ALMOND EYE GIVING HER OWNERS THE THRILL OF A LIFETIME
An interview with Silk Racing Club president Masashi Yonemoto
by DWC Notes Team Member Kate Hunter
Jockey Christophe Lemaire called Almond Eye a horse of a lifetime, and trainer Sakae Kunieda has called her a blessing. For Silk Racing Club’s president Masashi Yonemoto, the champion filly has been a dream come true. The club was last seen in Dubai in 2016 with Last Impact, who finished third in the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic. While that was not a bad first result at a Dubai World Cup Carnival, they definitely seem to be cooking with gas in 2019 with Almond Eye the one to beat in the Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World. DWC Notes Team Member Kate Hunter sat down with Yonemoto to learn more about his feelings on the filly and the Silk Racing Club who campaigns her.
Can you tell us a little bit about Silk Racing Club?
The racing club was founded in 1985 by other people and enjoyed a very successful period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2011, the club reorganised after several disappointing years, the farm they owned in Fukushima was sold to Northern Farm and became the Northern Farm Tenei training facility. I became the president and a syndication partnership was arranged with Northern Farm so that many of their horses would start going into the Silk Racing Club.
You have been enjoying a lot of success over the past few years? What do you credit this success too?
The Tenei property, though still being developed to this day, has become an amazing facility for our horses to train at and we have perfected communication between the farm and trainers so our horses are able to go to the JRA facilities as close to the condition the trainers want them in for upcoming races. The team has been fine-tuned and are working together very well.
I noticed that your club offers 500 shares per horse and Almond Eye was roughly US$600 a share. Why do you offer so many shares when other clubs offer as few as 10 to 40?
The club had always had 500 shares, so that is a bit of a legacy, but also Silk Racing Club is for everyone. We want to make sure anyone can enjoy racing as an owner regardless of personal income, age, or ability to be a JRA licensed owner or not. We have a very diverse membership in our club who get to enjoy the thrill of watching their horse race.
On to the topic everyone is clamouring about, Almond Eye. What does a horse like this mean for you personally?
For me it has been a real dream come true and to win the Filly Triple Crown on its own was such a thrill. To follow that up with her performance in the Japan Cup was surreal. The thrill is hard to describe but I always find myself almost immediately worrying about her or my other horses and hoping they have come back from the race OK. It is also so exciting to have the opportunity to travel abroad with a horse of this calibre, another dream come true. I hope we can do well with her and participate in many other races around the world, with both Almond Eye and other horses from the club in the future.
Probably the most popular question posed to both your jockey and trainer this week has been about the decision to run in the Dubai Turf versus the Dubai Sheema Classic. Can you give us your take?
We discussed the options with both her jockey Christophe Lemaire and her trainer Sakae Kunieda after the Japan Cup and decided that the Dubai Turf was best for her on multiple levels. Coming off a long layoff, the distance would be good for a first race and the fact that the Dubai Turf has been a consistently highly rated race. For example, after winning it Just a Way went on to be the 2014 Longines World’s Best Racehorse. On many levels it was the best choice for her at this time.
There has been much speculation recently on where she will go from here. What is the plan for Almond Eye after Dubai?
Honestly there is absolutely no plan for her after Dubai. We are taking it one step at a time. She has a clear slate from April 1 until we see how she runs in Dubai, and how she comes back from the trip. Then we will discuss with options with her trainer, Mr. Kunieda, to hear his recommendations. Yes, hopefully the Arc will be our target in the fall, on the condition that this weekend goes the way we also hope it will. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves planning, for her sake and ours. We want to stay focused on the race that is before us and do our best in the moment.
BEING BRAVE IN A NEW WORLD
by DWC Notes Team Member Mariko Seki
Consistent and solid are the most suitable words to describe KT Brave, the Japanese contender for the Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline.
The KT comes from his owner’s name, Kazuyoshi Takimoto, who runs an electrical equipment manufacturing company. The horse was foaled in the Hidaka region, one of the most prolific breeding areas in Japan, Hokkaido. His breeding farm, Okano Farm, is not a big breeding operation with only a few mares but has consistently produced graded horses during its 50-year-history.
After finishing eighth in his debut start over the turf as a 2-year-old, the now 6-year-old KT Brave was switched to dirt and has never looked back, winning 11 times with 8 seconds and 6 thirds in 33 career starts over the surface.
