#Yuichi Fukunaga

May 3 (UPI) -- Just hours before Medina Spirit wired the Kentucky Derby, Poetic Flair won a nip-and-tuck victory in the first of the British Classics, highlighting a big weekend of international horse racing action. That Qipco 2000 Guineas showdown keyed a meeting at Newmarket that also included an upset in the Qipco 1000 Guineas, an impressive…

Equinox and Christophe Lemaire run away with the 2022 Arima Kinen Tenno Sho Autumn winner Equinox made it a second Group 1 success with a dominant victory in the Arima Kinen at Nakayama on Christmas Day. A son of Kitsan Black out of the winning King Halo mare Chateau Blanche, the Tetsuya Kimura-trained three-year-old was posting his fourth career…

Six runners from the fans' top choices, including Titleholder, Efforia and Equinox, plus Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) winner Geraldina are expected to also be the most popular betting options Sunday in the Grade 1, $6.5 million Arima Kinen, the 67th annual Grand Prix of Japan. Staged at Nakayama, the 1 9/16-mile race boasts Japan's top purse, which…

It was an amazing finish to an extraordinary career. A storybook finish, a finish that seemed predestined to happen as the year marched on. And when the favorite Almond Eye, guided with supreme confidence by the brilliant Gallic equine conductor Christophe Lemaire, stormed past a field of 14 other horses in the 40th Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on…

For the second time in as many weeks, Kyoto Racecourse staged a race in which the final leg of a Triple Crown triumph was accomplished. Contrail, ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga, won the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) by a neck on Sunday, October 25, edging jockey Christophe Lemaire and Aristoteles, while Satono Flag, also a son of Deep Impact, placed…

American Revolution, shown winning the Grade I Cigar Mile in December, is among the likely ones in Saturday's Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs. Photo by Joe Labozzetta, courtesy of New York Racing Association June 3 (UPI) -- Weekend racing is all about the doings on Epsom Downs southwest of London, where the Oaks on Friday and the Derby on Saturday…

In the speedy showcase for 3-year-olds, fourth favorite Danon Scorpion, who entered the 18-horse competition in the No. 18 post position was ready for the challenge in crunch time. The Lord Kanaloa-sired bay colt galloped past favorite Serifos under Yuichi Fukunaga with around 100 meters remaining and held on for a victory by a neck's length over…

Ikezoe credited trainer Toru Hayashi and other support staff for putting Songline, who entered the race from stall No. 13, in position to contend for a victory on Sunday. "It was a tight schedule for the filly but the staff at the stables prepared her remarkably," he told reporters. "She broke well and I decided to settle her behind Salios, who…

This Sunday, Nov. 28, Tokyo Racecourse hosts the Grade 1 Japan Cup, the iconic invitational gala that has been instrumental in boosting Japan's horses and horsemen to the heights of international competitiveness they now enjoy. Some JPY 648 million, over USD 6 million, is up for grabs. Japan's horses have monopolized the winner's circle for the…

Dubai Honour: beaten at Royal Ascot but has come a long way since Dubai Honour suffered a handicap defeat off a mark of 91 on his first start of the year and ends it 30lb higher in the world's richest 1m2f turf race, but quick conditions - according to his camp - at Sha Tin may reduce his chances in Sunday's Longines Hong Kong Cup (8.30). The…

The weekly TRC industry digest - a round-up of the international racing news from the past week. Europe: David Elsworth, one of the UK's finest dual-purpose trainers, has brought the curtain down on a career spanning 50 years, which will remembered mainly for his handling of the great Desert Orchid, one of the most popular racehorses in British…