Damian Lane will use a full month of Japan Racing Association (JRA) short-term licence eligibility for a single day to ride Satono Reve in the Sprinters Stakes, but the globetrotting jockey hopes a win will make it worth it and lead to other international opportunities with the horse.
Under JRA rules, Lane’s fly-in, fly-out mission to ride Satono Reve on September 29 will use the remaining 30 days of his JRA short-term licence eligibility for 2024.
Lane has a busy spring carnival ahead in Australia, along with the birth of his and wife Bonnie’s first child, due in late October. He told Idol Horse earlier this year that he did not intend to spend extended time in Japan in 2024.
While Lane was in Sapporo for the World All-Star Jockeys series, he rode Satono Reve to an impressive victory in the G2 Keeneland Cup, a race where the lightly-raced five-year-old jumped into a prominent spot, sat close to the speed and then kicked clear. It was enough to convince him that a one-day visit to Nakayama was worth it.
“He has obviously progressed through the grades very well,” Lane said. “I liked how he was quick to begin and able to put himself in a position and sprint after racing at a good tempo. That’s a really big advantage in any race, especially a sprint race, to be able to race handily and quicken from a solid speed.”
Satono Reve is trained by patient handler Noriyuki Hori and has now won his last three starts and seven from nine overall, his only unplaced run being at 1400m on a yielding surface.
“He is a beautiful horse, a great type, very strong and lovely to ride; he is just very easy to deal with,” Lane said of the son of Lord Kanaloa, who at his last start weighed in at a career-high 548 kilograms.
Although Japanese sprinters are considered weaker than those in Hong Kong or Australia, sprint racing is not a priority and the Sprinters Stakes is one of only two Group 1s on the JRA calendar.
Lord Kanaloa won the Sprinters Stakes and the Hong Kong Sprint in back-to-back years in 2012 and 2013, and his son Danon Smash won Japan’s autumn feature sprint in 2020.
A big run in the Sprinters Stakes would put a start in the Hong Kong Sprint firmly on the agenda, especially given that Satono Reve will face a couple of Hong Kong contenders at Nakayama: Victor The Winner and Mugen.
“He has obviously got to take that next step now, but if he does, then he would be up to travelling for sure,” Lane said. “If he goes on with it, then Hong Kong in December would be a logical option. In recent years, the Japanese sprinters haven’t been very strong, but he looks like he could potentially be better than what has come out of Japan in recent years.”
Lane will ride Veight in the G1 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night (September 27) before flying to Japan for the Sprinters Stakes.
The highlight of Lane’s Australian spring could come a month later, when Prognosis is scheduled to contest the G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
Lane has a great record on Japanese horses abroad, winning races in Hong Kong, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Australia, where he won the 2019 Caulfield Cup on Mer De Glace and the 2019 Cox Plate on Lys Gracieux.
Prognosis is scheduled to arrive in Australia on October 12 and will complete his preparation, including two weeks of quarantine, at Werribee Racecourse. However, he will be able to visit the tight Moonee Valley Racecourse for gallops in the lead-up to the Cox Plate on October 26.
“The preparation is key, getting the right work into them. I know it is not easy, having to be at Werribee for a long period, so the preparation in Japan is very important,” Lane said. “The main thing is having a horse that suits the track you are going to. It will be a big advantage to be able to take Prognosis to Moonee Valley, as we did with Lys Gracieux.”
