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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
TOKYO, JAPAN — For 20 years the Japan Cup has remained at home. Alkaased (Kingmambo) was the last foreign raider to wrest it from the locals, winning in 2005 for the Italian-born, British-based combo of Luca Cumani and Frankie Dettori. This time around, for the 45th running of the race, the international challenge has been whittled to just one – but he's a good one: Calandagan. The son of Gleneagles, who will jump from stall eight, is the third runner in the race for Francis Graffard, who sent out Erupt (Dubawi) to finish sixth a decade ago and Goliath (Adlerflug) last year for that same sixth placing. The way his season has gone – with major international wins in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup, as well as two Classics at home, Graffard cannot be overlooked when he shows up at a major race day. That is particularly true this Sunday when his representative happens to be topping the table for the Longines World Rankings. Two years ago those rankings had a Japanese horse and a Japanese race at the top for the first time after Equinox (Kitasan Black) brought his globally enjoyed career to a close with a Japan Cup performance which moved his trainer Tetsuya Kimura to tears. On Friday night, the stallion was rightly inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame. At the vast JRA-run Miho Training Centre earlier in the day, the trainer of this year's favourite, Masquerade Ball (Duramente), was pondering how his rising star of a three-year-old will cope with all the commotion in those crucial final moments before the start of the race. Asked if he is feeling confident, Takahisa Tezuka replies with a laugh, “Not really. That's the short answer.” For a longer answer, he adds some context. “The main reason is that the distance of the Tenno Sho is shorter [by 400m], and for that race they start from the chute in a very quiet area. The start of the Japan Cup is right in front of the grandstand where all the fans are clapping and shouting. Masquerade Ball is still mentally immature and sometimes gets agitated in different atmospheres. Personally, I think it would be nice if we could have a lead pony, like in the United States, that might help to calm him down. But we don't have that system in the JRA.” Takahisa Tezuka, trainer of Masquerade Ball | Emma Berry Instead of the services of a lead pony and outrider, Tezuka can call upon one ofJapan's most acclaimed jockeys, the French import Christophe Lemaire, who is currently leading the jockeys' championship and made his first partnership with the Shadai Farm homebred a memorable one by winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) on November 1. It was quite the performance given that it was Masquerade Ball's first run in five months after finishing second to Croix Du Nord in the Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun). “In the Derby at Tokyo he was second and looking back at his record at Tokyo racecourse we know that he is really good there. That was one of the reasons that we chose the Tenno Sho after the summer break,” Tezuka says. “We used the summer break to give him a rest as we didn't want to train him during the summer heat.” The trainer, who has previously saddled Win Marilyn for victory in the Hong Kong Vase, may consider a foreign foray for Masquerade Ball when he returns to training next year. Tezuka also has plenty of respect for this year's international visitor to Tokyo. “He's only a three-year-old and he still has some maturing to do and I am not sure how well he will adapt to a different environment,” he says. “So at the moment I am just focusing on the domestic races for him and I don't have a specific race in a specific country in mind. [Travelling abroad] will be one option for him next year but it will be up to what the owner wants to do.” That happens to be Teruya Yoshida, a man with a greater global outlook than most and whose Shadai Farm is seeking a first win as owner in the Japan Cup. Of taking the challenge overseas, Tezuka adds, “Japanese horses need more than ability. They need to be able to adapt to their surroundings, to the undulations of the courses. Sending horses abroad always goes with the experience, not only for the horses but for the trainers or the staff who will take care of the horses daily. But we have to keep challenging overseas. “This year the Japan Cup will be a bit different. We have had several overseas-trained horses here for the past few years but Calandagan is a bit different. I am very happy that Masquerade Ball is going to run against the current number one in the world in the IFHA rankings.” Durezza in his stable at Miho Training Centre | Emma Berry By Friday evening's gala dinner for the Japan Cup, Lemaire, who has for a long time now been adopted by Japanese racing professionals and fans as one of their own, arrived to a hero's welcome. Conducting interviews in fluent Japanese, English and his native French, he is understandably looking forward to having a favourite's chance to equal the record of five wins in the Japan Cup held by the evergreen Yutake Take. “It will be a tougher race against the older horses but Masquerade Ball has got plenty of talent, he's improving race after race and the trip will be perfect for him,” says Lemaire. “I'm quite confident of victory again this year. “Yutaka is a legendary jockey here in Japan and all around the world, so breaking or tying one of his records would be a big achievement. Five Japan Cups would be fantastic for me of course, but I won't focus on that particular number. I will just focus on Masquerade Ball and giving him the best trip I can to try to win the race.” Masquerade