RESULT - 2009 SPRINTERS STAKES - G1

1200 m / 6f

6th LEG GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE

TRACK: Firm                   

One for the cameras: Laurel Guerreiro wins the Sprinters Stakes

The sixth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge produced one of the closest finishes in Sprinters Stakes history, but it did not involve the eight-race series leader Scenic Blast.

Takamatsunomiya Kinen champion Laurel Guerreiro edged B B Guldan by all of one centimeter to win the 43rd Sprinters Stakes on Sunday at Nakayama Racecourse, becoming just the second horse ever to complete the Japan Racing Association’s spring-autumn sprint Grade 1 double. The winning time by the sixth choice was 1 minute, 7.5 seconds over 1,200 meters on firm turf, half a second off the race record set by Trot Star in 2001.

Favorite and Grade 2 Centaur Stakes winner Ultima Thule faded on the home stretch and took fifth in her Grade 1 debut.

“I’m just glad we won today,” jockey Shinji Fujita said during the post-race press conference. “To be honest, I thought we may have been at a disadvantage at the wire. It was just really hard to tell because there was a lot of space between us and the horse on the outside.”

Australian Racehorse of the Year Scenic Blast, who went off as the third pick and bidding to cash in the US$1 million Global Sprint Challenge bonus with a third Grade 1 victory in three different countries, came in last under new partner Mark Zahra as the only foreign horse in a full field of 16, less defending Sprinters Stakes champion Sleepless Night who was retired earlier in the week due to injury.

The first overseas entry in the Sprinters Stakes in three years, the 5-year-old Scenic Blast, who still leads the Global Sprint Challenge by a comfortable 19 points after winning the Coolmore Lightning Stakes and the King’s Stand Stakes, will have to wait until December to uncork the champagne when he runs in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint.

Before a crowd of just under 46,000 on a sunny afternoon at Nakayama, the 5-year-old Laurel Guerreiro jumped on to the lead from the start and pushed the pace through the first 600 meters at 32.9 seconds before turning for home along the railing, with B B Guldan, under veteran Katsumi Ando, closing in fast to his outside.

After clearing the hill on the 310-meter straight, the two horses appeared to crash the wire at the same time and it went to the photos to determine the new Sprinters Stakes champion. But the finish was so close that the review required almost 15 minutes before Laurel Guerreiro was declared the narrowest of Grade 1 winners. Kanoya Zakura, two-time defending champion of the JRA’s Summer Sprint Series, came in third more than a length behind the top two.

Both Fujita and trainer Mitsugu Kon had not been confident ahead of the race following the King Halo son’s 14th-place performance in the Centaur Stakes at Hanshin on Sept. 13.

“His last performance left a lot to be desired, and I definitely had my doubts for this race,” said Fujita, who won his first Sprinters Stakes. “He lost by too much for a Grade 1 champion, and because he is a Grade 1 champion, I didn’t want to blame it on the 59 kilograms he had carried.

“He breaks well as he always has, but he’s been really struggling to pick up the pace these last two races. I think if we went up against a pure speedster, he probably wouldn’t be able to grab the lead.

“There’s such a huge difference in his result today from the last race that I don’t know what to make of all this. He was in much better form for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen; there’s no comparison. For him, I think it’s better that he stuck to 1,200 meters rather than running in the mile. But full credit to him; he really toughed it out today.”

Added Kon, who also won his first Sprinters Stakes and after the race announced plans for Laurel Guerreiro to run in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint on Dec. 13: “I would have settled for a tie. The horse was far from being in top condition, and I was just counting on him to dig deep. I think he showed a lot of pride as a Grade 1 champion today.

“There was a period of time when he couldn’t win, but now he’s got two Grade 1 titles to show for and I couldn’t be happier for him. He’ll definitely get better as the year progresses, and if he can win a Grade 1 race in the form he was in today, you have to likes his chances (in Hong Kong).

“The heat got to him in the summer, and he came back to us having lost a lot of weight. He seemed to switch on when the jockey worked him this week, and that may have made the difference because he’s a horse who feeds off his emotions.”

Laurel Guerreiro, out of Big Tenby, is 5-for-26 for his career with earning of more than 482 million yen.

GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE POINTS TABLE AFTER 6 LEGS

2009 SPRINTERS STAKES

NAKAYAMA Racecourse

SIXTH LEG 2009 GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE

Sunday 4 October 2009

3.45pm (Local Time) 5.45pm (AUS Eastern Standard Time)2.45pm (Hong Kong Time) 7.45am (UK Time)

Scenic Blast Ready To Take On Strong Japanese Field

Australian Racehorse of the Year Scenic Blast will have to get past a strong domestic field in the Sprinters Stakes if the 5-year-old from Down Under is to wrap up the Global Sprint Challenge title – as well as the US$1 million bonus – in the sixth race of the series at Nakayama this weekend.

