Juvenile Males In The Spotlight in Asahi Hai Futurity

[Wandering Eyes]

Resistencia (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) provided her sire with a noteworthy multi-jurisdictional Group 1 double when taking out last Sunday’s G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies S. and the 2-year-old males are set to feature in this weekend’s G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. over the same course and distance.

Koki Maeda’s Bien Fait (Jpn) is one of 25 winners and the lone graded winner from the first crop of Kizuna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who carried the North Hills red-and-pale-blue silks to victory in the 2013 G1 Tokyo Yushun en route to being named that season’s champion 3-year-old. Bien Fait has not finished outside of the quinella in his four trips to the races, having won the G3 Hakodate Nisai S. (1200m) from the front in July before finishing runner-up to Taisei Vision (Jpn) (Turtle Bowl {Ire}) in the G2 Keio Hai Nisai S. (1400m) at Tokyo Nov. 2. He looms as the main speed from gate two and should strip fitter for the comeback run.

Taisei Vision finished well to fill the second spot in the Hakodate Nisai before producing a telling burst of speed in the stretch to best Bien Fait by a solid two-length margin in the Keio Hai last time. He gets an extra furlong to work with this time around, with Yutaka Take taking over from Christophe Lemaire.

“He ran well last time, and my image of him is settling well in a race and then producing his turn of foot at the finish,” said Take, in search of a first win in the race. “He can pull a little, so getting him relaxed in the run will be one of the keys. Also the distance and the outer course are things to consider. There aren’t many Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds, and there are a lot of good horses in the race, but he’s certainly one of them and has a chance.”

Salios (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) is one of two in the race for the Silk Racing Co. partnership, whose flagship galloper Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) will be favoured in next Sunday’s season-ending G1 Arima Kinen. A debut winner on the G1 Yasuda Kinen undercard at Tokyo June 2, the chestnut has just one appearance since, a 1 1/4-length success in the G2 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup at headquarters Oct. 5. Ryan Moore takes the ride.

Lauda Sion (Jpn) (Real Impact {Jpn}) is the other Silk Racing entrant and comes into the Asahi Hai with a pair of wins either side of a closing third to Meiner Grit (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) in the G3 Kokura Nisai S. Sept. 1. Christophe Lemaire retains the mount on Lauda Sion and renews his partnership with Almond Eye next weekend.

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