Silver Ratio, a stay-at-home 3-year-old, raced past world travelers Wonder Dean and Finger in the final 100 meters to win the Oct. 7 Japan Dirt Classic, the final leg of the Dirt Triple Crown, by 1 length at Oi Racecourse.
The result denied Finger a sweep of the series, which started with the April 29 Haneda Hai and continued June 10 with the Tokyo Derby.
Silver Ratio, by Le Vent Se Leve, was reserved early in the 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4-mile) Classic. With jockey Takeshi Yokoyama up for the first time, he swung wide into the stretch and, with Finger tiring from the pace, closed quickly on the new leader, Wonder Dean. The latter had no answer and settled for second with Coeli Vento 4 lengths farther back in third.
Silver Ratio finished in 2:04.
"Around the far turn, I had a good feeling from him, and when we hit at the top of stretch, I thought we would be able to make it and I gave him a go sign," Yokoyama said.
"As (trainer Kenji) Nonaka says, he is still improving, and we believe he has much more to improve, and that is what we are looking forward to."
Nonaka said the colt's schedule remains a work in progress.
"After this race, we evaluate how he came out of this race and discuss next plan with the owner," he said. "We obtained the right to run in JBS Classic, and of course it is one of the options.
"With this victory of the last leg of the Triple Crown, we were so happy as one of our aims was attained. We have many options at this stage. As he still has much to improve as time goes by, we will focus on one race at a time, and aim for a bigger stage."
Owned by Sunday Racing, Silver Ratio backed up his victory in the Unicorn Stakes (G3) May 2 at Kyoto Racecourse and a runner-up finish behind Finger in the Tokyo Derby. The win was his fourth overall to go with three seconds.
His sire also won the Unicorn and the Japan Dirt Derby in 2018, then stepped up to win the Champions Cup (G1) later that year.
While Silver Ratio slowly built his foundation at home, Wonder Dean made his mark overseas. He had one win and two seconds from four starts as a 2-year-old in Japan. Sent directly on the world tour at 3, he finished fourth in the Saudi Derby (G3) on Valentine's Day in Riyadh, then earned a spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1) by winning the UAE Derby (G2) March 28 in Dubai..
The Dee Majesty colt used the Derby ticket and finished eighth—a showing that might reflect an Equibase running line that reads "bumped, squeezed, blocked." The Dirt Classic was his first race since that roughhouse.
Finger stayed at home through the first half of the year, laying the groundwork for a hoped-for tilt at the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). He reeled off four wins and four seconds in eight starts dating back to last fall, capping that string with a win in the Tokyo Derby.
Trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka opted to send Finger to the United States for an early pre-Breeders' Cup test in the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) Aug. 22 at Del Mar. He was never involved in that race and jockey Keita Tosaki eased him home last of 11.
With the Breeders' Cup bubble burst, Tanaka opted to bring Finger home and recalibrate to the Dirt Classic.
Another with global ambitions, Pyromancer, settled for fifth in the Dirt Classic. He won his first three starts in Japan, including the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, a leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Abandoning that series, he finished third in the UAE Derby, took a short break, and returned with a second-place finish in the Leopard Stakes (G3) on the dirt at Niigata Racecourse Aug. 9.
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