Arashi will go after his second straight score when he goes postward in Saturday's $250,000 Cup & Saucer Stakes at Woodbine.
A 1 1/16-mile event for Canadian-foaled 2-year-olds run over the E.P. Taylor turf, the 86th running of the Cup & Saucer has drawn 10 hopefuls, including Arashi, an Ontario-bred son of Karakontie (JPN)-Don't Tell Lou.
Bred and owned by Sangreal Investments, LLC, the bay finished fifth in his debut, a 6 ½-furlong sprint over the E.P. Taylor on July 23.
One race later, the Gail Cox trainee fought on gamely to finish second in a one-mile race over the same surface but was elevated to first after an inquiry.
“I think he's a very nice horse who is also very mature when he runs,” said Cox. “He'll go through traffic, he doesn't care where he is in the race, and he'll run hard. His pedigree and how he runs shows that he is a turf horse. I like him. He did become a winner because someone got their number taken down – and that horse didn't interfere with us – but I still think Arashi ran a very big race there.”
Cox, who won the 2011 edition of the Cup & Saucer with Hard Not to Like, is pleased with how her rookie gelding is coming into his first stakes test.
“He had really worked quite well heading into his first start and then on from there. I have trained others from the family that weren't as good, so when he first came to us, you weren't expecting a lot.”
Arashi, which means storm in Japanese, has had a series of steady works ahead of Saturday's engagement, including a five-furlong breeze, in :59.00 over the Woodbine Tapeta on October 7.
“He actually has an odd personality. He's quite mean, very mean, but good when you're on him, which is the important part. In the stall, not so much. You have to be very careful in the stall. I don't know why, but now we have a good system in place with him. He paddocks wells, he's good in the gate, and he's not worried where other horses are. He's trained forwardly every start. He's a very good work horse.”
The groom is Carlos Balbuena.
Other hopefuls include the Mark Casse trio English Jubilee, Magic Slips, and My Boy Prince, and Kevin Attard trainees King Rosso, War Painter, and Zippy Gizmo.
Hall of Fame trainer Jim Day has won 10 editions of the Cup & Saucer, including seven straight runnings from 1984-1990.
Saturday's 11-race card also features the $150,000 Ontario Fashion (G3) and $150,000 Ontario Matron (G3).
The Cup & Saucer is slated as the eighth race. First post time is 1:15 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com, bet365, and the Dark Horse Bets app.
Cup & Saucer Stakes
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – King Rosso – Kazushi Kimura – Kevin Attard
2 – Arashi – Justin Stein – Gail Cox
3 – My Boy Prince – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
4 – English Jubilee – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
5 – Pontiac – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Barbara Minshall
6 – Magic Slips – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
7 – War Painter – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
8 – Awesome Entry – Eswan Flores – Krista Cole-Simpson
9 – Bearing Down – Luis Contreras – Philip Hall
10 – Zippy Gizmo – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
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