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Cafe Pharoah wins the Unicorn Stakes in 2020 (Japan Racing Association Photo)
TokyoHorseRacing Co. Ltd. s Red le Zele (JPN) and Koichi Nishikawa s Cafe Pharoah (JPN) lead the 16-horse field for Sunday s 38th running of the 1-mile, $1.84 million February Stakes (G1) on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse. The February Stakes winner will earn the first automatic qualifying berth for this year s $6 million Longines Breeders Cup Classic (G1) to be awarded through the Breeders Cup Challenge Series.
The Breeders Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the 2021 Breeders Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held on Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California.
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Lisa Allpress: âIt goes back to all that support, all the hours Mum and Dad put into me and my riding from a young age.â Photo: Peter Rubery/Race Images
As one of the world’s leading female jockeys for nearly two decades, Lisa Allpress will have cabinets and mantelpieces groaning with awards and trophies because of her exploits both at home in New Zealand and overseas. But this weekend she is celebrating perhaps the greatest accolade of all - she has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the racing industry.
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Chrono Genesis, a 4-year-old filly by Bago, defeated males in the Takarazuka Kinen
The 65th running of the Grade 1 Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) is set for Sunday, Dec. 27. With the 2-year-old G1 Hopeful Stakes scheduled for the previous day, the Arima Kinen, for the first time in four years, is once again back in its traditional spot as the year s final hurrah at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan.
Twenty-three horses, with eight Grade 1 champions among them, have been signed up for the race and 16 of those will find a berth in the 2,500-meter (about 1.55 miles) turf event that boasts a winner s prize of JPY300 million (about UA$2.89 million), an amount that ties the Japan Cup for the highest prize money of JRA races.
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Danon the Kid wins the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3) on Nov. 23, 2020
The year 2020 goes out with a bang this coming weekend, which will be a double Grade 1 weekend at Nakayama Racecourse, kicking off with the Hopeful Stakes on Saturday (Dec. 26). The race for 2-year-olds (excluding geldings) was made a Grade 1 contest in 2017, and gives the young colts a chance to test their ability over 2,000 meters (1 1/4 miles), with a view to running in next year s Classics, the first of which for colts is run over the same course and distance as the Hopeful Stakes, on the inner turf track at Nakayama.
Japanese 2-Year-Olds Clash in Hopeful Stakes bloodhorse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloodhorse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.