Soul Rush, Serifos and Namur loom as Japan’s best hopes of resisting Hong Kong’s challenge with the 74th running of the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday (2 June).

Soul Rush and Serifos are Japan’s top two contenders, with a lot of support expected for Namur, while Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble aim to foil Japanese hopes.

Gaia Force, Red Mon Reve, Parallel Vision and Stella Veloce drew headlines after Wednesday’s (29 May) final fast work at the Miho and Ritto training centres. Other nominees going to the gate with more than just wishful thinking are Win Carnelian and Elton Barows, who has also been training at Tokyo Racecourse where Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble are stabled.

Romantic Warrior is prominent in pre-race billing along with Japan’s most popular runners. Hong Kong horses have two wins in the Yasuda Kinen – Fairy King Prawn (2000) and Bullish Luck (2006) – and four other finishers in the top three, and with the dizzying level of competition from Hong Kong this year, Japan acknowledges the real possibility of a very big chunk of the JPY388.8 million (approx. HK$19.47 million) purse flying back to Hong Kong for the first time in 18 years.

It’s rare to have the foreign competition appraised so highly, but the uncommon Romantic Warrior is gunning for his fifth Group 1 win in a row. Romantic Warrior has met two talents from Japan – Prognosis on three occasions and Danon The Kid twice.

It’s also pointed out that Voyage Bubble, runner-up to Golden Sixty in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m), also finished ahead of all three of Japan’s best shots at the Yasuda Kinen – Serifos, Soul Rush and Namur. He’ll have six-time Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton, also a Group 1 winner in Japan, in the saddle.

It’s Voyage Bubble’s fifth start of the year and he’s returning from the G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m), where he finished third.

Taking on the Yasuda Kinen for his third time is Serifos, a Daiwa Major five-year-old.  Fourth here in 2022 and second last year, when interference right out of the gate may have cost him the win, Serifos hasn’t found the winner’s circle since the 2022 G1 Mile Championship (1600m). Afterwards, he’s travelled a lot, to Dubai, then Hong Kong. Returning home after four months, he scored a second in the G2 Yomiuri Milers Cup (1600m) at Kyoto at the end of April.

He’s set to be paired with leading jockey Yuga Kawada (only six wins ahead of Christophe Lemaire). Kawada, who has ridden Serifos in his last three starts, is familiar with both Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble crossing the line. Yesterday, asked about the two Hong Kong entries, Kawada’s reply was rather terse: “Of course, I think they’re two extremely strong horses.”

Soul Rush, with Joao Moreira expected up Sunday, is a six-year-old son of Rulership, and also goes to the Yasuda Kinen gate for his third time. He’s had bad luck both times before, finishing in 13th and ninth, with interference bungling his trip last year.

Trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said after work yesterday: “He’s a very good racer. He can handle a high pace and handle a slow one. And he’s done well over poor going. At times, he is slow away and I think the break will be key. He’s not his best at Tokyo and that is a worry.

“And, there’s a monster of a horse here from Hong Kong and I’m just wondering how close we’ll be able to get to him.”