lemon pop took the lead midway through and held on to the lead to win the February (G1) Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse with a duration of 1.5 minutes on February 19 as the North invaders America Shirl’s Spect Turn his wheel in the deep dirt road, about ninth.
Watch Lemon Pop win the February Stake at Tokyo Racecourse for first place in the competition @LonginesEq #BreedersCup Classic. #WinAndYouIn
We hope to see him at #BC23! 🙌@HorseRacing_JPN @JRA_WorldRacing pic.twitter.com/LBK4N7zcNz
– Breeders Cup (@BreedersCup) February 19, 2023
The race is one of only two Group 1 dirt road events on the Japanese racing calendar and is also a “Win and You Go” for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Café pharoahthe winner of February’s 2021 and 2022 editions, passed up the chance to win three peats to win the $20 million Saudi Arabia Cup (G1) on February 25 in Riyadh, opening opportunity for a new order at home.
Lemon Pop, 5 years old, Kentucky’s half-blood son Child releasing lemons , maximize. After a good start for jockey Ryusei Sakai, Lemon Pop continued to accelerate on the following track and overcame a sweeping turn to enter the difficult climb.
He then quickly emerged from the field to take the daytime lead and survive a daring late run by Red Le Zele to determine victory. meisho harioafter nearly dropping his rider in the first place, rallied to take third place.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to ride such a powerful and popular horse and I’m glad we won,” said Sakai, who rode Lemon Pop for the first time after the rider familiar, Keita Tosaki, said. “I’ve ridden him in training sessions and found him to be very comfortable and very easy to ride.
“Today we sat at close to the pace, just as planned. He reacted well and pulled away strongly, all the way to the rope.”
Lemon Pop was bred by Oliver and Amber Tait and produced by Giant high riser mare can not access . Hiroyasu Tanaka trains his master, Godolphin.
February was his eighth win along with three seconds in 11 starts — a good enough record to make him the favorite without Café Pharoah.
Tanaka said ahead of the race a mile was probably Lemon Pop’s outer distance limit, questioning his status for Japan’s other Group 1 dirt event, the Champions Cup (G1) at School Chukyo horse race on December 3 at 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles), or for Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles above Santa Anita . Park dust.
Lemon Pop after receiving his award
Harry Sweeney, president of Godolphin in Japan, said the organization even had to encourage Tanaka to join Lemon Pop on a one-mile trip.
“Lemon Pop has been invited to Dubai, but we won’t make a decision on this for a while,” added Sweeney.
Shirl’s Speight, last seen finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T) on Keeneland the pitch, was well positioned for the duration with Joao Moreira in the iron. He trailed behind the horses in the lane but never made an effort that would have allowed Moreira to put him in contention.
“It’s been a strong race and Shirl’s Speight just doesn’t have the ability to handle the track here, which is extremely deep than what he has in North America,” Moreira said. “To put it bluntly, even if he did stand up a bit, he didn’t really get into the race, which shows that he’s not going to be competitive.”
Coach Roger Attfield said before the race he was skeptical about running expert Shirl’s Speight going up against top Japanese runners on an unfamiliar surface but owner/raider Charles Fipke said confirmed.
Attfield said after the February race: “According to what the jockey told me, he wasn’t very interested in the back-kick, but I think he ran an okay race. I just thought he was a good one. super horse, but we tried.” .
