Japan Cup (Grade 1)

www.patternracing.com

2 years ago

A top-class race in prospect with three Europeans taking on the home team.

Auguste Rodin followed by A Shin Emperor leaving the paddock at Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes

Fantastic Moon, Goliath and Auguste Rodin will try to emulate Alkassed, the last European horse to win this in 2005 for Luca Cumani.

Fantastic Moon trained by Sarah Steinberg in Germany finished ninth in the Arc when last seen having previously won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden beating Dubai Honour (winner of the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in the summer) over this trip at home in Baden-Baden on good ground.

Goliath trained by Francis-Henri Graffard in France has been primed for this since winning one of Europe’s premier middle-distance races, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July where he beat subsequent Arc winner Bluestocking. He followed up thereafter on heavy ground taking the G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris at Longchamp in September beating Willie Haggas’s Hamish.

Auguste Rodin trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien will be having his final race. He’s a six-time Group 1 winner. As a juvenile, he won the Futurity Trophy Stakes. Last year, he took the Epsom Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Turf. This year he’s won the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. Last time out he couldn’t reel in Economics when beaten a neck in the Irish Champion Stakes with Japan’s Shin Emperor ¾ of a length back in third.

The home team is headed by the three-year-old filly Cervinia trained by Tetsuya Kimura who will be ridden by Christophe-Patrice Lemaire. She took the Shuka Sho over a 1m2f at Kyoto in October. Before that, she took Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) in May. Also in the mix is Do Deuce trained by Yasuo Tomomichi, the mount of Yutaka Take who will vie for favoritism having taken the Tenno Sho (Autumn) over 1m2f here in October.

We have a brilliant race in prospect, it promises so much. This is a showdown of top-class European and Japanese form, the very best of the West meets the very best of the East. Goliath has been a standout performer this year in Europe. His form in beating an Arc winner can’t be dismissed while Cervinia will look to emulate the wonderful race mare, Almond Eye, who won this as a three-year-old in 2018 and then did it again in 2020 however it is Auguste Rodin’s farewell that presents Europe’s best chance to break a near two-decade drought since Alkassed’s 2005 victory. He can follow in the footsteps of his father Deep Impact who took this in 2006.

Recommendation

Auguste Rodin 6/1