Cherry blossoms bloomed at Hanshin Racecourse on Sunday morning and not far away at Ritto Training Centre, Croix du Nord’s springtime return began with an unconventional race day preparation as trainer Takashi Saito did all he could to ensure his star colt had the perfect start to a season of high expectations.
Saito sent last year’s Japanese Derby winner onto Ritto’s hill track for a canter just hours before he was to race first-up for the year in the G1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin. The colt covered the rising strip in a relaxed 73-seconds.
It was the first time Saito had done this with the horse he and owner Sunday Racing hope will stand supreme as the best in Japan when end-of-year accolades are handed out next winter. It worked: Croix du Nord met the expectations of connections and fans, boosting his reputation and status as a likely champion this year.
That kind of anticipation brings pressure. Jockey Yuichi Kitamura admitted to feeling it. “Naturally, the pressure,” he said post-race, “was certainly there.” Yet, there was confidence, too.
“After riding him this past Tuesday, I was able to get a feel for his vibe,” Kitamura continued. “I went into today’s race believing that if I could confidently let him show his strength, just like in the Derby, the results would follow.”
Saito felt some weight of expectation, too, but he was unfazed when Croix du Nord weighed in heavier than usual upon his return to his Ritto stable after a winter spell. And he was bold enough to give the four-year-old that unorthodox morning-of-race canter with the scales showing him to be about 10kg heavier than ideal.
“It’s the first time I’ve raced him while thinking he felt this ‘heavy’,” Saito said.
Public expectation has shadowed Croix du Nord ever since he wrapped up his unbeaten three-race juvenile term with victory in the G1 Hopeful Stakes.
The anticipation was there this time a year ago, heading into his first three-year-old test, the G1 Satsuki Sho. He was second in that classic, but after his victory in the Derby, the G1 Tokyo Yushun, belief soared again. He became Japan’s latest great hope to end a decades-long quest for success in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and off to France he went.
He won the Prix du Prince d’Orange, but when October and November came around, the colt suffered back-to-back defeats in the Arc itself (a heavy loss) and the Japan Cup (a solid fourth).
Since Croix du Nord’s return to Ritto this spring, repeated workouts helped Saito bring his weight down, but he was not yet at peak condition when race morning dawned.
But the colt’s fans still expected: Croix du Nord went to post as the Osaka Hai favourite under Kitamura. When he made a three-wide advance from midfield out of the back straight, the Hanshin crowd upped the volume.
Meisho Tabaru – ridden by Yutaka Take – was attempting to make-all: Croix du Nord, peak fitness or not, travelled strongly, became unbalanced when asked to quicken, yet dug in and passed Take’s mount to win by three-quarters of a length.
However, the words coming from the team immediately after the victory were not those of joy. This was just the first step, it was all about getting the win to set the season up for what they hope will follow.
“For now, I’m just relieved we won,” Saito said. “For the sake of the fans, and if we were going to keep calling him the best of his generation, I felt we couldn’t afford to lose here.”
Kitamura, too, stopped short of celebrating outright. He noted the horse, who tends to stay on his right lead, was not entirely smooth when asked to switch over.
“He was a bit wobbly,” Kitamura said, “The balance when turning into the straight still has room for improvement. If he were in better form, he should have responded a bit more. Because he’s still heavy, his reaction to acceleration was dull.”
Even so, the Osaka Hai win bodes well for the year ahead, whichever direction Sunday Racing and Saito decide to take their star.
Saito suggested multiple options, including the G1 Takarazuka Kinen in June, but avoided a definitive statement and was not to be drawn on a return to France.
“I believe there are various options. We will first check the horse’s condition and then decide after discussing things with the owner’s side sometime next week,” was all he said.
Kitamura, though, voiced the main aim.
“I want him to become the kind of horse that leads the sport this year,” he said. “I believe his late speed is the best.”
Saito believes the colt is now a more mature version of himself and will only improve for what he did at the weekend.
“His ability is simply very high,” the trainer said. “Today, from the saddling area to the paddock and the post-parade, he was calm without getting worked up at all; he really is a model professional.”
The habit of pulling strongly on the left side of his mouth, seen after last autumn’s campaign in France, seems to have been resolved, and he had “come back feeling very good,” Saito noted.
With Croix du Nord emulating his sire Kitasan Black in winning the Osaka Hai, with fellow Derby winner Danon Decile and the free-running Takarazuka Kinen winner Meisho Tabaru behind him, expectations have risen again and Saito is ready to meet them.
“I believe that as long as I get him into proper condition before sending him out, the results will follow in the race,” he said.
“Just like the fans want,” he added, “I also want Croix du Nord to go undefeated.” ∎
