Gold Ship, Gentildonna top 12-horse Takarazuka Kinen

Defending champion Eiichi Kobayashi's five-year-old Gold Ship and 2012-13 Japan Cup winner, the

five-year-old mare Gentildonna, lead an

outstanding field of 12 starters for Sunday's 55th running of the Grade 1, $2.749

million Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse for an automatic berth into

the Breeders' Cup Turf.

The Takarazuka Kinen, to be run at 1 3/8 miles for

three-year-olds and up, is the fourth automatic qualifier for the Turf this year in

the Breeders' Cup Challenge, a series of 71 stakes races whose winners earn

starting berths, and fees paid, into the Breeders' Cup World Championships at

Santa Anita Park on October 31-November 1.

As a part of the benefits of the Challenge series,

Breeders' Cup will pay the $60,000 entry fee for the connections to start in

the Turf and provide a $40,000 travel allowance if the Takarazuka Kinen winner

is nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by October 20. All horses from Japan

are eligible for the Breeders' Cup travel allowance.

The field for the Takarazuka Kinen is selected by the fans

through a popular vote conducted by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). Gold Ship

received the most votes for this year's race. A gray son of Stay Gold,

trained by Naosuke Sugai and ridden by Norihiro Yokoyama, Gold Ship won last

year's race by 3 1/2 lengths. He later finished a disappointing 15th in the

Japan Cup.

He comes into this year's Takarazuka Kinen off a

seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho Spring on May 4 at two miles after

getting a bad start, which was due to a gate handler "whacking" Gold Ship before

entering the gate, according to Sugai. He has won four-of-five career starts at

Hanshin, most recently the Grade 2 Hanshin Daishoten Stakes at 1 7/8 miles in

March.

"The jockey (Yokoyama, who will be riding Gold Ship for the first time) has

had contact with him, ridden him, and the horse is much more relaxed with him

now. Of course, his movement is good," Sugai said recently on

Japanracing.jp. "It is a real honor to have won so many votes from the fans. I

really want them to be able to see a good run from him, a strong Gold Ship, one

fitting of all the support."

Gentildonna, a six-time Grade/Group 1 winner campaigned by Sunday Racing,

won last year's Japan Cup by a nose over Denim and Ruby. Since then, the Sei

Ishizaka-trained bay daughter of Deep Impact finished sixth

in the Grade 2 Kyoto Kinen on February 16 prior to a splendid performance in the

Group 1 Sheema Classic going 1 1/2 miles a month later, winning by 1 1/2 lengths over Cirrus

des Aigles at Meydan.

A winner of eight-of-13 career starts, Gentildonna was third

in last year's Takarazuka Kinen.

"Everything looks in order and there's nothing I'm

concerned about her physically," Ishizaka stated. "If the track is fast, I think

she'll put in a good run."

Win Co. Ltd.'s six-year-old Win Variation received the

second most votes from the fans. A tough campaigner who has finished second in

four Grade 1 races, Win Variation has been battling injuries the past two

years but started out strong in 2014. He captured the Grade 2 Nikkei Sho Stakes

going 1 1/2 miles on March 29 at Nakayama by 1 3/4 lengths and followed up that effort with

just a quarter-length defeat to Fenomeno in the Tenno Sho at two

miles on May 4.

Last December, Win Variation, a bay son of Heart's Cry trained by Masahiro Matsunaga, was second to Orfevre in the

Grade 1 Arima Kinen.

Thus far, three horses have qualified for the Breeders' Cup

Turf, in which Magician is the defending champion. The recently retired Itsadundeel won the

Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick in

Australia in April; Sirwinsalot captured the Group 1 Gran Premio 25 de Mayo last month at San Isidro in Argentina;

and Bal a Bali won the Group 1 Grande Premio Brasil on June 8 at Hipodromo da Gavea in Rio de Janeiro.

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