Japan made history at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar, as the country sent out a pair of ground-breaking winners in the form of the well-fancied Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the GI Filly and Mare Turf and with the improbable Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) in the GI Distaff. Both were conditioned for separate ownership interests by Yoshito Yahagi, a familiar face on the international stage.
With a little more than two weeks to go before the 2025 renewal–also to be contested at Del Mar–Breeders’ Cup is listing no fewer than nine Japanese-based horses with championship weekend ambitions, as the country tries to broaden its footprint at this particular meeting.
To follow is a brief overview of the entrants, a few with previous Breeders’ Cup experience, but the bulk of whom would be less recognizable to the American audience.
FOREVER YOUNG (JPN) (4c Real Steel {Jpn}, Classic)
In many eyes the best dirt horse ever produced by Japan, the son of American Grade II winner Forever Darling (Congrats) makes a third trip to the States for the Classic, where he rounded out the trifecta underneath his close relation (on the female side) ‘TDN Rising Star’ Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in last year’s main event. Subsequently the winner of a G1 Saudi Cup for the ages last February, he was a shell of his true self when third in the G1 Dubai World Cup Apr. 5 and got a well-deserved break. The $720,000 JRHA Select Yearling was surely underdone when winning the Listed Nippon TV Hai on Oct. 1 (see below, SC 7) and will improve for the effort. Enough to win? Anyone willing to say it’s out of the question?
ALICE VERITE (JPN) (5m Kizuna {Jpn}, Distaff/FM Turf)
A homebred for Makoto Kato, Alice Verite was a Group 3 winner on the turf during her 4-year-old season in 2024 before making her first–and only–appearance on the dirt when beaten just under seven lengths behind eventual Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) into fourth after atypically not making the running in the Distaff. From four starts this term, she was a pacesetting fifth, beaten a length, in the G1 Victoria Mile in May (see below, SC 18) and was eighth in Group 3 company over nine grassy panels in early August. The bay is listed as possible for either a return trip to the Distaff or the Filly & Mare Turf, though she has never been beyond 10 furlongs.
AMERICAN STAGE (3c Into Mischief, Sprint)
As many as three Japanese runners could be headed to the GI Sprint. A $500,000 Keeneland September purchase, American Stage went on a three-race tear at the tail end of his juvenile season that had Yahagi thinking outside the box going forward. Sent across to Dubai for the Carnival, the bay was a sound second to the outstanding Tuz (Oxbow) in the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal (video, SC 12) and gained a run in the Apr. 5 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, finishing sixth and not all that far behind Dark Saffron (Flameaway). American Stage did all the heavy lifting in an Oct. 5 allowance on a rain-affected track at Kyoto and was chinned on the wire at odds-on (video, SC 9). Forever Young’s jockey Ryusei Sakai has a record of 1-3-1 from five rides on the colt and is likely to have the call at Del Mar.
American Stage | DRC/Liesl King
DRAGON WELDS (3c Frosted, Sprint)
This $72,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $150,000 OBS April breezer has three wins from seven starts on the main track at six and seven furlongs, including a dominating four-length score from the front in two-win allowance company at Niigata Aug. 9. He was drawn very wide for his latest and was forced to settle off the pace going 1400 meters on two weeks’ rest at Chukyo and finished willingly to just miss third, beaten a length for all of it.
PURO MAGIC (JPN) (4f Asia Express, Sprint/Turf Sprint)
This paternal grand-daughter of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Henny Hughes cost a little more than $217,000 and has more than earned her keep with a pair of Group 3 successes on the grass, including the Aug. 3 Ibis Summer Dash (see below, SC 6), where she clocked :53.70 over the always quick straight course at Niigata. The bay was last seen in the G1 Sprinters’ Stakes on Sept. 28, where she was in the thick of it into the final furlong before fading into eighth in a race dominated up front, repeating her 2024 finish.
FEE BLANCHE (JPN) (5m Real Steel {Jpn}, FM Sprint)
Campaigned in the green-and-white hoops of the Carrot Farm syndicate, Fee Blanche has recorded half of her six career victories on the tracks of the National Association of Racing (NAR circuit), where the standard is far lower than that of the Japan Racing Association tracks, but whose black-type contests races attract some of the better JRA horses. A five-length winner at Urawa in April, she achieved her career high-water mark two back, winning the one-mile Listed Sparking Lady Cup at Kawasaki in July (video, SC 7). She would be cutting back off a fourth in the nine-furlong Listed Ladies Prelude at Ohi in early October.
INVINCIBLE PAPA (AUS) (c, 4, Shalaa {Ire}, Turf Sprint)
This Arrowfield Stud-bred colt was sold for A$200,000 (US$135,723) at the 2023 Inglis Easter Sale and surprisingly proved to be an effective runner on the dirt, winning five of his eight starts while dipping a toe into group competition. The bay has made his two most recent appearances on the grass, finishing a close fourth at Group 3 level at Hakodate in June before causing a 12-1 upset in the G3 CBC Sho at Chukyo in August (video, SC 17). That win came at the expense of June Blair (American Pharoah), a big second in the Sprinters’ last time.
ARGINE (JPN) (5m Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}, Mile/Distaff/FM Turf)
Argine is listed as a possible runner in any of three Breeders’ Cup events. A Group 3 winner over a mile at the back end of last season, the homebred has been in good nick this season, with a comebacking near miss in a Group 2 mile in April followed by a fourth–beaten a neck–in the G1 Victoria Mile (see Alice Verite above). She stretched back out to 1800 meters for her latest and proved a neck best in the G3 Queen Stakes at Sapporo Aug. 3 (see below, SC 10). All 14 of her career starts have come on the grass, but there are dirt influences on both sides of her pedigree and her second dam is One For Rose (Tejano Run), a three-time Sovereign Award winner and three-time graded winner on the main track.
SWITCH IN LOVE (JPN) (2f Contrail {Jpn}), JF Turf/Juv. Turf Sprint)
The third of the Yahagis penciled in for the Breeders’ Cup, this $1.2-million JRHA Select Foal got the job done by a nose on Chukyo debut Aug. 17 (video, SC 2) and settled for a runner-up effort trying winners for the first time at Hanshin Sept. 20. From the first crop of this Japanese Triple Crown-winning sire, the Mar. 23 foal is one of three winners from as many to race out of a winning daughter of Switch (Quiet American), victorious in the 2010 GI La Brea Stakes and GI Santa Monica Stakes and twice placed in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Switch in Love carries the colors of DMM Dream Club Co Ltd, who also campaigned Loves Only You.
AloJapan.com