Relentless Narukami dominates again in Japan Dirt Classic

Narukami provided further evidence of his status as the heir apparent to Lemon Pop with a brilliant all-the-way victory in the Jpn G1 Japan Dirt Classic at Oi racecourse in Tokyo on Wednesday, 8 October.

The Thunder Snow colt had made a sparking debut on the NAR circuit in the Jpn G2 Kozukata Sho in early September but was facing a much deeper field of three-year-olds this time that included Tokyo Derby victor Natural Rise and UAE Derby winner Admire Daytona.

Quickest from stalls in the 10-furlong contest, Narukami immediately went to the front of the 16 runners and saw off early pressure from Admire Daytona and Don In The Mood to establish a length and a half lead.

Narukami travelled powerfully under Keita Tosaki and increased his advantage slightly down the back straight, with most of the field struggling to keep up with the Hiroyasu Tanaka-trained three-year-old.

Natural Rise made inroads turning in, getting to within a length of the lead two furlongs out, but Narukami maintained his unremitting display of galloping to reassert his superiority under little urging in the straight.

Narukami continued to pour it on and crossed the line an easy three lengths in front of Natural Rise, taking his career record to five wins from six starts, with a full nine lengths back to third home Luxor Cafe.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “This is a huge result for Godolphin Japan for many reasons. Firstly, Narukami is a homebred colt, so it’s great for our home stud in Japan. He is by Thunder Snow, who of course won the Dubai World Cup twice, and this is his biggest winner to date. Thunder Snow has been enjoying something of a resurgence – he wasn’t that popular in truth last year but has covered three times more mares this season. Narukami’s last two performances will put him in line to be even more popular next year, which is very exciting.

“Credit to the trainer, who was unusually bullish before the race. We have dealt extensively with Tanaka san because of Lemon Pop, and he was adamant that Narukami was in fantastic form heading into today’s race. Personally, I was a little unsure because I wasn’t that taken by Narukami’s work last week. Clearly the trainer knows much more than I do!

“So it was a great result overall and I suppose our long-term view is the Dubai World Cup next year. It would be somewhat poetic if a son of Thunder Snow could go over and win the race. Narukami will run in the interim, either in the G1 Champions Cup in December, which has been won by Lemon Pop for the last two years, or the Tokyo Daishoten at the end of December, which has full G1 status even though it is run on the NAR circuit.

“It is very exciting for a horse who is still largely under-raced. This performance establishes him as the leading three-year-old dirt horse at the moment as he was racing against the best in Japan. The runner-up, Natural Rise, was previously the highest-rated dirt horse in the country and is a two-time Jpn G1 winner. Luxor Cafe, who was back in third, finished 12th behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. It was a very fine result and we are thrilled for everybody involved.”