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Hong Kong Mile will be Grand Prix Boss' swansong
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| Grand Prix Boss and...
(Hong Kong Jockey Club) |
Yoshito Yahagi is bidding to become the JRA champion
trainer for the first time this season, and he is also hoping his Grade 1-winning
miler Grand Prix Boss can bow out with another top-class success in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile on Sunday, December
14.
Grand Prix Boss, making his career
swansong in the Mile, will be one of the 10-strong Japanese contingent -- the largest ever
--
participating in this year's Hong Kong International Races (HKIR), and is
among a quartet from that country engaged in the Mile.
With eight race days remaining in the current JRA season,
Yahagi is currently locked in a close battle for the JRA trainer premiership. He
and Kazuo Fujisawa are inseparable at 50 wins apiece. But the 53-year-old
trainer, whose best JRA season so far was in 2009 when he ranked second to
Fujisawa, will turn his attention to Hong Kong on December 14 when his stable's
flag-bearer features in the HK$23 million mile showcase for a second time.
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Yahagi reported that the Sakura Bakushin O six-year-old, winner of Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes in 2010 and Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup in 2011, will retire to stud
after the Hong Kong Mile.
"The next start is his final career start before going to
stud in the New Year. We just keep doing our best for him. The Hong Kong Mile is
very much a worthy race for his last run," he said.
It will be the third overseas race for the prolific miler.
In his two previous overseas adventures Grand Prix Boss finished 12th in the
2012 Hong Kong Mile behind Ambitious Dragon -- who will re-oppose this year -- and
eighth behind the mighty Frankel in the Group 1 St James' Palace Stakes at Royal
Ascot in 2011.
After finishing a nose second behind the world's
highest-rated horse, Just a Way, in the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen in June, Grand Prix Boss
ran a fair sixth in his latest effort in the Grade 1 Mile Championship at Kyoto
on November 23. Yahagi
said his charge has come out of the race brightly.
"He was very fresh and full of beans after the Mile
Championship. He will go into this race in good condition and hopefully he will
avenge his previous defeat in Hong Kong a couple of years ago," said Yahagi, who
previously saddled Super Hornet to run fifth behind Good Ba Ba in the 2008 Hong
Kong Mile.
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| ...World Ace arrived for the Hong Kong Mile under the cover of darkness
(Hong Kong Jockey Club) |
Yahagi's peer, Yasutoshi Ikee, is another top Japanese
trainer plotting victory in the Hong Kong Mile. The 2008 JRA champion
trainer, son of former trainer Yasuo Ikee who prepped Stay Gold to a famous win
in the 2001 Hong Kong Vase, looks to World Ace in the Mile.
The five-year-old son of Deep Impact won the Grade 2 Yomiuri
Milers Cup at Kyoto in April and subsequently finished a fair fifth in the Yasuda Kinen before
filling the eighth spot last out in the Mile Championship.
"In the Mile Championship, he actually did not show his
true form at all," said Ikee, who this time has booked Hong Kong Champion jockey
Zac Purton for the ride. "He started sluggishly and the jockey tried to push him
hard, but then he was not settled until going into the final turn.
"I think we can ignore his performance last time. The slightly softer track
at Sha Tin will be his only issue."
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Ikee revealed that World Ace was unsettled upon arriving at the quarantine
facility in Japan but has since settled and is in good order for his trip to
Hong Kong.
"When he moved to the quarantine stable, he became tense
and was not settled. But thankfully there are lots of other horses staying at
the same quarantine stable, so he was soon relaxed again," he said.
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