The big-money dirt races in Dubai and Saudi Arabia lured away some of the major players but the February Stakes (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse Feb. 20 retains plenty of interest with the likes of defending champion Cafe Pharoah and the white filly Sodashi.
The February Stakes is a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge race, offering a free entry and travel allowance for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 5 at Keeneland.
Another potential Breeders' Cup connection was lost when Marche Lorraine, the 2021 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner, passed up her entry in favor of a trip to Saudi Arabia where she holds a ticket to the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1). She joined the likes of Japan's 2021 dirt champion, T O Keynes, and Chuwa Wizard in seeking riches in the desert.
Those staying behind make up a more than respectable field, albeit with things to prove.
Cafe Pharoah, a 5-year-old by American Pharoah , went into a serious slump after winning the 2021 February Stakes, finishing fifth and then ninth in relatively minor stakes before reporting 11th in the Champions Cup (G1), won by T O Keynes. On the plus side, he's 3-for-3 on the Tokyo Racecourse dirt.
Yuichi Fukunaga, recently recovered from an injury suffered in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (G1) in December, takes the reins aboard Cafe Pharoah and said he has "had some good contact with the horse in training.
"I don't think the race will be easier than the Champions Cup," Fukunaga said, "and despite one or two runners being missing, there are still horses with overseas experience in the field. A good position from the start will help him and his efforts at Tokyo before should also be a plus."
A bit of shine has come off Sodashi, too. The striking, pure-white daughter of Kurofune won her first five starts, then hit the wall in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1), finishing eighth. Three months later she was back in form, defeating Loves Only You in the Sapporo Kinen (G2). But then she got home 10th in the Shuka Sho (G1) on the turf and 12th in the Champions Cup in her first start on the dirt.
Sodashi's trainer, Naosuke Sugai, said, "Something like the way she ran in the Sapporo Kinen, getting to the front and running with a good rhythm, would be what I'd like her to do."
Another prospect, Red le Zele, a 6-year-old by Lord Kanaloa, wouldn't need much improvement to better a fourth-place finish in last year's February Stakes. He moved along from that to finish second a year ago in the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (G1) and has been rested since setting a course record in winning the JBC Sprint at Kanazawa Racecourse last Nov. 3.
"Being by Lord Kanaloa, he's steadily getting stronger," trainer Takayuki Yasuda said of Red le Zele. "He is probably better now compared to last year, when he finished fourth in this race. He has developed nicely and I think he can put in another big run.
"It was a bold run last time, when he got a clear run up the inside, where the dirt was deep, to win impressively," Yasuda added.
The 1,600 meters (about one mile) February is the first grade 1 event of the year in Japan and one of just two top-level dirt affairs on the annual calendar. Along with the Champions Cup in December, it can be expected to crown Japan's top dirt runner of the year.
Sixteen are entered for the race, which starts on the grass before joining the long dirt backstretch and heads through the one sweeping turn of the Tokyo layout.
