Japan’s Breeders’ Cup Wins Voted ’21 Moment of the Year

The performances by Japanese-based Loves Only You (Jpn) and Marche Lorraine (Jpn) at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar last November has been voted the 2021 FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year based on the results of 3,000 votes cast via Twitter and an online poll, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Thursday.

The FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year will be recognized at the 51st Annual Eclipse Awards presented by 1/ST Racing, FanDuel Racing Group and the NTRA at Santa Anita Park at 8:30p.m. Feb. 10.

In addition to TVG and RTN, the ceremony will be streamed live on NTRA.com, americasbestracing.net  (ABR), Bloodhorse.com, DRF.com, Equibase.com, MyRaceHorse.com (YouTube), santaanita.com/live, Thoroughbred Daily News (www.theTDN.com), TOBA.org and XBTV.com.

In voting that concluded Feb. 2, fans voted for #JapaneseDuo as the top Moment of 2021. On 13 previous occasions, Japanese-based horses had failed to win a race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, but that changed at the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup when DMM Dream Club's Loves Only You won the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, giving Japan its first-ever Breeders' Cup triumph. Two hours later, U. Carrot Farm's Marche Lorraine shocked the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, winning by a nose at 49-1.

Moment of the Year voters had the opportunity to choose from 11 occurrences in 2021.

Following #JapaneseDuo in second place was #DiversityStepForward when George Leonard became the first African American trainer to compete in the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

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Appleby Adds Three On Wild Weekend

Del Mar, CA–Racing is a sport of great drama, but it is a fair bet that Charlie Appleby wouldn't have minded a bit less of it this weekend. The trainer enjoyed a banner meeting, recording his fourth, fifth AND sixth wins at the Breeders' Cup with the Dubawi (Ire) colts Modern Games (Ire), Space Blues (Ire) and Yibir (GB), all under William Buick in the Juvenile Turf, Mile and Turf, respectively. Appleby also saw two of his runners scratched at the gates-well, three, technically, with Modern Games sensationally re-instated before going on to win Friday evening's GI Juvenile Turf. “I can take a couple of them home fresh,” an always optimistic Appleby reasoned after winning his third race of the weekend.

After Albahr (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) had flipped in the gate on Friday evening and been withdrawn, it was a case of very unwelcome deja-vu on Saturday afternoon for Appleby and Team Godolphin when Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) reared violently in the stalls, hooking his legs over the side of the gate. And just as had happened the evening before, when the Godolphin second string was withdrawn, the first stepped up to the plate, with Space Blues (Ire) justifying favouritism-this time as a genuine betting interesting-to end his illustrious career on a high in the GI Breeder's Cup Mile.

As the racecourse chapter of Space Blues's story comes to a close, Yibir's is, hopefully, just beginning. Considered among the leading Classic prospects among the Appleby ranks this spring, Yibir never quite hit the heights hoped despite picking up placings in the G3 Classic Trial and the Listed Cocked Hat S., and was gelded. Stepped up to a mile and a half and beyond thereafter, Yibir at last began to hit his best stride, picking off the G2 Great Voltigeur S. and Jockey Club Derby Invitational. As a gelding, with options open all over the globe not least at Meydan in the backyard of his owner, it is likely the racing public will see plenty more of Yibir in seasons to come.

Godolphin undoubtedly welcomed an uneventful starting gate process for its Turf runners Yibir and Walton Street (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) following the theatrics of Master Of The Seas two races earlier, but the race wasn't without its drama, with Buick admitting afterwards that the 3-year-old had been tough to settle before he at last got into a rhythm in a joint last with the defending champ Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal). When the field swung into the short Del Mar straight, it was Ballydoyle representative Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) who hit the front with an explosive kick as Roger Varian's Teona (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) rallied down the middle of the track, but Yibir soon came storming past her on the outside and, in a well-timed ride under Buick, led home Broome and Teona for a decisive victory.

Breeders' Cup weekend was another monumental one for Dubawi, whose only previous winner at the world championships was Appleby's Wuheida (GB) when the event was last at Del Mar in 2017. The spread of races won by his progeny this weekend is yet another advertisement for the versatility and toughness of his stock.

 

Mares Mark Japanese Milestone

The Niarchos Family has been a staunch supporter of the Breeders' Cup since its inception, and on Friday evening was honoured with IFHA's International Award of Merit in Del Mar. While the Niarchos Family didn't have a runner for this year's championships, its legacy at the meeting was keenly felt through Japan's GI Filly & Mare Turf scorer Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). The 5-year-old mare, a Classic winner in her home country, is a descendant of Flaxman Holdings' first Breeders' Cup winner and its best-known horse, the champion racemare and producer Miesque.