The Danny Morton-trained Scenic Blast – the only foreign entry for the Oct. 4 Sprinters Stakes after Hong Kong’s Sacred Kingdom pulled out last week – holds a 17-point lead at the top of the table thanks to wins in the first two legs of the Global Sprint Challenge, the Coolmore Lightning Stakes at Flemington and the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Scenic Blast, who arrived in Japan last Wednesday after passing up on the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes last weekend won by Ultima Thule, is coming off a 10th-place finish among 13 in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket won by Fleeting Spirit, the Jeremy Noseda-trained filly currently at second place in the Global Sprint Challenge on 15 points.

Art Connoisseur, winner of the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, is fifth on 11 points behind J J The Jet Plane in third (14 points) and Cannonball in fourth (12 points).

Victory in the Sprinters Stakes – or the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint in December, the Global Sprint Challenge finale – would give Scenic Blast his third Grade 1 win in three different countries, making the connections eligible for the US$1 million bonus, US$750,000 of which goes to the owner, US$250,000 to the trainer.

The bonus would come on top of the Sprinters Stakes’ first-place prize money of 95 million yen from a total purse of more than 202 million yen – the richest sum of the eight races in the Global Sprint Challenge.

Should Scenic Blast capture the Sprinters Stakes, the gelding will move up to 52 points – points are doubled for horses racing away – and qualify for the Global Sprint Challenge championship; a minimum of 42 points and entry in three different jurisdictions are needed to win the title. Hence, there was no champion last year or in 2007.

With Fleeting Spirit, J J The Jet Plane and Cannonball all unlikely to race in both the Patinack Farm Classic on Nov. 7 at Flemington and the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, Scenic Blast can become the first Global Sprint Challenge winner since compatriot Takeover Target should he come in first in the Sprinters Stakes.

Yet Scenic Blast will have to overcome history as well as a tough group of Japanese horses to top the 43rd Sprinters Stakes. Since the Global Sprint Challenge was launched in 2005, only two horses from abroad have managed to win the Sprinters Stakes; Hong Kong star Silent Witness won it that year, followed by Takeover Target in 2006.

The best and brightest of the Japan Racing Association’s sprinting circle will fill out the rest of the 16 gates to host Scenic Blast. This years Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Laurel Guerreiro, to Grade 3 Keeneland Cup holder B B Guldan to the new Centaur Stakes champion Ultima Thule, the opening race of the Japanese autumn Grade 1 season may not be kind to the lone visitor.

The 5-year-old, Shadai Race Horse-owned Ultima Thule turned in a superb performance to win the Centaur Stakes by more than two lengths ahead of Sleepless Night, in what is the only Grade 2 race of the Global Sprint Challenge. After the Sept. 13 victory at Hanshin Racecourse, Ultima Thule will undoubtedly be among the favorites in a very close competition along with the likes of 2008 Centaur Stakes winner Kanoya Zakura, 3-year-old filly Grand Prix Angel – third in this year’s NHK Mile Cup – and the Sunday Silence-sired 7-year-old Soldier’s Song, who took bronze in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen after Laurel Guerreiro.

Whoever wins the Sprinters Stakes, however, will have to conquer a tough 1,200 meters at the Chiba Prefecture circuit. The race starts with a downhill of 200 meters to the first turn, which curves over 400 meters and leads into a sharper final bend heading into the 310-meter home stretch known for its steep uphill during the last 200 meters. While Nakayama tends to favor an inside draw, the Sprinters Stakes has proven to be a level playing field, with horses from the No. 1 post to No. 15 finishing inside the top three during the last decade.

The Sprinters Stakes was set up in 1967 as Japan’s only handicapped race at 1,200 meters for 3-year-olds & up, and was given Grade 3 status in 1984. The race was bumped up to Grade 2 three years later to serve as a major prep race for the Yasuda Kinen.

The Sprinters Stakes joined Grade 1 company in 1990, when it was fixed a week ahead of the Arima Kinen in December as the finale to the sprint season. The Sprinters Stakes was opened to international entries in 1994, and was moved to its current slot on the calendar in 2000 to launch the JRA’s fall Grade 1 campaign.

ULTIMA THULE WINS THE CENTAUR STAKES

Ultima Thule has always had the potential. Now she’s starting to show it.

Ultima Thule on Sunday fast emerged as a candidate to win the upcoming Sprinters Stakes, the Shadai Race Horse-owned mare and the fifth pick producing a sweeping victory of two and a half lengths in the Centaur Stakes at Hanshin Racecourse.

