Latest News
23/12/2025
Asahi Hai Futurity Win Signals Classic Intent For Maturing Cavallerizzo
Silk Racing’s colt showed he is developing in the right way with a brilliant stretch drive that took him to the top of Japan’s juvenile division under Cristian Demuro.
Shuhei Uwabo
18/12/2025
World Racing Weekly: Cavallerizzo, Alohi Alii & T O Elvis
After an agonising second in last week’s Hong Kong Mile, Italian ace Cristian Demuro looks to the future with the talented prospect Cavallerizzo.
David Morgan
03/10/2025
French Title Chase The Priority, Then Cristian Demuro Can Focus On Japan
Japan is often on Cristian Demuro’s mind, including if one day a full-time relocation might be an option, but for now the Italian ace is in a fight to secure his first Cravache d'Or.
David Morgan
02/10/2025
Arc Is ‘The One’ For Murphy, Japan And Even Demuro
Japan’s hunger for a first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory is matched by Oisin Murphy’s own desire to add the race to his record, while Cristian Demuro wants more.
David Morgan
11/11/2024
Rose’s Stunning Return To Form Lands Queen Elizabeth II Cup
Two years after denying Stars On Earth a fillies’ Triple Crown, Stunning Rose scores her first win since with Cristian Demuro in the saddle.
Andrew Hawkins
Demuro Looks To Museum Mile For Revenge
Cristian Demuro is out for revenge in Sunday’s G1 Arima Kinen. Twelve months ago, Regaleira took the spoils in Japan’s end-of-year Grand Prix and left the Italian ace with the torture of ‘what if?’ as he passed the winning post just a nose behind her on Shahryar.
Shahryar headed to stud thereafter but Regaleira is back as a four-year-old, seemingly in the form of her life, and Demuro is preparing to take her on with Museum Mile, this year’s leading three-year-old in the field.
Museum Mile took the first colt’s Classic, the G1 Satsuki Sho over 2000m at Nakayama last April ahead of Croix Du Nord and Masquerade Ball. He stepped up to a mile and a half in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) but was only sixth behind those rivals in first and second; he then won the G2 St Lite Kinen and was second to Masquerade Ball in the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn at 2000m.
With the 2400m Derby being the longest trip Museum Mile has tackled, and also the one blip on his resume, concerns about staying the Arima Kinen’s 2500m are natural. But his St Lite Kinen win at 2200m and Sunday’s venue give Demuro some confidence.
“I think he can handle it at Nakayama because it is a small track,” he said. “Therefore, I don’t think there will be a problem. While the question of distance is always there, I believe he can get the job done on this specific course.”
And with Masquerade Ball having franked the form close behind the French champion Calandagan in the G1 Japan Cup last month, Demuro believes the three-year-old form is strong.
“I think the level is very, very high,” he said. “In our last race, I finished only one length behind Masquerade Ball. That same horse, Masquerade Ball, went on to finish second by a head in the Japan Cup against the best horse in the world.”
Demuro is enjoying another successful short term licence in Japan, and among his 31 wins is last Sunday’s top-line feature, the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes on Cavallerizzo. That came a week after he was second in the G1 Hong Kong Mile on Soul Rush.
“I hope to have a great race,” he added. “Last year with Shahryar, I finished very close behind the winner and it was a frustrating result, so I am hoping for some revenge this year.”
Museum Mile faces no easy task, though, with Regaleira going into the race seemingly at her peak off wins in the G2 All Comers and the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup. She was the overwhelming favourite in the fan vote that determines the make-up of the Arima Kinen field, with 612,771 votes, and will attempt to make history as the first filly or mare to register back-to-back wins in the race.
The Arima Kinen line-up is also set to feature the 2024 G1 Tokyo Yushun winner Danon Decile. He rounded off last year with third-place in the Arima Kinen and appeared on course to be Japan’s star older horse after winning the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in the spring.
Things did not go to plan overseas in the G1 Juddmonte International at York in August but he returned to action with third-place in the Japan Cup and that should have put him spot on for Sunday’s test.
Yoshioka Hopeful of Another Juvenile Star
The Arima Kinen is not the only Group 1 action in Japan this weekend. Saturday’s card at Nakayama has the last of the JRA’s three two-year-old majors, the Hopeful Stakes, while at Oi on Monday, the NAR stages its own big end of year championship race, the Tokyo Daishoten.
The Hopeful Stakes has produced superstar graduates, not least Regaleira two years ago, Croix Du Nord last year, and of course the Triple Crown winner Contrail in 2019. This weekend’s edition of the 2000m contest features juveniles with similar star potential.
Trainer Tatsuya Yoshioka won last weekend’s G1 Asahi Hai Futurity with Cavallerizzo and he is set to saddle Justin Vista, already proven at the distance thanks to his win last time in the G3 Kyoto Nisai Stakes. Only one trainer has won both races in the same year since the Hopeful Stakes was relaunched in its current guise in 2014, that was Kazuo Fujisawa nine years ago.
Naosuke Sugai-trained Shonan Gulf could go off favourite based on his seven-length Newcomer win last summer and his victory in the G3 Sapporo Nisai Stakes over 1800m in September.
Then there is the Mitsu Nakauchida-trained Anduril, winner of the Listed Ivy Stakes last start, also at 1800m, and L’Avenue, trained by Yasuo Tomoichi, was an impressive five-length winner at his sole start to date.
Meanwhile, on the dirt at Oi, Christope Lemaire looks set to ride JBC Classic hero Mikki Fight in the Tokyo Daishoten. The race could also see the rematch of the three-year-olds Narukami and Natural Rise, first and second in the Japan Dirt Classic, with Narukami looking to bounce back from a disappointing 13th in the G1 Champions Cup.