Flaxman parted with Monevassia, a daughter of Mr. Prospector and Miesque, for $1.75 million as a 4-year-old at the 1998 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Monevassia is now best known as the dam of the dual Group 1-winning juvenile Rumplestiltskin (Ire) (Danehill), but she has in fact shone even brighter through her producing daughters. Rumplestiltskin herself left behind the high-class Tapestry (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and John F Kennedy (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Another daughter produced the multiple black-type winner Wild Wind (Ger) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), but the most prolific of Monevassia's daughters has been Loves Only Me (Storm Cat), who made her way to the Northern Farm broodmare band. The Deep Impact over Galileo cross has proven a highly prolific one, and from it Loves Only Me alone has produced Loves Only You, the G1 Dubai Turf victor Real Steel (Jpn) and the stakes horses Prodigal Son (Jpn) and Langley (Jpn). The victory of Loves Only You at the Breeders' Cup provides further pomp to the pedigree of Flaxman's own G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man (Jpn), whose first foals arrived this spring. Not only is he also a son of Deep Impact; he is very similarly bred to Loves Only You, being out of another granddaughter of Miesque, Second Happiness (Storm Cat).

Not only was Miesque the first Flaxman Breeders' Cup winner; she was also the first dual winner of a Breeders' Cup race when taking back-to-back GI Miles in 1987 and 1988. Loves Only You was herself providing a first Breeders' Cup winner for Japan, which has so enthusiastically pitched its runners at the world's best races in recent years. Just three races later, Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) sprang the upset of the weekend and provided Japan a day to remember when taking the GI Distaff in a thrilling finish from Dunbar Road (Quality Road). Like Loves Only You, the 5-year-old mare Marche Lorraine was bred by Northern Farm and is trained by Yoshito Yahagi, and she was partnered by Oisin Murphy. Murphy, fresh off his riding championship in Britain, has become synonymous with Japanese runners-in addition to spending time riding in the island nation himself, he was the regular partner of the beloved globetrotting Group 1 winner Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}). With three Breeders' Cup races-the Filly & Mare Turf, Mile and Turf-being beamed to Japan for betting for the first time since 2016, it is doubtless that the celebration in the country was supercharged, and it is a sure bet that the Breeders' Cup will see continued participation, and success, from Japanese runners in the future.

And so another Breeders' Cup is in the books, with the meeting once again advertising why it has been dubbed the world championships. The meeting rewarded some of its strongest supporters and saw new champions crowned, and certainly ensured that the world's best will continue to make the pilgrimage to America on the first weekend in November.

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Japan’s Marche Lorraine Pulls Off Distaff Shocker

Japan celebrated its first-ever Breeders' Cup victory three races earlier with logical GI Breeders' Cup F/M Turf heroine Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), and added a shocking tally in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff as 45-1 Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn})–also trained by Yoshito Yahagi–out-nosed 12-1 Dunbar Road (Quality Road) after the pace completely fell apart. GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Malathaat (Curlin) was third with a less-than-perfect trip, while heavily favored Letruska (Super Saver) never found her rhythm, chasing hot early fractions and backing out of it on the turn to finish second last.

Marche Lorraine won three of eight last term, all at the listed level, and kicked off her 2021 campaign with a pair of scores–in the TCK Jo-o Hai at Ooi in January and the Empress Hai at Kawasaki in March. She was third in Chukyo's G3 Heian S. against males over muddy ground in May, and eighth at 54-1 in the 10-panel Teio Sho June 30, again over a wet track and in open company back at Ooi. The bay entered this off a snug 1 1/4-mile victory in the Breeders' Gold Cup at Mombetsu Aug. 21, but looked a decided outsider on paper, and would've likely been tough for many take at less than 100-1, even with Sunday's TDN already in hand.

Marche Lorraine broke towards the back and was third last into the first turn as Letruska was beaten to the front by rail-drawn GII Zenyatta S. winner Private Mission (Into Mischief). They were clearly moving right along, and the splits were posted as :21.84, :44.97 and 1:09.70, with the crowd letting out audible gasps each time Larry Collmus announced another fraction. Letruska briefly took over entering the home turn, but last year's GI Kentucky Derby heroine Sherdaresthedevil (Daredevil) immediately pounced on her three deep and the closers were winding up to have their say. Marche Lorraine knifed through horses rapidly while joined by Royal Flag (Candy Ride {Arg}) approaching the stretch, and had a slight edge as they straightened. Four foes had legitimate chances to run Marche Lorraine down in the final furlong, but she kept plugging away bravely to just find the line from a lunging Dunbar Rode down inside.

