Gentildonna aims to close strongly with win in Japan Cup

Gentildonna partnered with jockey Ryan Moore to win the Dubai Sheema Classic at the Meydan last March. Moore will be aboard again for the Japan Cup. Pawan Singh / The National

Sunday may be the last time the world sees Gentildonna on a racecourse as the Dubai Sheema Classic winner bids to sign off her extraordinary career with a third consecutive win in the Japan Cup in Tokyo.

The five-year-old mare seeks to make it 10 career wins from 18 starts and heads an exceptionally strong cast of Japanese runners in the 2,400-metre Grade 1 contest.

British jockey Ryan Moore has been in Japan for a fortnight to apply the gilt to Gentildonna’s preparations and rode her in her final fast work 11 days ago.

The exercise impressed trainer Sei Ishizaka, who said that Gentildonna will definitely be retired at the end of the season.

“She moved as she always does,” he said. “Moore said he thought she felt good and better than last year. I think she’s switched on and knows the race is coming. It’s a strong line-up, so I’m looking forward to seeing how well she’ll do.”

Ishizaka is wise to not take his opposition lightly.

Just A Way, the world’s highest-rated horse, and Harp Star, Japan’s champion three-year-old filly, are just two of the 14 domestic horses standing in the way.

Japanese horses have won the Japan Cup for the past eight years, but Godolphin’s Trading Leather, Germany’s Ivanhowe and Up With The Birds, Canada’s 2013 Horse Of The Year, are in line to break the hegemony and secure a 15th victory for foreign raiders since the race was first run in 1981.

Just A Way secured a swaggering success in the Dubai Duty Free at Meydan in March, a victory that teed up Gentildonna’s win in the Sheema Classic 45 minutes later. Like Gentildonna, Just A Way has raced just four times this season, although trainer Naosuke Sugai was not convinced his five year old had fully recovered from finishing eighth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in October.

“He was up to peak for the Arc and we went into it with expectations high, he quickened well at the end even when things got tight but it is one tough race,” he said. “As the top-ranking horse in the world, I want him to give us a race that won’t be an embarrassment. He has come along well and physically there are no problems.”

Harp Star has displayed a blistering turn of foot this season and if Yuga Kawada had ridden her more prominently in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe the three-year-old filly would certainly have finished better than sixth.

Harp Star was last on the home turn into the short straight at Longchamp but covered the final three furlongs in a lightning 33.5 seconds.

Unlike Just A Way, trainer Hiroyoshi Matsuda said that he has a filly blessed with an iron constitution.

“Mentally, she’s very mature and so her forte is that she can go anywhere and not be affected by it,” he told the Japan Racing Association.

“After coming back from overseas and with all the hauling her around, she hasn’t shown any signs of fatigue and hasn’t had any mishaps, which is the most important.”

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