Tokyo’s slew of Group 1 events kicks off on Sunday (11 May) with the 30th running of the G1 NHK Mile Cup (1600m). The race is a popular showcase for three-year-olds not being aimed at subsequent Classics.
As usual, it’s going to be another difficult year to predict the outcome with only one Group 1 winner in the mix, but a number of Group 2 and Group 3 champions. Admire Zoom, Immigrant Song and Lance Of Chaos are gaining the most attention ahead of the race, with a number of others gunning for an upset including Magic Sands, Ma Puce, Arte Veloce, Satono Carnaval and Yankee Barows.
Looking to carry the lion’s share of fans’ expectations is Admire Zoom, a Maurice colt trained by Ritto handler Yasuo Tomomichi and the only Group 1 winner in the field.
The G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m) winner breezed up the hill course at Ritto with eagerness in 52.9s over 800m this week. Working under an assistant to Tomomichi (Yuga Kawada is set to ride Sunday), he looked in better shape than he had in the G2 New Zealand Trophy (1600m), where he finished second by a neck. It was his first start after acing the Group 1 in mid-December.
On Wednesday (7 May), Immigrant Song breezed under new partner Christophe Lemaire along with two other horses over the Miho woodchip course. His time was 1m 24.0s over 1200m, with a final 200m in 12.1s.
Last month, the colt captured the G2 New Zealand Trophy at Nakayama with a 33.1s sectional for the final 600m. That win earned him a berth in the NHK Mile Cup.
“He beat a G1 horse (Admire Zoom) winning that race and I think he has a chance at the G1 level,” Tsuji said.
Highly consistent Lance Of Chaos, yet to figure out of the top three in his four starts, won his ticket to the big show when he beat runner-up Arte Veloce in the G3 Churchill Downs Cup (1600m) at Hanshin on 5 April. The Silver State colt worked in a group of three at Ritto on Wednesday under Seinosuke Yoshimura, who has ridden all of the colt’s four starts.
Trainer Yutaka Okumura is gunning for his first big win since opening his barn in 2015.
“In the Churchill Downs Cup, he (Lance Of Chaos) broke well for the first time and was able to race from a good position. He also made a gutsy run in the straight, breaking through a narrow space to win.”
Magic Sands, fielded by Naosuke Sugai, aced his first two starts over 1800m (including the G3 Sapporo Nisai Stakes), but finished 16th and sixth in his first two Group 1s, both over 2000m. Yutaka Take, who’s also set to ride Sunday, took the reins for the first time and rode fast work 7 May. “Take said the horse was in great shape,” said Sugai, “and I have my hopes riding on him.”
Sugai has won 15 Group 1s, but has yet to snare the NHK Mile Cup while Take has won the race three times, the most recent in 2006 aboard Logic.
Darkhorse Ma Puce, one of six fillies in the final field on Sunday, breezed over 1200m under Ryota Kojima, assistant to trainer Yusuke Wada, clocking 1m 22.3s.
“She really used her body well and she’s showing no fatigue at all,” Kojima said. “She’ll be going to the gate in excellent shape and this time we’ll be closer to home. I do think she’ll give us a better performance than her last start,” he said referring to her fourth place in the G1 Oka Sho (1600m) at Hanshin on 13 April.
