The St Leger winner Continuous (Jpn), a son of the late Shadai stallion Heart's Cry (Jpn), is set to return to the land of his birth to take on Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in the Japan Cup on November 26.
Fifth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after his Classic success, the colt missed Saturday's Champion S. with a raised temperature.
“But he's back fine, he's back cantering again, so the plan with him is to go to the Japan Cup,” said trainer Aidan O'Brien on Racing TV.
“We were delighted with his run in the Arc. Ryan [Moore] took his time, like he always does with him, and the pace just went a little bit slow in the middle of the race and that was the way it was, but he came home very well.”
Moore is familiar with Tokyo racecourse and was aboard last year's Japan Cup winner Vela Azul (Jpn) (Eishin Flash {Jpn}) for trainer Kunihiko Watanabe. Continuous's sire ran in three consecutive Japan Cups and was beaten just a nose when second to the Luca Cumani-trained Alkaased in 2005.
O'Brien added, “It's a race we've never won and you need a good horse to win it, so it would be great if we could be competitive in it.
“It'll suit him all right, because he's a good traveller, he can handle fast and soft ground, it doesn't matter. He's got a great mind and he's got a lot of ability that horse – he's probably better than everyone thinks he is.”
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