Seiun Kosei and Red Falx dominated headlines this week after their final fast workouts before the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m), Japan’s top sprint following the spring G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m).
Five Grade 1 winners have been nominated for the 1200m turf event to be held Sunday at Nakayama Racecourse and Hong Kong is fielding Blizzard, who is the first contender from the jurisdiction since 2015 (Rich Tapestry). Hong Kong’s Ultra Fantasy and Silent Witness won the Sprinters Stakes in 2010 and 2005 respectively, the former for Blizzard’s trainer Ricky Yiu.
This year’s Takamatsunomiya champion Seiun Kosei and last year’s Sprinters Stakes winner Red Falx are expected to top the picks come Sunday. Despite Red Falx’s poor showing in the G1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) after his Sprinters victory, he picked up two third placings in top-level competition after returning home, as well as a win in the 1400m G2 Keio Hai Spring Cup in May.
Red Falx’s fast work on Wednesday under an assistant trainer got top marks from all watching. Working in tandem on the woodchip flat course, he covered five furlongs in 1m 8s, with a 12.4-second final furlong under strong urging.
Four-year-old Seiun Kosei has not raced since June, when he finished fourth in the 1200m G3 Hakodate Sprint Stakes, which was won in record time. On Wednesday, Seiun Kosei worked solo on the flat over five furlongs in a time of 1m 5.6s, and a 12.5-second final furlong under urging. Trainer Hiroyuki Uehara expressed his satisfaction with the work: “He’s in good shape and has had two very good workouts over the last two weeks.”
The Sprinters Stakes will be Seiun Kosei’s first time over the Nakayama turf, but Uehara is confident he can handle the course, which ends with an upward slope in the stretch: “He’s had ample experience racing to the right and though he works on the woodchip flat regularly, he also works on the hill course. He has a lot of power and the hill in the course doesn’t worry me at all.”
Five-year-old mare Melagrana is expected to round out the trio of top choices for the race. Trained by Manabu Ikezoe, Melagrana has failed to win her last three starts after taking the March G3 Ocean Stakes, run over this course and distance. Rain was likely to blame for her results in her two starts after the Ocean Stakes, but last out she returned from a layoff to run fourth behind Fine Needle in the G2 Centaur Stakes (1200m).
This week’s fast work saw Melagrana work in a trio over the woodchip flat course. Ikezoe said: “She felt good and I worked her just enough to get her on her game. I have no complaints whatsoever.” Melagrana clocked 53.5s over four furlongs with a final furlong of 12.3 seconds without urging.
Five-year-old mare Let’s Go Donki ran ninth in last year’s Sprinters Stakes. She ran second in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March and followed that up with an 11th in the G1 Victoria Mile. A return to 1200m should be a plus and, according to jockey Yasunari Iwata after Wednesday’s fast work, “She feels ready and her breathing is good.”
Diana Halo and Fine Needle are among the other names getting a fair share of attention. Moving up in class with each race, four-year-old filly Diana Halo won her first major race last out on her first try capturing the G3 Kitakyushu Kinen towards the end of August and extended her winning streak to four. Fine Needle took on his first G2 race last out in the Centaur Stakes and won it easily by a length and a quarter.
