In the final field of 18 for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200m) to be held at Kyoto, Japan on Sunday, some of the best of the older females will compete against some of the top three-year-old fillies.

Two lead-up races to the QE II Cup are the G1 Shuka Sho (2000m) for three-year-old fillies and the G2 Fuchu Himba Stakes (1800m) for older females. In addition, horses previously participating in the G2 All Comers (2200m), a race open to both sexes, has brought the winners of the QE II Cup for the last two years. This year Rouge Buck aced the All Comers on 24 September.

The QE II Cup and the G1 Japanese Oaks (2400m) are the only two graded races at distances beyond 2000m for females in Japan. Those runners with experience at longer distances have proven to do well here in the past, as have those horses that have been raced regularly leading up to the race rather than those coming off a layoff. With this in mind, two horses especially, Smart Layer and Vivlos, are expected to be neck and neck at the betting windows.

Vivlos, a four-year-old by Deep Impact and a two-time G1 winner, just missed winning the Fuchu Himba Stakes on 14 October, when she finished a neck behind Crocosmia. “She had had time off and wasn’t 100 percent. Still, her speed over the last 150 metres was outstanding.” Christophe Lemaire said after the race.

On Wednesday, Christophe Lemaire breezed Vivlos up the hill course at Ritto training centre. “Her breathing returned to normal in no time after her workout,” said Lemaire. “It looks like she’ll be in top shape on Sunday.”

Smart Layer, a seven-year-old daughter of Deep Impact, beat 14 opponents to win the G2 Kyoto Daishoten (2400m) last time out on 9 October. She has had four starts this year, all at the graded level. In addition to her last outing, this year she has run second in a G2 and a G3 and was fourth in the G1 Victoria Mile.

On 8 November, Smart Layer stormed four furlongs of the Ritto hill under Yutaka Take in 52.3 seconds with no urging. “She felt really good,” Take said of both this week’s work and last week’s work. This will be her third bid in the QE II Cup, but she has shown more consistency of late than she had earlier in her career. A G1 win has thus far evaded her, but Take says, “I think she easily has the ability to win a G1 race but luck simply hasn’t been with her.”

Mikki Queen, who finished third in this race last year, has not raced since her third-place finish in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen (2200m) at the end of June. On Wednesday, she also worked up the hill course at Ritto under jockey Suguru Hamanaka. Hamanaka pushed her hard for a time of 52 seconds over 4 furlongs. He commented, “She always works well. I think the conditions this year are in her favour.”

At Miho training centre, Rouge Buck was breezed on the flat with two others over four furlongs and easily caught and passed the other two. In the saddle was Ryan Moore, who has the ride on Sunday and won this race back to back in 2010 and 2011 aboard Snow Fairy. Watching work was trainer Masahiro Otake. Nodding in satisfaction he gave the five-year-old mare top marks and said, “Her responses were better than I had imagined they’d be. I think everything we’ve done up until now is finally being reflected in her condition.”

A fast track is expected on Sunday, although there is rain in the forecast on Saturday for Kyoto. The Kyoto 2200m starts before the stands and continues for just under 400 metres to the first turn. Following an upward slope in the backstretch, the field tends to speed up as the track dips around the third turn. The homestretch is flat with just over 400 metres to the finish line. The course tends to favour the inside gates, horses racing from a position on or very close to the pace and those with good late speed.