Becrux draws post 17 in Mile Championship

Daiwa Major (outside) looms as the horse to beat at Kyoto (Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Jockey Club)

The Neil Drysdale-trained BECRUX (Ity) (Glen Jordan) has wound up in

post 17 in an 18-horse field entered in Sunday's Mile Championship

(Jpn-G1) at Kyoto Racecourse. Now in its 24th running, the prestigious

event was opened to international entries in 1998, but no foreign horse

has taken the prize. For Becrux to score a landmark victory here, he

must defeat an all-star cast over a right-handed turf course.

Chief among them is defending champion DAIWA MAJOR (Sunday Silence),

who was honored as Japan's top sprinter and miler in 2006, and added the

Asian Mile Challenge (AMC) trophy to his resume this season. The

six-year-old didn't turn in one of his best efforts when finishing a

well-beaten third in the March 31 Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1), the second

leg of the AMC series, but he bounced back with a determined victory

in the coveted Yasuda Kinen (Jpn-G1),

the fourth and final AMC race on June 3.

Daiwa Major's most recent outing, a rough-trip ninth as the defending

champion in the 1 1/4 mile Tenno Sho (Autumn) (Jpn-G1) on October 28,

has the look of a complete throw-out. Regular rider Katsumi Ando will

guide the champion from post 8.

Tenno Sho (Autumn) runner-up AGNES ARK (Agnes Tachyon) and

third-place finisher COMPANY (Miracle Admire) will also line up in the

Mile Championship.

Becrux is the only international shipper, and the only gelding, in the Mile Championship (Benoit Photo)

Becrux will get the services of English jockey Ryan Moore as he faces the

stiffest challenge of his career.

The hero of the 2006 Woodbine Mile S.

(Can-G1), Becrux finished a creditable sixth as the defending champion two

starts back, beaten a total of 3 3/4 lengths by Shakespeare. Underscoring the

depth of this season's Woodbine Mile, runner-up Kip Deville (Kipling) came back

to capture the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1).

A two-time winner of the Wickerr H. at

Del Mar, Becrux is coming off a rallying third in the about 6 1/2-furlong

Morvich H. (G3) at Oak Tree.

On Friday, Becrux jogged one lap on Kyoto's dirt track, and Drysdale outlined

his itinerary.

"After a jog around the course, we schooled the horse in the paddock as

planned," the horseman said. "He's in the same good condition. Tomorrow, we'll

probably do a canter on the dirt course."