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His name is Big Arthur and he is the emerging giant of racing in Japan.
On Sunday at Nakayama he will command the spotlight in the 50th running of the G1 Sprinters Stakes, the second of Japan’s major sprint events following the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March.
The aptly-named Big Arthur won this year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen and came back from a summer layoff with a resounding prep win on September 11 in the Centaur Stakes at Hanshin, leading for the first time in his career and for a wire-to-wire victory under the topweight of 58kg.Big Arthur stands tall and weighs in at over 520 kg. If he can win the Sprinter’s Stakes he will become the fifth runner in the race’s history to capture both of the top sprint events in the same year.
He will be having his first start on the tricky Nakayama track and the draw is certain to determine what tactics are adopted on the expected favourite.Four horses in the past 10 years have captured the Sprinters Stakes going wire to wire and four favorites have also won the race over the past decade.
A serious rival will be Mikki Isle, runner-up to Big Arthur in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen but yet to win a G1 sprint.Excelling in earlier years at the mile, the now 5-year-old first was also third in last year’s Takamatsunomiya before a fourth in the Sprinters Stakes.
Veteran trainer Hidetaka Otonashi is gambling by running Mikki Isle first-up since his second to Big Arthur in March.“I did consider running him in the Centaur Stakes but there isn’t much time in between races and with the long trip to Nakayama, I figured he’d get too tense,” Otonashi said.
“I expect Big Arthur to be sitting back and targeting him so Mikki Isle is going to have to be in good enough shape to shake him off.”The 5YO mare Bel Canto is also conceded a good chance to record her first G1 win at her third attempt to win the Sprinters Stakes.
She finished 5th in 2014 and only 13th last year but is again in good form, earning top points in the Summer Sprint Series by taking a top three spot in three of the six designated races with a first, second and third in three G3 events.However only two Summer Sprint Series champions have fared well in the Sprinters Stakes with Sans Adieu in 2007 and Hakusan Moon in 2013 both finishing second.
Bel Canto will be ridden by Masayoshi Ebina for the first time while her trainer and former jockey Koichi Tsunoda is gunning for his first G1 win since he took up training six year ago.Tsunoda won the Sprinters Stakes aboard Hishi Akebono in 1995.
Other prospects include the G3 Keeneland Cup winner Blanc Bonheur.A daughter of Deep Impact, Blanc Bonheur beat Shuji other Sprinters Stakes hopefuls Let’s Go Donki and Solveig in the Sapporo race from a wide gate.
Blanc Bonheur, who ran third in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last year, carried only 51 kg at Sapporo. She rises to 53kg for the Sprinters but stil has 4kg less than the top weight.The entries include an abundance of good three-year-olds – Shuji, Solveig, Nac Venus and Blanc Bonheur – who have competed with cfredit against the older horses.
Solveig captured the Hakodate Sprint Stakes, Blanc Bonheur the Keeneland Cup and Shuji ran second in the latter.If all make the cut it will be the largest number of from the age group to take on the race since it moved to its current autumn slot. However only one 3YO has won the race – Aston Machan in 2007.
At the other end of the scale is the veteran 8YO Snow Dragon, winner of the Sprinters Stakes in 2014 when it was held at Niigata racecourse.Snow Dragon had 14 months off due to leg problems and came back this year to run third in the Ocean Stakes, followed by five other starts including a seventh in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and a fifth last time in the Centaur Stakes.