Miler Reloaded
Jantar Mantar came, saw, but failed to conquer in 2024. He finished 13th of 14 in that year’s G1 Hong Kong Mile, but connections say they head into Sunday’s Champions Mile with a very different horse this time.
“Last time it was his first time in Hong Kong, so the horse was confused and a little bit stressed out, but this time the horse is very calm and relaxed,” Takashi Matsui, assistant trainer to Tomokazu Takano, told Idol Horse.
Matsui also pointed to a far from ideal preparation on that occasion.
“He had a fever and missed a race before coming here, so I feel that might have disturbed his rhythm, and we were struggling to get him fit. But this time everything has been going well, and I don’t see any concern regarding his condition.”
As well as missing his lead-up run in the G2 Fuji Stakes, he endured a tough trip in the race itself, racing three-wide without cover on the speed. However, his record since then speaks for itself. He was crowned Japan’s champion miler for 2025 after winning the G1 Yasuda Kinen, finishing second to Gaia Force in the Fuji Stakes and then winning the G1 Mile Championship.
“I think the horse is way better now than last time. He has already won a G1 in Japan and proved he is the champion miler, so we can go into this race with confidence. We think Hong Kong will see the best version of Jantar Mantar.”
Rating Masquerade?
A lot has been made of Masquerade Ball’s international rating, but the key question is whether he can reproduce that figure under conditions his trainer Takahisa Tezuka has concerns about.
While Romantic Warrior has built his reputation on turning up and running to a high level again and again, Masquerade Ball is being asked to back up a standout performance in a very different setting. Can he do it off a mixed or muddling tempo? Can he do it away from home at 2000 metres? Tezuka told Japanese media Hong Kong’s humidity had “upset” the horse and that he “didn’t look really good” to him, but improvement is showing.
“He was very nervous for the first two or three days after arrival. However, after yesterday’s track work, he has relaxed significantly, his appetite has returned, and he has started eating well,” Tezuka told Idol Horse.
Masquerade Ball is the highest-rated horse in Sunday’s G1 QEII Cup at 128. He earned it through his narrow defeat to 2025 World’s Best Racehorse, Calandagan, in December’s G1 Japan Cup. That leaves him three points higher than Romantic Warrior and has helped frame this as the local champion’s toughest home test.
The QEII Cup will also be the first time Masquerade Ball has raced right-handed since finishing third in last year’s G1 Satsuki Sho. His jockey Christophe Lemaire has already posed that as a question mark, saying the horse can “push on the left side in his races”. Masquerade Ball still has his quirks, whereas Romantic Warrior turns up and you know the race he invariably runs.
“He is not perfect yet but I believe he will become even stronger from here,” Tezuka said. “That is not just physically; there is still room for mental improvement. While he is growing mentally bit by bit with each race, he is not yet ‘perfect’. Once those areas improve, he will be even stronger.”
Purton’s Paradise
Little Paradise has lost some of his shine since the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Zac Purton heads to the Champions Mile looking for answers.
Hong Kong’s champion jockey rode Jimmy Ting’s galloper in his first four starts of the season for three wins and a third before jumping ship to partner Pierre Ng’s Sagacious Life in the first leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, the Hong Kong Classic Mile.
Little Paradise won that race by two lengths after only getting clear at the 200-metre mark, and the hype quickly followed.
“In the Classic Mile I thought he was really impressive. I think he is a lovely horse, and when I made the decision not to ride him I did say he would end up being the best four-year-old out of the series. I just didn’t think he could run 1600m and I was pretty convinced he was not going to run 2000m, so factoring in the other horses heading to the Derby I went another way,” said Purton.
“Anyway, he won the Classic Mile, I didn’t, so I missed out and he looked pretty impressive doing it. Then things didn’t quite go right after that. He missed the start and the race wasn’t run to suit, and he looked a little plain too.”
Little Paradise finished eighth in the Classic Cup, where he was tardy away and lost ground, and ninth in the Derby, where he again began awkwardly and did not see out the trip.
“Obviously beyond a mile was a step too far, but now back to a mile against the older horses, it’s another challenge,” Purton said. “Four-year-olds don’t have a good record in this race, so I am looking forward to riding him and seeing how much he has improved since I last rode him, what feel he gives me, whether he can run a mile against this level of horse or whether we go down a different path after this. But it is his chance to tell us where he is at.”
Yasuda Bound?
The Cheng family remain hopeful Lucky Sweynesse can earn another trip to Japan later this year, but first they want to see their sprinter-turned-miler run well enough in Sunday’s Champions Mile to keep alive their dream of winning the Yasuda Kinen.
Speaking at Thursday morning’s barrier draw, owner Leo Cheng Yu Wai told Idol Horse: “The Yasuda Kinen is our dream race to win. We went to the race 18 years ago and it became our dream. We hope we can join the race.”
That dream dates back to 2008, when Cheng attended the Yasuda Kinen with his father, Cheng Ming Leung, and family friend Wong Yuk Lun, whose horse Armada ran second behind dual Japanese Horse of the Year, Vodka.
Lucky Sweynesse moved a step toward that dream last year when he lined up in the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama in Tokyo, where he finished 11th.
“Lucky Sweynesse is very fit right now. We hope he can run well on Sunday. I haven’t discussed it with our jockey yet, but he can lead, he can follow the speed, or he can sit behind it. He has that versatility. After that, we will discuss Japan.”
Double Clearance
Ricky Yiu’s Champions Mile hopes received a lift on Thursday morning after Voyage Bubble and Sunlight Power were both cleared to be declared for Sunday’s Group 1.
Pre-declaration veterinary inspections conducted found that Voyage Bubble’s capped elbow in his left front leg and Sunlight Power’s capped elbow in his right front leg had both improved, with the Jockey Club giving permission for the pair to remain in the field.
Both horses will still be subject to a further pre-race veterinary inspection on Saturday before being cleared to start.
Yiu agreed both horses had improved under veterinary management, and said Voyage Bubble pleased him in a gallop on Thursday morning under jockey Jerry Chau.
Sunlight Power is scheduled to have his final gallop on Friday morning and will be partnered by jockey Ethan Brown. ∎
