The annual Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re In’ Challenge hit Japan on Sunday [Feb 19] when Lemon Pop (Hiroyasu Tanaka/Ryusei Sakai) recorded an emphatic victory in the G1 February Stakes at Tokyo racecourse.
In beating Red Le Zele by a length and a half on his G1 debut in the one-mile contest, the Godolphin five-year-old earned a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 4.
However, as a mile appears the limit of Lemon Pop’s stamina, the Dubai Golden Shaheen or Godolphin Mile are more likely targets for the son of Lemon Drop Kid, who was taking his career record to eight wins from 11 starts – and he finished second on his three defeats.
Lemon Pop’s impressive G1 breakthrough was enough to claim a place in the world’s Top 50 according to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s Global Rankings with a 220pt boost, which catapults the new star of Japanese dirt racing to #48 (from #213).
Lemon Pop was made 6-5 favourite for the Tokyo race on the back of victory in a G3 contest on his seasonal reappearance.
He broke well before dropping back a few places and coasting around just off the leaders before cruising into the lead four wide at the head of the Tokyo stretch and then winning comfortably in a time of 1m35.60s before a crowd of 46,121.
Lemon Pop holds an invitation to the Dubai World Cup card. “We won’t be making a decision on this for some time yet,” said Godolphin Japan president Harry Sweeney.
“We are relieved that he now has a JRA G1 on his curriculum vitae which will be very important for his next career whenever he finishes racing,” added Sweeney. “There are in fact only two G1 races on dirt in the entire JRA calendar and the second of these is over 1,800 metres, which would absolutely be too far for Lemon Pop.
“Indeed, we needed to lean significantly on Lemon Pop’s trainer, Tanaka san, to get him to run over a mile in this race so hence another reason for us to be relieved.”
Breeders’ Cup Mile runner-up Shirl’s Speight, representing Canadian-based Roger Attfield, finished ninth of the 16 runners in the February Stakes.
In Australia, connections of Coolangatta (+184pt, #55 from #188) are eyeing Royal Ascot after the three-year-old filly won the G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington under Jamie Kah by a half-length from I Wish I Win, with former world #1 Nature Strip only sixth in the prestigious five-furlong contest.
With another big clash between Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior – world #4 and #8 respectively – on the horizon at home in Hong Kong in Sunday’s Citi HK Gold Cup at Sha Tin, Russian Emperor (+105pt, #80 from #166) advertised the depth of the region’s talent pool when landing the $2.5m HH The Amir Trophy in Qatar.
• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques.
Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.
• Visit the Japan Racing Association website
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