|
|
Voila Ici, Fifty Proof settle in ahead of Japan Cup VOILA ICI (Daylami [Ire]), Italy's representative for the November 28 Japan Cup (Jpn-G1), touched down at Narita International Airport on Friday morning at 7:10 a.m. and was then transported to the JRA Horse Racing School Quarantine Center in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture, where he arrived shortly before 11 a.m. Assistant trainer Sergio Urru said that the journey seemed to have had no effect on the five-year-old gray, and that his condition was normal. "We'll just be waiting for instructions from the trainer as to what we'll be doing for work," Urru said. "But, there are no plans to do anything too heavy while at the racing school. We'll likely pick up the pace gradually." Voila Ici is trained by Vittorio Caruso and owned by Scuderia Incolinx. Last year's highweight older horse in Italy, he has compiled a career record of 20-11-4-2. Voila Ici comes off a second-place finish as the defending champion in the Premio Roma (Ity-G1), and his 2010 resume also includes a victory in the Premio Federico Tesio (Ity-G3) and a runner-up effort in the Premio Presidente della Repubblica (Ity-G1). Voila Ici has raced outside of Italy only once, but that single foray to France resulted in a narrow score in the 2009 Prix Maurice de Nieuil (Fr-G2). Jockey Mirco Demuro, who has ridden him in all but his first two starts, will stick with him in the Japan Cup. Demuro, well versed in Japanese racing after several stints there, won the Japan Cup aboard the locally-based Screen Hero in 2008. Demuro will be guiding Voila Ici over the horse's very first race run to the left. Canadian hopeful FIFTY PROOF (Whiskey Wisdom) arrived Thursday morning at Narita International Airport. The four-year-old gelding traveled from Canada to Japan with a stopover in Chicago to arrive at 8:20 a.m. Thursday and was then transported to the JRA Horse Racing School Quarantine Center, where he arrived at 11:18 a.m. Tyler Gaskin, assistant to trainer Ian Black, said all was well. "His body temperature is at its best and he is as he always is," Gaskin said. Plans were to bring Fifty Proof onto the track on Friday. "Then, we'll await further instructions from the trainer." Black is not new to Japan, having fielded Rahy's Attorney (Crown Attorney) in the 2008 Mile Championship (Jpn-G1). Rahy's Attorney finished about 3 3/4 lengths off the winner in ninth place. The lightly-raced Fifty Proof currently sports a mark of 9-4-3-0 and exits a fifth-place finish in the Canadian International S. (Can-G1) run at Woodbine on October 16. He was runner-up the previous month in the Northern Dancer Turf S. (Can-G1). Fifty Proof will be paired in the Japan Cup with his regular rider, the 30-year-old Canada native Justin Stein, who has been riding since 2005.
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
