Sunday Racing Co.’s Fenomeno, runner-up in last year’s Tokyo Yushun (Japanese
Derby) and the Tenno Sho Autumn, claimed Sunday’s Tenno Sho Spring at Kyoto to
capture his long-awaited Grade 1 title and his fourth graded win.
Tosen Ra finished second, and English-based globetrotter Red Cadeaux checked
in third. Red Cadeaux, who was coming off a runner-up effort in the Dubai World
Cup, thus gave a useful form tie-in with the victorious Animal Kingdom.
The Tenno Sho Spring broke off with Satono Shuren surging out to assume
command, with Mousquetaire and Tokai Paradise also rushing out from the outer
stalls to form the leading group. The second group comprising three horses
traveled six to seven lengths behind while second choice Fenomeno led the
remaining field another three lengths behind as the field traveled past the
grandstand for the first time.
Third pick Tosen Ra sat well behind the pace in ninth, with Admire Rakti and
Red Cadeaux rated in 11th and 12th. Overwhelming favorite Gold Ship, last year’s
champion three-year-old colt, took his usual position toward the rear.
While the field stretched into a long line along the backstretch with Satono
Shuren’s lead widening to 10 lengths, the gap closed in rounding the last two
corners with the key runners edging forward in preparation for their bid.
Fenomeno, after entering the homestretch side by side with Tokai Paradise on
the inside and Tosen Ra on the outside, immediately pulled away with a powerful
kick and easily held off Tosen Ra’s persistent efforts to a 1 1/4-length
victory.
The four-year-old son of Stay Gold completed about two miles on the firm turf
in 3:14.2, handing jockey Masayoshi Ebina his 19th JRA Grade 1 title, and
trainer Hirofumi Toda just his second JRA Grade 1 victory. Toda’s prior taste of
top-level success came with Kiss to Heaven in the 2006 Oka Sho (Japanese One
Thousand Guineas).
Red Cadeaux, who entered the lane fourth from the front, ran determinedly to
cross the wire another two lengths behind in third.
“Today’s track was won mostly by horses running in the front or from a handy
position,” his rider Gerald Mosse commented, “so the race started with many of
the horses wanting to try and get that position. So what I did was just let my
horse warm up early on and after about a mile I started to put him into the race
and gradually pick up from there.
“At a point, around the 600 meters, he was going really well and I was
thinking well now we’re going to quicken and he’s going to give him his best in
the straight. But the ground was a bit firm for him, and though in the last 200
meters I thought I had it, he reserved himself, just stayed on and didn’t give
his best (because of the ground). Even so, I had a lovely run. The pace was good
— I just got beaten by two super horses — they were just better than us
today.”
“He ran a super race on ground that was probably a bit too quick for him,”
traveling head lad Robin Trevor-Jones said of Red Cadeaux, “but we’re very
pleased with him,”
“He never lets us down. From a wide draw like that (13), we got stuck out a
bit wide, but even so, he ran a super race and we’re proud of him. After this,
we’ll go to Singapore, which we’re invited to go. His fall program will probably
be to Australia, Japan and then to Hong Kong again.”
Admire Rakti was shuffled back on the final turn, but impressively
accelerated in the last furlong to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind the English
raider. Overwhelming favorite Gold Ship turned the corners wide for his bid but
was unable to display his usual late charge and finished a disappointing fifth.
Jaguar Mail, Meiner Kitz, Tokai Paradise, Desperado, Forgettable, Tokai
Trick, Red Davis, Universal Bank, Meisho Kampaku, Capote Star, Mousquetaire,
Copano Jingu and tearaway pacesetter Satono Shuren rounded out the order of
finish.
Fenomeno now sports a mark of 11-6-2-0, ¥467,128,000.
He won two classic trials in 2012, the St. Lite Kinen and T.V. Tokyo Hai Aoba
Sho, but missed by a whisker in the Japanese Derby. He also missed by a
half-length to classy older male Eishin Flash in the Tenno Sho Autumn. Fenomeno
opened his four-year-old campaign with a smart score in the Nikkei Sho, and is
now two-for-two in 2013.
Bred by Oiwake Farm in Japan, Fenomeno is out of the winning Danehill mare De
Laroche, who is a half-sister to 1998 Hong Kong Horse of the Year Indigenous.
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