The Derby Stakes at Epsom is revered as one of the greatest races in the world and last night’s running was no exception with Aidan O’Brien winning the Classic for a record-extending 11th time with LAMBOURN under Wayne Lordan.
LAMBOURN delivered a spectacular front-running performance to give Aidan his third straight win in the race, defeating LAZY GRIFF (Christophe Soumillon) and TENNESSEE STUD (Dylan Browne McMonagle) with STANHOPE GARDENS (Hector Crouch), who is owned in Hong Kong by Marc Chan, running an impressive fifth.
The favourite DELACROIX was always well back and struggled to get into the race in the good to soft conditions to finish ninth, while another of the leading contenders RULING COURT was withdrawn before the race because of unsuitable track conditions.
LAMBOURN’s win extended Coolmore Stud’s amazing success in the Derby. LAMBOURN is the son of 2014 Derby Stakes winner AUSTRALIA who, in turn, is by 2001 Derby victor GALILEO, who sired a record five Derby winners.
LAMBOURN’s win gave Aidan the Derby-Oaks double after his success with MINNIE HAUK on Friday and continues his phenomenal run of success on the international stage. I congratulate Aidan and his team on their latest accomplishment.
Returning to Tokyo Racecourse today (Sunday, 8 June) will evoke memories of one of Hong Kong racing’s greatest achievements with the anniversary of ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s stunning win in the 2024 G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) and I look forward to reliving some of those moments with the running of one of the world’s great mile contests, the 2025 Yasuda Kinen.
Apart from the direct connection with ROMANTIC WARRIOR as the third Hong Kong horse along with FAIRY KING PRAWN (2000) and BULLISH LUCK (2006) to win the Yasuda Kinen, there are also links to Hong Kong in today’s field through SOUL RUSH – who upstaged ROMANTIC WARRIOR by virtually the barest possible margin in the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) in Dubai in April – JANTAR MANTAR, MAD COOL and GAIA FORCE, who have all raced at Sha Tin.
One of the most impressive aspects of Japanese racing is their passion for racing and affection for champion racehorses, which was evident last year in the amazing reception the crowd at Tokyo Racecourse gave ROMANTIC WARRIOR, James McDonald and Danny Shum and I look forward to again experiencing a similar atmosphere today.
The 2025 G1 Yasuda Kinen is carded as S3-1 and will be run over 1600m at 2.40pm.
The pace in this race is always fast and a maximum field of 18 runners will ensure there is plenty of speed from the start. There is no clear front runner, but sprinter MAD COOL (Ryusei Sakai) will be prominent along with GRATIAS (Kazuo Yokoyama) and JANTAR MANTAR (Yuga Kawada) settling close to the leading while SIXPENCE (Christophe Lemaire) and ECORO WALZ (Mirco Demuro) should be prominent.
SOUL RUSH (Suguru Hamanaka) finished third to ROMANTIC WARRIOR in last year’s Yasuda Kinen and second to VOYAGE BUBBLE in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin in December. At his most recent run, SOUL RUSH dug deep to just beat ROMANTIC WARRIOR in the Dubai Turf on 5 April. SOUL RUSH is a world-class miler and is my win and place selection.
SIXPENCE set a new track record when winning the G2 Nakayama Kinen (1800m) on 2 March before finishing seventh to BELLAGIO OPERA in the G1 Osaka Kai (2000m) on 6 April, when he drew wide and raced without cover. SIXPENCE is better suited at 1600m is a place chance.
JANTAR MANTAR is a dual G1 winner at 1600m and won the NHK Mile Cup last May, easily beating star filly ASCOLI PICENO. JANTAR MANTAR finished 13th in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile behind VOYAGE BUBBLE at Sha Tin in December. JANTAR MANTAR has been given plenty of time to get over that run, he has been working well leading to the race and is a place chance.
BREDE WEG (Keita Tosaki) is a Group 1-winning mare and ran well for fourth to SOUL RUSH in the Mile Championship in November and is a place chance along with ECORO WALZ, LONG RUN (Yasunari Iwata), TROVATORE (Takeshi Yokoyama) and WATER LICHT (Akira Sugawara).
Today’s (8 June) Sha Tin meeting marks the first of our twilight fixtures for the season and also the start of the Summer Series, which will run across the seven remaining Sha Tin meetings this season. With racing scheduled to start at 4pm, the Summer Series offers a host of on-course activities including live performances by bands and singers, entertaining games and the chance to win designated prizes while enjoying a wide variety of culinary options and world-class racing.
The Class 2 Lee On Handicap is one of the competitive highlights at Sha Tin today and is carded as Race 7 and will be run over 1400m at 7.05pm.
The pace should be good with DROMBEG BANNER (Britney Wong) leading. DANCING CODE (Ellis Wong) has drawn gate two and will be close to the speed with HEALTHY HAPPY (Luke Ferraris) also settling on the pace. INVINCIBLE SHIELD (James Orman) and CHIU CHOW SPIRIT (Derek Leung) should be midfield on settling.
LIGHT YEARS CHARM (Zac Purton) continued his excellent form when he was again slowly away before settling midfield on the rails, gaining clear running at the 200m and rushing home to beat JUNEAU PRIDE over this trip on 10 May. Despite rising in class, LIGHT YEARS CHARM is my win and place selection.
It has been a while since DANCING CODE has won but he is racing well and deserves a change of fortune. At his most recent start he jumped well and was given an easy time in front, fighting hard in the run home to finish second to PACKING HERMOD this class and trip two weeks ago. DANCING CODE, who is owned by one of the “Heavenly Kings Of Pop” Aaron Kwok, should be in a perfect position behind the leader is a place chance.
YOUNG CHAMPION (Brenton Avdulla) finished third to PACKING HERMOD on 25 May and will have benefited from time at Conghua since and is also a place chance again.
INVINCIBLE SHIELD reeled off three successive wins, including a narrow victory over MARKWIN at this class and distance on 27 April. Last start, he switched back to 1200m and after being inconvenienced early in the straight, didn’t finish off when seventh to LADY’S CHOICE. His previous form was excellent and he is a place chance.
CHIU CHOW SPIRIT and MICKLEY (Andrea Atzeni) are racing well and also deserve consideration in a competitive race.
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