Japan: Saudi Cup winner Panthalassa has been diagnosed with tendonitis, ruling out his proposed summer trip to Britain for the Sussex Stakes and Juddmonte International.
According to reports in Japan, plans are on hold for the six-year-old, who faces at least three months on the sidelines.
Trained by renowned globe-trotting trainer Yoshito Yahagi, Panthalassa dead-heated with Lord North in the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in 2022 before landing the world’s richest race on dirt in Riyadh in February. He was a disappointing tenth of 15 on his most recent outing back at Meydan in the Dubai World Cup.
Yahagi still has last year’s fourth Bathrat Leon in the £1 million Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on August 2. Panthalassa was also one of three Japanese-trained horses engaged in the Irish Champion Stakes alongside Dura Erede and Through Seven Seas.
Looking further ahead, top-class Japanese mare Songline is set to run at the Breeders’ Cup after securing a ‘win and you’re in’ slot at the weekend as she completed back-to-back successes in the Yasuda Kinen.
The five-year-old was denied a run in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland with an inflamed epiglottis. After she had beaten Serifos by a length and a quarter in Sunday’s G1 contest, Songline’s owners Sunday Racing indicated the Mile would again be her target at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita in November, when Japan’s Dubai World Cup hero Ushba Tesoro is set to run in the $6m Classic.
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