Sired by Admire Max, who was a two-time Hong Kong traveller and the 2005 G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner, the stunning chestnut horse with a big blaze and four socks first showed his ability in the G2-Hyogo Championship over 1870m at the (second-tier) National Association of Racing’s Sonoda Racecourse. He beat then 3-year-old Gold Dream, who would later become the JRA champion dirt horse of 2017, by seven lengths and was never off the board for the rest of his 2016 campaign.
His first Grade 1 triumph came in the 2000m Teio Sho at Ohi racecourse in June 2017. During the rest of the season he raced very consistently in another six graded stakes races, never finishing worse than 5th and usually hitting the board. In January of 2018, he captured his second Grade 1 title in the Kawasaki Kinen before collecting his 11th win and third at the highest level in the JBC Classic at Kyoto racecourse last November.
“He is actually a multiple graded race winner at the NAR circuits and winning with him in the JRA has been my target ever since he was transferred to my stable from his former trainer (Tetsuya Meno) due to his retirement early last year,” said his 38-year-old conditioner Haruki Sugiyama.
“I was very grateful to the owner to let me handle such an experienced and talented horse.” Sugiyama continued, “I have been training him to shift his balance from his foreleg to his hindquarters to create more of a burst power for the speed type of racing dirt tracks in the JRA.”
Despite his flashy achievements in the NAR circuits, KT Brave has yet to win at the more recognised JRA-graded stakes level. However, he showed recent promise in both the Tokyo Daishoten (G1) and Kawasaki Kinen (G1) and the Meydan dirt seems to be to his liking.
After his final breeze on Wednesday Sugiyama said: “Upon to his arrival in Dubai, he was a bit tense and did not eat up well but once he acquainted himself with the surroundings, his appetite was back, so I could give him a fast workout as planned.
“His regular jockey Yuichi Fukunaga has told me the horse should be suited for the dirt at Meydan. From his movement in his gallop he was able to cope with the surface well, and I can reconfirm the track suits him. He races on the pace or can sit off the pace, so I wanted to have a good draw so he can run his race. Unfortunately, we drew 11 which will be fine as it is not the extremely outside. We will discuss tactics with the jockey later on this week.”
Joao Moreira will be on board KT Brave on Saturday, and perhaps the “Magic Man” can help this ultra-consistent performer deliver another good placing on the highest stage of all.
ANOTHER BRIDGE TO CROSS FOR CHARLIE APPLEBY
by DWC Notes Team Member Martin Kelly
Melbourne Cup day is one which Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby will never forget and he gets the chance to showcase his brilliant winner Cross Counter in the Dubai Gold Cup sponsored by Al Tayer Motors on Saturday night.
Not only will the local fans be able to see the 4-year-old on his first start since that fabulous Flemington victory, but His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will also be present at Meydan to watch proudly as Cross Counter tackles nine rivals in the 3200m staying prize.
HH had his first runner in the Melbourne Cup when Authaal was 19th in 1988, and after further numerous tries, including three seconds and three thirds, Cross Counter was the horse to provide the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai with a win in the race which stops a nation.
“Running Cross Counter on Saturday will be an opportunity for His Highness to see the horse on the biggest race day in Dubai, and also for Godolphin fans here to give the horse a welcome home,” Appleby said.
“It was a very exciting day down in Australia and the Melbourne Cup is a race Godolphin had been competing in for over twenty years so it was a special day and is one which I will never forget.”
Cross Counter is the winner of five of his eight starts and rocketed from a handicap win at Ascot last summer to break the track record at Goodwood, finish second to stablemate Old Persian at York before trouncing the field in the Melbourne Cup.
“After he won at Ascot we thought he might be a horse for Australia – Adam Kirby rode him that day and he held him up and the horse picked up well,” Appleby said.
“We saw the year before what a 3-year-old can do in the Melbourne Cup with Joseph O’Brien taking Rekindling down there but you still have to have a classy 3-year-old to do it. Once he stepped up and did what he did at Goodwood and broke the track record that day we were pretty confident we were heading down the right rack with the right horse.”
Kerrin McEvoy was in the irons for the Melbourne Cup and brought Cross Counter with a daring late charge from the back of the field to beat Marmelo by a length.
