Benefiting from a superb tactical ride by Christophe Lemaire, Shadai’s homebred
HEART’S CRY (Sunday Silence) held off the late charge of hitherto unbeaten
phenom Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) to claim the Arima Kinen (Jpn-G1) by a
half-length on Sunday. While fans were stunned to see the even-money favorite
suffer his first career loss, Heart’s Cry was scoring his first victory at the elite
Grade 1 level. The four-year-old completed the 2500-meter test in 2:31 4/5 on
the firm turf at Nakayama.
In contrast to the ferocious early tempo in last month’s Japan Cup (Jpn-G1),
the pace in the Arima Kinen was much more sedate. Lemaire, taking advantage of
Heart’s Cry’s sharp break, guided the 17-1 shot to a handy stalking spot through
the deliberate early going. Meanwhile, Deep Impact had taken his customary
trailing position under Yutaka Take near the tail of the field. At the top of
the stretch, Heart’s Cry struck the front, Lemaire moving his mount earlier than
usual and cleverly stealing a march on the heavy favorite. Deep Impact had
unleashed his patented charge while very wide on the turn and then began to
narrow the gap, but he had been left with too great a tactical disadvantage to
reel in Heart’s Cry.
It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Lincoln (Sunday Silence) in third, with
Cosmo Bulk (Zagreb) fourth. The reigning Horse of the Year, Zenno Rob Roy
(Sunday Silence), ended his career on an unfortunate note, fading to eighth for
Kent Desormeaux. In another display of dominance, the late Sunday Silence sired
seven of the first eight finishers.
Heart’s Cry advanced his record to four wins and six places in 16 starts.
Although racking up his first Grade 1 win, the Kojiro Hashiguchi charge was no
stranger in this company. He had missed by a whisker in the Japan Cup, posted a
good second in the Takarazuka Kinen (Jpn-G1) in June and was a valiant
runner-up in the 2004 Japanese Derby (Jpn-G1) to the stylish King Kamehameha.
Out of multiple Japanese stakes victress Irish Dance (Tony Bin), Heart’s Cry
comes from the family of four-time American Grade 1 queen Stella Madrid (Alydar),
who is herself the dam of the champion older mare in Japan in 2002,
Diamond Biko (Sunday Silence).