A promising field has turned out for Wednesday’s Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki Racecourse in Japan, the second leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.
Points are up for grabs on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis to the top five finishers in the 1,600-meter (about one-mile) contest, and there’s a chance all those points will be grabbed by horses representing the Japan Racing Association (JRA) circuit. Kawasaki is part of Japan’s National Association of Racing (NAR) circuit, which focuses on dirt racing at a generally lower tier than the JRA. When JRA and NAR horses meet, JRA horses often hold the advantage.
Five of the 12 horses in the 2023 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun field represent the JRA. They’ll seek to emulate the talented JRA runner Derma Sotogake, who won this race in 2022 before going on to finish sixth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) and second in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Leading the charge in this year’s field is Aigle Noir, who shrugged off a fourth-place finish in his debut on turf to win three straight dirt races. He’s already found success on the NAR circuit, taking the 1,400-meter Hyogo Junior Grand Prix (a NAR Group 2) over Satono Phoenix and Seltsam, two other JRA runners entered in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun.
But just as significant was Aigle Noir’s triumph in the Platanus Sho, a 1,600-meter allowance held at Tokyo Racecourse. Aigle Noir closed his final 600 meters (about three furlongs) in 37.1 seconds to complete the race in a solid 1:37.3 seconds, in the process finishing 4 1/4 lengths clear of Amante Bianco, who came back to win the Cattleya S. on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.
Aigle Noir has every chance to bring his dirt record to a perfect 4-for-4 in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, though he may face a strong challenge from Forever Young. Hailing from the barn of Yoshito Yahagi, who saddled Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine to win Breeders’ Cup races in 2021, Forever Young won his debut racing 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) at Kyoto before demonstrating his authority on the NAR circuit with a win in the 1,800-meter JBC Two-Year-Old Yushun (NAR G3).
The final JRA representative in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun field is Nasty Weather, who unleashed a powerful finish (final 600 meters in 36.9 seconds) to win the 1,400-meter Nadeshiko Sho allowance at Kyoto. The son of Pyro is progressing in the right direction and can’t be counted out of the mix.
