Ahead of Japan Cup, Horse Racing Icon Vela Azul Aims To Repeat Gentildonna’s Double Victory

Jockey Hollie Doyle will say an early prayer on Sunday morning. She will attempt to win the Far East’s biggest horse racing trophy with a rather splendid set of odds. Doyle will ride the former Japan Cup victor on November 26 after the horse’s previous rider bowed out of the race due to an injury.

Hollie Doyle expects Vela Azul to sparkle once more on the Tokyo Racecourse and bring her a moment of glory before the raging crowds. Interestingly, the six-year-old horse out of Vela Blanca stands at the precipice of history and might rewrite a decade-old record.

Vela Azul’s historic horse racing bid

On November 25, World Horse Racing wrote an X post that read, “Only GENTILDONNA has ever won the Japan Cup in consecutive years Can 2022 winner VELA AZUL join the legendary mare as another consecutive victor tomorrow for @HollieDoyle1? ��”. In 2013, Gentildonna became the first back-to-back winner of the Japan Cup with Ryan Moore as the jockey. The same British flat-racing champion jockey was on the saddle of Vela Azula when the horse won the title in 2022. Moore asked Hollie Doyle to enter the horse racing event with Vela Azula. Nevertheless, she is excited at the prospect of riding a former champion and believes the odds just got better for her.

Doyle said, “Ryan gave the horse an unbelievable ride last year and I’m hoping all is well with him, but I’m very excited to be chosen to ride him…The Japan Cup is huge over here and the atmosphere and the crowd were just something else, so to have a ride, especially on a previous Japan Cup winner, is pretty awesome for me”. However, there are concerns about Vela Azul’s performance in 2023.

Vela Azul’s uncertain 2023 prospects

After its fiery run in 2022, Vela Azul seemed to have cooled down. It finished the Dubai World Cup far from the winner’s circle and then went into a long vacation. Returning to horse racing after 106 days of a well-deserved break, it lost another race in Kyoto last month. However, in the absence of Equinox and Liberty Island, Vela Azul might have a shot at a repeat victory. This has also set Doyle in hope of success, but the prospects are still not determined.

Hollie Doyle said, “I know the horse well, I’ve done my research, but I only found out I’ll be riding him a short while ago”. Now, she is hoping to have a chat with Ryan Moore before tomorrow’s race and get some essential tips.

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