The 5-year-old Ultima Thule blew away some of the best names in the Japanese sprinting circle in the fifth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, such as 2008 Sprinters Stakes champion Sleepless Night – who took second on this afternoon – this year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Laurel Guerreiro, and the Centaur Stakes’ defending champion Kanoya Zakura.

“She was very tough today,” Masami Matsuoka said in the post-race interview. “She had a nice, easy trip and it allowed her to finish strong. She’s a horse with tremendous class, and I’m glad that she had the result to show for it today.

“She’s been showing a lot of progress over her last three races, and she’s just racing really well right now. I hope we can repeat the performance in the next race.”

While Trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi’s 5-year-old duo of Sleepless Night, the race favorite, and Kanoya Zakura, who came in fourth, managed to save face, Laurel Guerreiro was not so fortunate with a humbling 14th-place finish among 15 after setting the pace at 59 kilograms in his first race since the Yasuda Kinen back in June.

Ultima Thule, ridden by Matsuoka, won the 1,200-meter race in a time of 1 minute, 7.8 seconds for her first graded victory. The daughter of Fuji Kiseki had taken third to Kanoya Zakura in her last race, the 1,000-meter Ibis Summer Dash in yielding conditions at Niigata in July.

Both Matsuoka and trainer Masashi Okuhira had been raving all long about the upside of Ultima Thule, who will surely head to the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes on Oct. 4 at Nakayama as one of the favorites after an electric performance on Sunday on firm going at Hanshin.

Ultima Thule, who has had her career derailed for well more than a year because of injury, broke well from the No. 16 post in a field reduced to 15 after the last-minute withdrawal of 8-year-old Kyowa Roaring, the winner of the Grade 3 TV Nishinippon Corp. Sho Kitakyushu Kinen at Kokura in 2007.

Matsuoka let Laurel Guerreiro, under Shinji Fujita, guide the pack, positioning his mount at an easy third until unleashing Ultima Thule along the final straight. As Laurel Guerreiro faded, and Sleepless Night and Kanoya Zakura unsuccessfully tried to cut down the lead, Ultima Thule pulled away from the competition with each stride – she went through the first 600 meters in 33.9 seconds, the latter in 33.9 seconds – in what turned out to be a stunning and sensational run for the wire. Cosmo Bell, the 5-year-old long-shot at 11th choice, finished third.

Ultima Thule, out of Air Thule, is 6-for-10 for her career, and has taken her earnings to more than 135 million yen.

- Courtesy of Japan Racing Association

RESULT - 2009 CENTAUR STAKES - G2

1200 m / 6f

5th LEG GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE                  

GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE POINTS TABLE AFTER 5 LEGS

2009 CENTAUR STAKES

Hanshin Racecourse

FIFTH LEG 2009 GLOBAL SPRINT CHALLENGE

Sunday 13 September 2009

3.35pm (Local Time) 4.35pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

The Centaur Stakes may be a Grade 2 race, but it is far from secondary in terms of significance.

It marks the start of the second half of the eight-race Global Sprint Challenge; it is the fifth and final leg of the Japan Racing Association’s Summer Sprint Series; and it kicks off another exciting season of Japanese autumn racing lined up with international races galore.

The Centaur Stakes, named after the half-man, half-horse Greek myth character, was set up in 1987 as a Grade 3 competition at Hanshin Racecourse over 1,400 meters before being adjusted to the current distance of 1,200 meters in 2000. It received international status in 2005 along with the launch of the Global Sprint Challenge, and was upgraded to Grade 2 in 2006, becoming more and more essential to the JRA’s fall fixtures over the years.

The Centaur Stakes has been able to accept up to eight overseas entries since 2007, when Japan earned promotion as a Part I nation. No foreign horses, nevertheless, will be taking part in the race this Sunday afternoon after the four selectees - Inxile, Regal Parade and Tax Free all trained by David Nicholls, as well as 3-year-old filly Serious Attitude - all withdrew.

The Hanshin course, renovated just three years ago, remains mostly flat apart from the final 800 meters. It dips over the next 600 meters before a steep rise of 50 meters leading to the finish line. Unlike the old Hanshin track which was much tighter and partial to some wild results, the new course is widely viewed as a more fair ground for racing, but requiring more stamina to go along with the pace.

- Courtesy of Japan Racing Association

SLEEPLESS NIGHT, WINNER OF 2008 SPRINTERS STAKES IS ONE OF THE EARLY FAVOURITES FOR SUNDAY'S CENTAUR STAKES