Ball will also be running against no fewer than three Derby winners. His conqueror this year Croix Du Nord – whose sire Kitasan Black won the Japan Cup in 2016 and then supplied Equinox, the horse who gave it world-leading status in 2023 – is joined by Danon Decile and Tastiera, the winners of the two previous years and by stallions who also boast Japan Cup form in Epiphanaeia, the winner in 2014, and Satono Crown, who was runner-up to Kitasan Black. Danon Decile had the measure of Calandagan when the pair met in earlier this year in the Dubai Sheema Classic and he was then fifth in the Juddmonte International on his further international endeavours in the UK. Tastiera, too, has been on his travels and won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong back in April. Then of course there are the returning dead-heaters from last year, Durezza and Shin Emperor, who finished joint-second behind Do Deuce (Heart's Cry), last year's Horse of the Year in Japan who is now at the Shadai Stallion Station. If Calandagan can't win then the Aga Khan Studs team would be happy with a victory for Siyouni's French-bred son Shin Emperor, the brother to Arc winner Sottsass, representing Breeders' Cup Classic-winning trainer Yoshito Yahagi. He is yet to win at the highest level, though the race he won in Riyadh in February, the Howden Neom Turf Cup, has recently been granted Group 1 status as a boost to the Saudi Cup undercard for next year. Tomohito Ozeki welcomes the press to his stable | Emma Berry Durezza is another reminder, along with Masquerade Ball, as to what a loss his sire Duramente was when he died at the age of just nine. Now five, Durezza landed the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) of 2023 and he returned from a leg fracture last year to post his valiant effort in the Japan Cup. He was also third behind Danon Decile and Calandagan in the Dubai Sheema Classic. “This is his third time racing against Calandagan so I am hoping he can finish in front of him in the Japan Cup,” says trainer Tomohito Ozeki, trainer of the dual Hong Kong Vase winner Glory Vase, as he shows a horde of marauding foreign press around his quiet stable at Miho. If there are other ways in which he'd rather spend his morning just 48 hours out from such a big race, he politely doesn't show it. He says, “[Calandagan] is the top-rated horse in the world and I think this will be a threat to my horse.” Another concern is Durezza's wide draw in stall 17 of 18, but Ozeki adds, “He was in 17 when he won the Kikuka Sho so perhaps it is a good number.” If you're looking for another good number, the sleek, dark brown Croix Du Nord, who loves to jump smartly and get on with it, breaks from gate two. Never mind all that, however. After a two-decade drought it's about time we had another European winner. So in this corner of TDN, to borrow the brilliant catchphrase of Georgia, daughter of the Aga Khan Studs racing manager Nemone Routh, we hereby declare ourselves to be CalandaFans. The post Japan Cup Home Defence Looks Strong; Just Don’t Tell the CalandaFans appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A host of big-race successes in 2025 has contributed to Billy Jackson-Stops scooping the bloodstock agent of the year award for the first time. The presentation was made ahead of the penultimate session of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale on Friday, with Geoffrey Howson, the Hon. President of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents, handing over the prize. Jackson-Stops said, “I am greatly honoured to be named Bloodstock Agent of the Year. One of the greatest achievements anyone can have in their industry is recognition from their peers, so to be acknowledged by Geoffrey and others at the FBA means the world to me. “I must thank my wife, Lily. Without her, I could not have achieved anything close to what I've been fortunate enough to accomplish. Her ability to work, run a house, and largely raise our two children on her own is the reason I'm able to travel and work as much as I do. She gives me the peace of mind to focus fully on my job, and none of this would have been possible without her.” He added, “I've also been extremely fortunate to work with great trainers. I will always be indebted to George Scott, who took me on when I returned from Australia unemployed in 2017. We've shared some of our greatest successes together, with hopefully many more to come. Tom Clover and Andrew Balding have also been tremendous supporters. Good trainers can make average agents look good, and I've been lucky to have those three in my corner. “Finally, all the Group 1 winners this year tie back, in one way or another, to my three biggest supporters. Al Rabban Racing originally owned Gewan; Michael Blencowe initially owned Royal Supremacy and still retains a share; and Shaikh Nasser owns both Caballo De Mar and Bay City Roller. Being able to repay these people with success at the highest level has been hugely rewarding, and I cannot thank them enough for their continued support.” The post Billy Jackson-Stops Crowned Bloodstock Agent Of The Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
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ive never bagged manawatu myself.Their stake level seem about right. from those comments you don't seem aware that the grass racks are the races that get the high turnovers in nz and are the meetings that run at a profit. its the income from the grass track meeetings that hrnz will need to continue, to cross subsidise the loss making clubs. -
Way less than that. At the mo, NZTAB is getting 10% of it. Next year, I'll either not bet at all or solely in another jurisdiction again.
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