One week after star filly Almond Eye burnished her international credentials in the Japan Cup (G1), fellow sophomore Le Vent Se Leve confirmed his superiority on the Japanese dirt scene in Sunday’s Champions Cup (G1). The 4-5 favorite stalked the leader, drove clear in the stretch, and readily finished about 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.1, tying for the fastest time since the race moved to Chukyo in 2014.
G1 Racing Co. Ltd.’s Le Vent Se Leve warranted favoritism after proving his mettle versus elders last time out in the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, where he beat last year’s Champions Cup winner (and Japan’s champion dirt horse) Gold Dream. He’d previously scored three stakes wins in his own division, and with Gold Dream sidelined from a title defense, Le Vent Se Leve was the class of the field here.
Regular rider Mirco Demuro’s only pre-race question was whether the Symboli Kris S colt would break alertly from post 2. When he answered in the affirmative, the rest unfolded as in a playbook.
Le Vent Se Leve was parked in a rail-skimming second in the early going, with the filly Ange Desir setting a solid gallop. The favorite was full of run with nowhere to go on the far turn, but the outside stalker, Hiraboku la Tache, left a gaping hole once straightening for home. Demuro had the simple task of encouraging Le Vent Se Leve through the gap, and he drew off by 2 1/2 lengths.
“I didn’t want to be trapped behind horses starting from an inside draw,” Demuro said, “and he broke well so we were able to sit in a nice position. I let him cruise at his own pace and he responded with a fantastic turn of speed when I asked him once we found an opening at the stretch. He is a colt with great potential and a bright future ahead.”
Westerlund, last much of the way, closed stoutly to snatch second from Sunrise Soar. Ange Desir checked in fourth, while Hiraboku la Tache faded to ninth, and American shipper Pavel dropped back to last of 15.
Pavel’s connections cited the lengthy preliminaries, a 45-minute time span from being saddled until loading into the gate, as a factor.
“It’s so different here, the wait is so long, the horse lost his motivation, but racing here was a good experience,” jockey Mario Gutierrez said.
Doug O’Neill’s assistant, Leandro Mora, echoed the theme.
“He was good and ran a good race but as Mario said, it was a long wait and when he loaded into the gate, he was all quiet and you could tell that he had lost his racing mood. But that’s racing and I am pleased with him.”
Aside from the style of victory, Le Vent Se Leve offers a parallel to Almond Eye in another respect: both three-year-olds have lost only once so far, and otherwise appear a class apart. Almond Eye is expected to point for a turf event on Dubai World Cup night on March 30. Might we see Le Vent Se Leve at Meydan too, in the $12 million World Cup?
If so, Le Vent Se Leve would get the chance to strut the international stage that eluded him this season. Unbeaten at two, he jumped onto the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby in last December’s Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun. But any hopes of earning the Derby ticket were dashed when he was shelved over the winter. Trainer Kiyoshi Hagiwara brought him back in the April 1 Fukuryu, the occasion of his lone defeat when second to Don Fortis, whom he’d dismissed in the points race.
Le Vent Se Leve has been perfect since that reverse. The Champions Cup extended his streak to four, embracing the Unicorn S. (G3), Japan Dirt Derby, and Mile Championship Nambu Hai, and moved his overall mark to 8-7-1-0.
