to another victory on her favourite course.
Another key contender of the home team will be Red Desire, the lightly-raced three-year-old hasn't finished out of quinella with three wins and three seconds in her six starts so far. She was just beaten by a nose in the Japanese Oaks over the same course and distance. Let's see if she can produce better performance when meeting the mare and colt in this race.
But I believe that the home team have to be very much aware of Breeders' Cup Turf champion Conduit, who will be making his last career run tomorrow but will stay in Japan for stud duties next year. He has been in great form this year as he also won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July, so I'll see if he can bring a third Japan Cup success for his trainer Sir Michael Stoute. Another runner that we shouldn't forget is Marsh Side, he scratched from the race 12 months ago due to illness but settled and worked better this time. I'll be expecting a good performance from the six-year-old tomorrow.
As in recent years, we will simulcast this longest established of Japanese international races to our fans in Hong Kong, so that you can all give your betting support to your favourite Japanese runners or foreign contenders. You may also pay attention to the performance of some of the jockeys in this race like Yasunari Iwata, Christophe Lemaire and Ryan Moore who will also take part in our International Jockeys Championship on Wednesday 9 December.
Meanwhile our own Hong Kong International Races Week is now less than two weeks away. One interesting piece of news you may have read is that top Canadian female rider Chantal Sutherland will be coming to Hong Kong to compete with 11 male counterparts in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley on 9 December. This follows the participation of her compatriot Emma Jayne-Wilson two years ago.
I would say Chantal's portfolio is quite special as she was previously a field hockey player, but she decided to pursue a career as a jockey after graduating from university. This year she has gained some impressive results at her riding base in Woodbine, Toronto, where she has racked up 125 winners and now ranks second in the jockeys' premiership. I've looked at some of the photos on her website and I must say she's a very glamorous icon for Canadian horse racing. I'm sure you will all look forward to seeing her in person in a fortnight's time.
Apart from Chantal, this year there will be some other some new faces in our International Jockeys' Championship line up, including up-and-coming American rider Joe Talamo, British champion apprentice William Buick, and Sydney's leading jockey Hugh Bowman. So it promises to be an event not to be missed, and I hope you will join us at Happy Valley that night.
There are still three local race meetings to go before that, though, including a 10-race programme at Sha Tin tomorrow. Before leaving for Japan this morning, I've done some study on tomorrow's races. In the Chevalier Cup, I will be looking forward to see the performance of Beauty Flash which is owned by one of our great sponsors Mr Simon Kwok. The four-year-old recorded two wins and one second in three starts over 1400m. It will be interesting to see if Mr Kwok can receive the trophy from the Club's long term sponser Dr Y C Chow, Chairman of the Chevalier Group at the presentation ceremony. However, I think Beauty Flash will face a strong opposition from White Jade as well as another up-coming contender Vital Flyer too.
In the Chevalier Lifts & Escalators Handicap, I will be paying special attention to Beauty Forever, Fat Choy Ichiban and King Dancer. Beauty Forever delivered a good turn of foot in both his last two runs, let's see if he can win his first race in Hong Kong for Mr Kwok. Talking about Fat Choy Ichiban and King Dancer, bothran well in their only start over the same distanceand I'll be expecting another decent performance from them.
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