“I didn't know a whole lot about Marche Lorraine,” admitted British champion jockey Oisin Murphy. “Her trainer, Mr. [Yoshito] Yahagi, I ride a lot for in Japan and a fair bit for overseas. I've ridden for him in Dubai and Hong Kong. And he doesn't normally travel unless they have a chance… I tried to ignore her odds and just give her every chance in the run and hopefully she could finish off. And to be honest, we were obviously a hostage to fortune, I sat out the back, and they went quite quick. So we needed them to do that, but it was a brilliant performance.”

The winning conditioner's translator offered: “Traveling with [one filly] from Japan wasn't the ideal plan, and so Marche Lorraine was a good partner for Loves Only You. And Marche Lorraine had three victories over turf in Japan [further back in her form] and Mr. Yahagi was thinking that for horses to be competitive in the dirt in the U.S., need to have some sort of speed, which means like winning turf races in Japan.”

Owner U. Carrot Farm is a syndicate which has campaigned the likes of Group 1 winners Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}). Marche Lorraine has some 400 shareholders and the club syndicates approximately 50-70 horses per year.

It was a frustrating week for top trainer Chad Brown, who had to scratch two of his best Breeders' Cup hopes in Jack Christopher (Munnings) and Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) before taking tough beats in both of the races won by the Japanese fillies.

“I need to watch the replay,” he said of Dunbar's Road's runner-up performance. “It's a tough beat. I thought we got the head bob, there. It's probably the toughest loss I've ever had. It's just a shame because it's two years in a row where she really should have won the Distaff. She got a bad trip last time too [when third]. No one can convince me otherwise. She had some trouble down the backside and she ended up on the inside where I really didn't want her. The track is better outside. It just happened that way. Jose [Ortiz] did the best he could and she gave a valiant effort. I'm really proud of her. It's a shame her career ended this way. I thought she was a deserving winner of this race.”

As for Letruska, who already seemed to have champion older mare honors in the bag before the Distaff, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said, “I think maybe she found the pace too fast. When it's :21 and :44, it's very difficult. When its :21 and :44, it's impossible to run with these fractions.”

Pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr. concurred: “They went too fast. They didn't want her to be on the lead. They went after her. She wants to run and I tried to slow her down as much as possible, but it didn't work out.”

Saturday, Del Mar
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF-GI, $1,840,000, Del Mar, 11-6, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:47.67, ft.
1–MARCHE LORRAINE (JPN), 124, m, 5, by Orfevre (Jpn)
               1st Dam: Vite Marcher (Jpn), by French Deputy
               2nd Dam: Kyoei March (Jpn), by Dancing Brave
               3rd Dam: Inter Charmant, by Bravest Roman
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. O-U. Carrot
Farm; B-Northern Farm (JPN); T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Oisin
Murphy. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 21-9-2-2, $2,845,677.
*1/2 to Sambre et Meuse (JPN) (Daiwa Major {JPN}),
GSP-Jpn, $732,441; 1/2 to Avenir Marcher (JPN) (Deep
Impact {JPN}), MGSP-Jpn, $671,564. Werk Nick Rating:
A+++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dunbar Road, 124, m, 5, by Quality Road
               1st Dam: Gift List, by Bernardini
               2nd Dam: Private Gift, by Unbridled
               3rd Dam: Private Status, by Alydar
($350,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Jeffery J.
Drown (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $340,000.
3–Malathaat, 121, f, 3, by Curlin
               1st Dam: Dreaming of Julia (GISW, $874,500), by A.P. Indy
               2nd Dam: Dream Rush, by Wild Rush
               3rd Dam: Turbo Dream, by Unbridled
($1,050,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Shadwell Stable;
B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher. $180,000.
Margins: NO, HF, HD. Odds: 49.90, 12.30, 3.60.
Also Ran: Clairiere, Royal Flag, Shedaresthedevil, Blue Stripe (Arg), As Time Goes By, Horologist, Letruska, Private Mission.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Marche Lorraine is one of three highest-level winners, 12 graded/group winners and 15 stakes winners for her sire, but the first outside of Japan. Orfevre (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) traveled with his talent as well, taking back-to-back runnings of the G2 Prix Foy in France in 2012 and 2013, only to settle for second in the G1 Prix de 'Arc de Triomphe both terms.

Broodmare sire French Deputy is now responsible for the dams of 15 Grade I/Group 1 winners from Asia, to Europe, to the U.S. and South America.

The dam of seven winners from as many to race, dam Vite Marcher is a daughter of MSW Kyoei March, making her a half to SW/MGSP Triumph March (Jpn) (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}). Vite Marcher produced a colt by Real Impact (Jpn) this term.

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