Globetrotting jockey Joao Moreira is confident Satono Reve is in peak form as the star Japanese galloper attempts to snare the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama Racecourse near Tokyo, Japan on Sunday (28 September).

The winner of the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m) at Chukyo Racecourse in March, Satono Reve will face 15 rivals this weekend as he attempts to emulate the feats of a select group of outstanding sprinters including Flower Park, Trot Star, Laurel Guerreiro, Lord Kanaloa and Fine Needle, who are the only horses to win Japan’s two Group 1 sprints in the same season.

Threatening the aspirations of Satono Reve’s trainer Noriyuki Hori is an imposing band of proven Group 1 performers, including Lucky Sweynesse, who is bidding to become the fourth overseas-trained horse to win the Sprinters Stakes after fellow Hong Kong, China pair Silent Witness (2005) and Ultra Fantasy (2010) and Australia’s Takeover Target (2006).

The presence of the past two Sprinters Stakes winners – Mama Cocha (2023) and Lugal (2024) – as well as Namura Clair, who finished third in this race in 2023 and 2024, potentially complicates Satono Reve’s challenge of converting outstanding form on the international stage into domestic glory.

Resuming after finishing second in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (1200m) to Lazzat at Royal Ascot in June – which followed his second to the world’s top-rated sprinter Ka Ying Rising in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) at Sha Tin in April – Satono Reve has impressed Moreira in the lead-up to this weekend’s feature.

Assessing the six-year-old’s 10.7s surge over the final 200m at the end of a 1200m gallop in 1m 23.0s at Miho Training Center, Moreira said: “The response when I asked was excellent. From the 400-metre to the 200-metre mark, he gave me a powerful run. His condition is excellent.”

Moreira has ridden Satono Reve five times for two wins, two seconds and a third.

Satono Reve started favourite in the 2024 Sprinters Stakes when ridden by Damian Lane, finishing seventh when beaten around two and a quarter lengths by Lugal, who has struggled to produce his best in three runs since for trainer Haruki Sugiyama.

Lucky Sweynesse appears to have settled in well at Nakayama, pleasing trainer Manfred Man and jockey Derek Leung as the four-time Group 1 winner prepares to make his overseas debut.

Returning after leg surgery, Lucky Sweynesse has been conservatively raced by Man, but the seven-year-old’s effort to finish second behind Ka Ying Rising in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on 7 September pleased the veteran horseman, and he is satisfied with the sprinter’s work since arriving in Japan.

“The workout this morning went very well and the jockey said so, too. The horse was very fit and in good shape. I felt it was a good result for the test run,” Man said after Lucky Sweynesse’s final preparation gallop on Wednesday (24 September).

“Today, we just came to see him again, but in Hong Kong, we already know the horse. His form keeps coming. In my mind, I’m happy about the horse.”