Japan: Royal Ascot success remains a significant omission on Japan’s national horse racing CV – but Dubai Sheema Classic winner Shahryar will bid to fill the gap in June in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the first £1m race ever to be run at the royal meeting.
Winner of the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) in 2021, the four-year-old son of Deep Impact held off Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Yibir at Meydan and will be prepared for another overseas trip with the Wednesday G1 showpiece in mind once he returns to training next week for Hideaki Fujiwara.
Despite an array of high-profile victories around the world, there has never been a Japanese winner at Royal Ascot. Shahryar will be the fourth Japanese challenger to contest the Prince of Wales’s, following Deirdre (2019), A Shin Hikari (2016) and Spielberg (2015), all of whom finished sixth.
The news was announced by owners Sunday Racing, who also plan to run Grenadier Guards in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. The four-year-old son of Frankel scored a G1 win over a mile at two in 2020; he won a G2 over 7f at Hanshin in December.
The former Diamond Jubilee joins the Prince of Wales’s Stakes as the first races at Britain’s most prestigious meeting ever to carry seven-figure prize-money.
Although Yoshito Yahagi has yet to commit to a Royal Ascot challenge, Japan’s leading international traineris weighing up a European campaign for Godolphin Mile winner Bathrat Leon with the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and Deauville’s Prix Jacques Le Marois as his twin targets.
Bathrat Leon was one of three winners on Dubai World Cup night for Yahagi, whose overseas successes also include Japan’s first Breeders’ Cup wins with two victories at Del Mar last year and the Cox Plate in 2019.
The trainer’s Dubai Turf winner Panthalassa and Stay Foolish, winner of the Dubai Gold Cup, feature among Japanese horses nominated for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp on October 2.
Shahryar has also been entered for the €5m contest alongside Japanese compatriots Titleholder, Deep Bond, Do Deuce and Unicorn Lion.
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