This Week In Horse Racing History
Hollywood Park held its last raceday on December 22, 2013. Woodman’s Luck, trained by Vladimir Cerin and ridden by Corey Nakatani, edged a photo finish to go down in history as the last winner at the track, which opened in 1938.
Christmas Day, December 25, 2016, gave the gift of a thrilling battle in the G1 Arima Kinen between Kitasan Black, Gold Actor and the last on the scene, Satono Diamond. With the Nakayama crowd producing a deafening roar, Christophe Lemaire galvanised Satono Diamond deep in the home run and scored by a neck to give iconic trainer Yasutoshi Ikee a record fourth win in the great end of year Grand Prix.
On December 26, 2022 Fun To Dream won the G1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita to give trainer Bob Baffert a record-stretching ninth win in the race. Baffert’s first success in the seven-furlong contest, which is exclusive to three-year-old fillies, came 30 years earlier with Arches Of Gold on December 27, 1992 when the race held G3 status.
It was on December 26, 2021 that the incredible Flightline made his G1 debut in the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita. He won the race by 11 and a half lengths and would go on to win three more races without any horse getting close to him in a sadly all-too-short six-race unbeaten career that ended after his G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic win in November 2022.
Idol Horse Reads Of The Week
Adam Pengilly takes a dive into the Supreme Court battle between Racing New South Wales and the Australian Turf Club, which puts horseracing in Sydney at a crossroads in its power struggle.
In his latest must-read column for Idol Horse, former top jockey and Hong Kong racing expert Shane Dye compares two all-time great jockeys, Zac Purton and James McDonald, and considers what the two going head-to-head in a Hong Kong title race might look like.
Kohei Matsuyama’s consistency over the last few years has seen him climb into third spot in the JRA’s jockey standings this year. Idol Horse journalist Shuhei Uwabo spoke to the Classic-winning rider whose horse-first philosophy and humility are serving him well.
With the NAR’s biggest race of the year at Oi next Monday, here’s a profile Idol Horse published last year about one of the Tokyo track’s star riders, Ryuji Tatsushiro, who has since changed his familiar black and peach sawtooth silks for pale grey and white.
Racing Photo Of The Week
As the cold December rain falls at Hanshin, Cristian Demuro embraces Cavallerizzo after their victory in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity. One week on from the disappointment of placing second aboard Soul Rush in the G1 Hong Kong Mile, the Italian ace piloted the eager son of Saturnalia astutely through the race and delivered a surging late sprint that took the colt to the top of the juvenile pecking order.
Date
21 December, 2025
Photographer
@luck_photograph
Location
Hanshin Racecourse
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As the cold December rain falls at Hanshin, Cristian Demuro embraces Cavallerizzo after their victory in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity. One week on from the disappointment of placing second aboard Soul Rush in the G1 Hong Kong Mile, the Italian ace piloted the eager son of Saturnalia astutely through the race and delivered a surging late sprint that took the colt to the top of the juvenile pecking order.
Global Blackbook
Crepuscular has shown high-class potential in two starts to date, the latest of those being a two and a half-length win in the Hiiragi Sho at Nakayama last weekend under Christophe Lemaire. That performance highlighted the colt’s class and his quirks: Lemaire had his hands full trying to teach the horse to focus and relax, but once he let him go, the turn of foot was powerful and the win was achieved pretty comfortably.
Trainer Toru Kurita said afterwards that the son of Leontes’ “potential is tremendous” but also noted that “he has a lot of issues,” and “there are moments when he loses control of himself.”
Rachel King, who rode Crepuscular to victory on debut, and Lemaire, both have expressed concerns about the colt’s control and how that might affect his potential, but Lemaire said after the Hiiragi Sho, “Even when he’s keen and pulling, he still finishes strongly and he’s a strong horse.”
If Crepuscular can learn to control his power, he could well be a top-line performer and one for the Classics next year.
World Horse Racing Calendar: What’s Coming Up
Hopeful Stakes
Nakayama, Japan, December 27
The Hopeful Stakes was given its current name and conditions in 2014 and since then the 2000m race for two-year-olds has been won by subsequent Triple Crown hero Contrail, fellow Derby winners Rey De Oro and Croix Du Nord, Satsuki Sho winner Saturnalia, and current star filly Regaleira. Saturnalia sired last week’s G1 Futurity winner Cavallerizzo and this week he has the exciting colts Anduril and Justin Vista representing him, while the field also features the unbeaten Shonan Gulf and L’Avenue.
Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix)
Nakayama, Japan, December 28
Last year’s winner Regaleira is shooting for a third win on the bounce as well as aiming to become the first filly or mare to win the Arima Kinen two years in a row. She is up against a top three-year-old in the G1 Satsuki Sho hero Museum Mile, as well this year’s G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Danon Decile, winner of last year’s Derby at Tokyo, who is flying the flag for the four-year-old colts.
Tokyo Daishoten
Oi, Japan, December 29
The day after the Arima Kinen the focus shifts to the National Association of Racing’s (NAR) big finale at Oi racetrack, the G1 Tokyo Daishoten. Past heroes include Forever Young a year ago, as well as the incredible four-time Tokyo Daishoten winner Omega Perfume, and Ushba Tesoro, who also won the G1 Dubai World Cup. This time the Jpn1 JBC Classic winner Mikki Fight will take on a strong field that could also feature the talented three-year-olds Narukami and Natural Rise. ∎
