Fourth in last year’s Japan Cup (G1) to world champion Equinox, favored Do Deuce spearheaded a clean sweep for the home team in Sunday’s $7 million renewal at Tokyo. The deep closer was not inconvenienced in the least by the lack of pace, bursting from last to edge the dead-heating runners-up Durezza and Shin Emperor.
There was no fairy tale ending for Irish shipper Auguste Rodin, who checked in eighth, but the son of Japanese legend Deep Impact was given a heartwarming retirement ceremony at the racecourse.
Do Deuce was giving iconic rider Yutaka Take a record fifth Japan Cup win. While the most memorable of the quintet was Deep Impact himself in 2006, Take also guided Special Week (1999), Rose Kingdom (2010), and Kitasan Black (2016).
The third Japan Cup winner sired by Deep Impact’s old rival Heart’s Cry, Do Deuce joins Cheval Grand (2017) and Suave Richard (2019). Cheval Grand was likewise trained by Yasuo Tomomichi, who celebrated his second trophy with Do Deuce.
Although Do Deuce has been a high-class operator for four straight seasons, his latest victory in the Oct. 27 Tenno Sho Autumn (G1) indicated that he was at the absolute peak of his powers. The five-year-old exploded off a slow tempo to win that marquee stepping stone decisively, in a foreshadowing of what was to come in the Japan Cup.
Confidently handled by Take, Do Deuce was allowed to lope along at the rear as the muddled pace unfolded up ahead. Shin Emperor opted to take on the front-running role initially. European raider Goliath, who was off a beat slow on the rail, then became too keen as he dragged his way into a closer stalking spot.
After the opening half-mile elapsed in :50, Durezza moved to take the lead entering the backstretch in a clever gambit by jockey William Buick. As the winner of last year’s Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) (G1), Durezza was guaranteed to stay well beyond this about 1 1/2-mile distance. It was the right idea to make the most of his stamina in a tactical race, and the maneuver nearly produced an upset.
Durezza, now very much in his groove, swung for home full of momentum. He had a clear advantage over his nearest pursuers, Stars on Earth and Shin Emperor, and promised to be tough to catch.
By this point, Do Deuce had made a circling move into the lane. Readily passing Auguste Rodin and outkicking the three-year-old filly Cervinia, Do Deuce was already taking aim on the leaders by midstretch. His other-worldly acceleration in :32.7 for the final 600 meters (about three furlongs) propelled him to the front.
Yet Durezza continued to put up a stiff resistance, and a resurgent Shin Emperor kicked on again on the inside. Shin Emperor clocked the second-best closing sectional in :33.1 to draw alongside Durezza as they served up a tight finish.
Do Deuce nevertheless appeared more firmly in control than his neck margin implied, as Take just kept him to task. The final time of 2:25.5 on good-to-firm turf reflected the early crawl.
“The positioning during the race went as planned,” Take recapped. “It was expected, but the pace was extremely slow and I had to struggle keeping him in hand. In the first half a mile, if the pace was to quicken more, then I was planning to stay back but it didn’t, so I let him gradually make headway along the outside, not so much as to quicken and close the gap, but to release the reins a little bit.
“Making ground from the last corner, his speed was so great that he was already in front in an instant and after that, a normal horse would be worn out and pinned down, but this horse is exceptional and while I wasn’t sure that I’d won until the end, I kept believing he would stay and he did.”
Tomomichi felt a greater sense of suspense.
“The race itself unfolded with no one wanting to set a solid pace, as expected to a certain extent but resulting in a very slow pace, around 62 seconds in the first 1000 meters,” his trainer observed. “Take seemed to struggle to settle him down, so I was a bit worried watching him go along the backstretch.
“In contrast to how the race went in the Tenno Sho, Do Deuce ended up having to lead much earlier at the stretch this time and having to fend off challenges from behind and sustain his lead to wire so I had to hold my breath until the very end.”
Durezza and Shin Emperor were inseparable even by the photo-finish camera, the duo sharing runner-up honors. Another 2 1/2 lengths back in fourth came Cervinia, who just held the late thrust of Justin Palace by a head. Goliath was himself a head away in sixth, followed by Stars on Earth, Auguste Rodin, Danon Beluga, slow-starting Struve, German shipper Fantastic Moon, Blow the Horn, Karate, and Sol Oriens.
The Europeans were undone by the unfavorable race shape.
“He (Goliath) didn’t break well from the gate,” trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said, “and after following a very slow pace, he couldn’t show his usual performance and late speed in the end.”
Goliath’s rider, Christophe Soumillon, offered the same assessment.
“He was unable to get into a rhythm after following a race with no pace and used up in the critical stages. It didn’t go smoothly for him at all,” Soumillon concluded.
Aidan O’Brien likewise cited the pace as a factor in Auguste Rodin’s anticlimactic swan song.
“The pace was a little bit slow and that probably didn’t suit him really but he ran OK,” the master of Ballydoyle said. “Getting excited before would be what he is normally so he wasn’t any different than usual.
“(Jockey) Ryan (Moore) said to me that it was a bit of a mess—the race was very slow early and it just didn’t suit him and it didn’t work out for him.”
That didn’t put a damper on the postrace festivities honoring Auguste Rodin, who now retires to Coolmore Stud in County Tipperary, Ireland. The dual classic-winning champion, and six-time Grade/Group 1 star, will continue the legacy of Deep Impact and his own broodmare sire, Galileo.
The Coolmore crew would have been happy for their sometime partner, Masaaki Matsushima, who campaigns Do Deuce under the banner of Kieffers Co. Ltd.
Do Deuce paid $5.70 stateside while advancing his record to 16-8-1-1. Japan’s champion two-year-old colt by virtue of his victory in the 2021 Asahi Hai Futurity (G1), the bay added the 2022 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (G1) at the expense of Equinox. Do Deuce ventured to France that fall, only to be compromised by soft going when fourth in the Prix Niel (G2) and 19th of 20 in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1).
His Dubai trips have also resulted in frustration. Scratched from the 2023 Dubai Turf (G1), he was a troubled fifth in this year’s edition on World Cup night. Do Deuce was out of luck in his homecoming in a rain-soaked Takarazuka Kinen (G1) June 23 at Kyoto, where he wound up sixth as the favorite. But he’s found Tokyo a happier hunting ground of late to turn the Tenno Sho/Japan Cup double.
Do Deuce is set to begin his stud career in 2025, but plans call for one more race to round out his curriculum vitae – a title defense in the Dec. 22 Arima Kinen (G1). The prestige event at Nakayama was the brightest highlight of his 2023 campaign. If Do Deuce can repeat there, he’d complete a sweep of Japan’s fall majors.
“This horse gets better with every start,” Tomomichi said. “I had thought that his last start (the Tenno Sho) was very much his best performance, but he even exceeded that in the Japan Cup. So if his condition allows for another start, I hope that he is able to show his very best in his final Arima Kinen.”