“Watching the Melbourne Cup it maybe did look as we had a lot to find in the race, but having Kerrin in the saddle is a huge bonus,” Appleby added.
“We had the right horse and we had the right jockey but the draw in 19 wasn’t ideal. I wouldn’t be one who knows how to ride Flemington well but they say you need to hold onto that run until you get to the tower and there is no better man than Kerrin to know when to start your run in the Melbourne Cup – and it worked out brilliantly.”
Appleby has been pleased with Cross Counter’s preparation at his picturesque Marmoom racing stables, and has high hopes for the unexposed young stayer.
“He is a class animal and this is his first start of 2019 but he is an exciting horse for this year,” Appleby concluded.
“He is taking on classy stayers this weekend but he is a horse himself who has done really well from three to four and he brings some very strong 3-year-old form to the table.”
Whether that form is strong enough, time will tell, but having such a significant horse present on World Cup night is huge for HH and the Dubai racing scene.
CAN SNOW THUNDER HOME AGAIN?
by DWC Notes Team Staff
Already the only horse to have won both the UAE Derby and Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline, Godolphin’s Thunder Snow will bid to become the first dual winner of the latter again this Saturday with the world’s most valuable horse race’s prize-money elevated from US $10million last year to $12milllion this.
Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, seeking to add to his record eight Dubai World Cup victories, the 5-year-old entire son of Helmet has been a star for connections and, as well as his UAE feats, is also a dual Group 1 winner on turf in Europe,
Having won his juvenile debut at Leicester in May 2016, it took him five more efforts to record a second victory, landing the Group 1 Criterium International in the October of that year on the first time he was partnered by Christophe Soumillon, who has been in the saddle for every subsequent outing bar one, when he was suspended on Super Saturday 2018.
He was then campaigned in Dubai and the 2017 Dubai World Cup Carnival, he and Soumillon easily winning the 1600m Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas before, on Dubai World Cup night, registering a narrow success in the 1900m Group 2 UAE Derby,
Sent to Churchill Downs seeking to provide his owners and trainer a first Kentucky Derby success, he was pulled up shortly after the start having ‘bucked and kicked’ throughout the early stages of the race.
Back in Europe and on turf, he was runner-up in the Irish 2000 Guineas and third at Royal Ascot in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes before doubling his tally at the highest level when victorious, again in France but at Chantilly, in the Prix Jean Prat.
After two defeats he returned to Meydan for the 2018 Dubai World Cup Carnival and contested all three rounds of the Al Maktoum Challenge, finishing second in the first over 1600m, winning the middle leg over 1900m and, when Soumillon was suspended, finishing second in the 2000m third round.
Three weeks later, over the same 2000m, he and Soumillon achieved their, to date, crowning glory with a smooth success in the Dubai World Cup before three more 2018 outings which culminated with a close third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November.
He was then given a deserved break until Super Saturday three weeks ago when again second but after Bin Suroor had forewarned everyone his stale star would need the outing.
“The plan after the Breeders’ Cup was always to freshen him up after a busy year and wait for Super Saturday,” Bin Suroor said. “We were very pleased with that comeback run because he very much needed it and has certainly improved a lot for it.
“He did his final serious piece of work on Saturday and we were delighted with him so we are looking forward very much to Saturday.
“He won the UAE Derby on World Cup night two years ago and the World Cup itself 12 months so we very much hope he can make it three consecutive years.
“Obviously it is a tough race and we have not seen the draw yet but he proved last year he could over come a wide gate so we are not too worried about that.”
Soumillon added: “He performed pretty much as we expected on Super Saturday when we knew he was going to need the run so, in the circumstances, he ran well for a long way. The three weeks since should have put him spot on and the team are very happy with him.”
HAPPY TRAILS FOR BIN HARMASH
by DWC Notes Team Member Howard Wright
As with the Olympics, it’s the taking part that is most important for Emirati trainer Ahmad bin Harmash when he saddles New Trails as his first runner in the Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) at Meydan on Saturday.
The ex-French-trained 5-year-old son of Medaglia D’Oro is not considered a leading chance for the win but that does not concern Bin Harmash. Just having a horse good enough to run in the world’s richest race is reward in itself.
“It’s a dream come true and a real challenge,” he said from his Al Aasfa stable, situated in the peaceful surroundings of the desert area at Marmoom, close by the training area overseen by Charlie Appleby for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The connection with HH Sheikh Mohammed does not end there. The UAE vice president was instrumental in giving former endurance rider Bin Harmash his chance to train, and he also gifted New Trails, whom he bred through his Darley operation, to his present owner Hamdan Sultan Ali Alsabousi last year.
Originally prepared by Andre Fabre in France, New Trails won on his only start as a 2-year-old, but was beaten twice in the early part of his second season and after a break of 18 months he began his dirt career in Dubai as a 90-rated gelded handicapper.
Bin Harmash takes up the story: “He had been working regularly from mid-July and won impressively first time out at the beginning of November. We knew he was good, but obviously he allowed us to dream big after that.”
New Trails and his regular rider, stable jockey Connor Beasley, have continued to fulfil the dream, rising through the ratings to a current mark of 111 with an easy success in a stronger handicap and an excellent second to North America in the Al Maktoum Challenge R2.
Although New Trails was only fourth behind all-the-way winner Capezzano in the Al Maktoum Challenge R3 subsequently, Bin Harmash believes this was not his true form. “That run was intended to ensure his invitation for the Dubai World Cup and to plan his last work-out for it,” he reasoned.
Now in his sixth season as a trainer, bin Harmash has already beaten his previous best score with 20 winners, and he will have five runners in total on the Dubai World Cup programme, including three – Walking Thunder, Golden Jaguar and Superior, all owned by the Phoenix Ladies Syndicate – in the UAE Derby sponsored by The Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2).
Bin Harmash spent six years as assistant trainer to Mubarak bin Shafya, whom he succeeded at Al Aasfa in late-2013, and he appreciates that running a successful racing stable owes much to teamwork.
The point was illustrated by his own assistant Alessandro Marconi, who summed up the sense of anticipation being felt in the yard by saying: “Ahmad and all the team have been working as hard as we could and it will be nice to have horses performing at the top level and promoting the UAE.”
SEEKING THE SOUL KNOCKING ON DOOR OF A MAJOR WIN
by DWC Notes Team Member Jennifer Hoyt
Connections of Seeking the Soul thought so highly of the regally-bred colt that they threw him straight into the deep end when they entered him in the 2016 Belmont Stakes off a maiden victory.
He would finish 12th that day behind Creator, but did show a glimpse of belonging in the major races when he won the 2017 Grade 1 Clark Handicap, 17 months later. On Saturday, he could claim the spot as the leading handicap horse in the world with a break through win in $12 million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline.
“He’s a real tough horse and he trains hard,” said trainer Dallas Stewart, who trains the 6-year-old Perfect Soul horse for longtime client Charles Fipke. “He’s a real honest horse. He’s kind of a macho man. He does his job. He looks great, travels well. He’s won on several different racetracks. He set the track record at Keeneland in an allowance race, so we know he’s a good horse.”
Stewart and Fipke had hoped to run Seeking the Soul in the Dubai World Cup last year, but those plans got derailed when the horse exited his fifth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup with an injury and they ended up coming with their champion mare Forever Unbridled instead. Seeking the Soul returned to the races last July and enters the World Cup off back to back second-place finishes in both the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) last November and the Pegasus World Cup (G1).
“He had an injury after last year’s Pegasus and missed quite a few months,” Stewart said. “He healed up good and came out of it good. After the Breeders’ Cup, we began thinking about this race. We had hoped to run in the Classic, but he didn’t get in, so we ran in the Dirt Mile. He ran terrific. Then we ran into the same horse (City of Light) in the Pegasus. He knows how to fight with the big boys.”
Stewart compared getting Seeking the Soul ready for the Dubai World Cup to a prize fighter getting ready for a big fight.
“I think we’re ready,” Stewart said. “I like the way he’s training. I like his attitude. He’s very bold about himself. It’s like going into a heavyweight fight. You have to be ready. You’re stepping into the big arena. And, everyone is watching. You have to have the horse with the right attitude. He has the right presence about him to handle himself on the big stage. He’s been on the big stage before. The Pegasus is a big stage. The Clark is a big stage. Same with the Breeders’ Cup. He’s a big stage horse and can prove that on one of the biggest stages Saturday.”
When asked what it would mean for him if Seeking the Soul were to step up and win on Saturday night, Stewart replied, “It would be great for me and it would great for the horse. He’s ready for the big stage. He’s a great horse and it’s going to be a great night.”