Lemaire Respects Hong Kong Form As Namura Clair Chases Elusive Group 1 Win

Lemaire Wary Of Sha Tin Form

Japan’s champion jockey Christophe Lemaire knows Hong Kong’s sprint form will be tough to overcome in Sunday’s G1 Sprinters Stakes, but he also knows course form counts for something and in that he has hope.

The French ace will partner the high-class mare Namura Clair in Nakayama’s 1200m feature, aware that this could be the six-year-old’s last roll of the Group 1 dice before she retires. She faces Japan’s top sprinter Satono Reve, as well as Hong Kong’s former champion Lucky Sweynesse in a field of 16.

Ka Ying Rising, Hong Kong’s current superstar, won’t be there, he’s in Australia for the G1 The Everest, but that still leaves Lucky Sweynesse and Satono Reve, plus Lugal and Toshin Macau to highlight his form line in Japan: he’s beaten them all at Sha Tin in the last year.

“Hong Kong sprinters are always very strong,” Lemaire told Idol Horse. “And they can find nearly the same track conditions here as in Hong Kong, which is very important, so the Hong Kong sprinters perform well in Japan. This means we have to consider them very highly and consider Lucky Sweynesse’s chance.

“Satono Reve is definitely the horse to beat, though. He already beat Namura Clair in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and he performed very well at Royal Ascot, beaten a short margin in second. That was a great performance from him.”

Namura Clair has contested the Sprinters Stakes three times, finishing fifth in 2022 then third in 2023 and 2024. Last year she was a deep-closing neck and a neck behind the winner Lugal and second-place Toshin Macau, with a sub-par Satono Reve in seventh.

“She’s a very consistent mare, she’s had a nice career and it would be probably her last chance to grab a Group 1,” Lemaire said. “She has always had a good turn-of-foot, her weak point is she’s not very quick that first stride, so most of the time she’s got a lot of ground to make up. But when the pace is strong, she’s got a very good finish.

“I would say that her perfect trip is 1300 metres, but she will be very comfortable at Nakayama racecourse.”

Since placing second to Satono Reve in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March, Namura Clair has warmed up for this with eighth place in the G3 Hakodate Sprint.

“She will be better at Nakayama than she was at Hakodate,” Lemaire continued. “Forget about that race because she was slow out of the gates and then we were interfered because of the horse that was pulling back on the inside rail. The straight was too short for her to come back, so she had quite an easy race because I couldn’t ride her 100 per cent.

“The Nakayama course has no sharp turn and the straight is a little bit longer than Hakodate, with a little rise in the last 100 metres, so I think that’s perfect for her.”

Lemaire also rode Sprinters Stakes outsider Puro Magic to victory at Niigata last time and believes the filly who led the Sprinters Stakes before fading out last year will be better for different tactics.

“She used to go too fast but Oisin Murphy rode her in Dubai and he rode her from the back and she had a good finish,” he said.

“I would recommend the jockey to ride her the same way as I did last time, not rush after the start, just stay quiet and she will have a good turn-of-foot at the end. She has to improve but is definitely a horse to follow.”

Tiffany’s Out To Sparkle On Return

Tiffany will aim to give Sir Mark Prescott a third win in the G1 Preis von Europa this Sunday, but the likelihood of the mare taking up her entry seven days later in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is thinner than slim.

Prescott and Tiffany’s jockey Luke Morris won the Arc in 2022 with another soft ground-loving mare, the 2021 Preis von Europa winner, Alpinista. But Tiffany’s season has been interrupted with “a couple of little niggles” and this will be her first race since she was beaten a neck in the G1 Grosser Allianz Preis von Bayern last November.

“She’s been very much kept for an autumn campaign,” Morris told Idol Horse. “Her work, leading up to this race, has been as good if not better than last year, so she seems in good form, a bit of juice in the ground plays to her strength, so I think she goes in there with a strong chance.

“It’s a nice galloping track with about a three-furlong run-in, so it’s very much a no excuses track.”

Morris said he sees Sibayan as the main threat in the field of seven. The back-to-back Group 2 winner is from the powerhouse French stable of Francis-Henri Graffard.

Meanwhile, Rebel’s Romance won’t be attempting a third win in the race this weekend as he instead lines up in the G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in New York, with Frankie Dettori taking the reins. The Italian hasn’t ridden a Godolphin Group 1 winner since he bagged three in two-days in September 2021.

And on the U.S. West Coast, Santa Anita kicks off its fall meet this week, with last year’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile hero Full Serrano going in Saturday’s G1 Goodwood Stakes.

This Week In Racing History

The sport’s first Classic race, the St Leger, was run at Doncaster on September 24, 1776. The race was over two miles on Cantley Common and the winner was a filly, later to be named Allabaculia, owned by the Marquess of Rockingham.

Aqueduct race track opened in Queens, New York on September 27, 1894. The track is named for the former Ridgewood Aqueduct.

Frankie Dettori became an established household name in Britain on September 28, 1996 when he rode his ‘Magnificent Seven’ winners in a single day at Ascot, costing the bookmakers an estimated £40 million. Among his seven was the day’s feature, the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Mark Of Esteem.

Racing Photo Of The Week

Date
24 September, 2025

Photographer
Lo Chun Kit

Location
Nakayama Racecourse

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Global Blackbook

A Japanese blue blood emerged as a Listed winner with Classic pretensions at Hanshin last Saturday. The Carrot Club-owned Alankar had already waltzed to a newcomers victory at Fukushima in July, and confirmed she is one to watch through to next year’s G1 Oka Sho and G1 Yushun Himba after she easily took the Nojigiko Stakes over a mile with a sharp burst of speed.  

The filly is by the G1 Japan Cup winner turned Group 1 stallion Epiphaneia, and is out of the Yushun Himba winner and Oka sho runner-up Sinhalite, making her a granddaughter to the G1 Del Mar Oaks heroine Singhalese.

World Horse Racing Calendar: What’s Coming Up

🇯🇵 Sprinters Stakes
28 September
G1 Sprinters Stakes (IHFA-rated equal 89th)

Satono Reve will attempt to win the Sprinters Stakes under Joao Moreira and cement his standing as Japan’s top sprinter. Moreira is in town on a two-week licence and started off with six wins over the three-day holiday weekend, including a win in the G3 Challenge Cup. Satono Reve was second for Moreira at Royal Ascot in June and in Hong Kong in April, but started the year with a win in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen and will attempt to become the first horse since Fine Needle in 2018 to win both of Japan’s Group 1 sprints in the same term. He is set to face Hong Kong challenger Lucky Sweynesse, as well as the first three home in the G2 Centaur Stakes Kangchenjunga, Mama Cocha and Toshin Macau.

🇩🇪 Preis von Europa
28 September
G1 Preis von Europa (IHFA-rated equal 75th)

This race has lost some of its dazzle with two-time winner Rebel’s Romance going to the U.S. for the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Saturday instead, but it’s still an interesting contest and could provide a good opportunity for the Sir Mark Prescott-trained mare Tiffany to gain a first Group 1 win. She is returning from more than 10 months off though, and faces the in-form Group 2 winner from France, Sibayan. 

🇫🇷 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Day
5 October
G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (IHFA-rated equal 5th), G1 Prix de la Foret (rated equal 98th)

This year’s Arc looks to be very open and the picture is still not clear, more so after long-time pre-race favourite Kalpana was defeated in a Kempton G3 last week. Then there’s the question of what Aidan O’Brien’s team will look like: will it include his top three-year-old filly Minnie Hauk? Meanwhile, the Japanese contenders seem set and all three head in off European wins: Croix Du Nord in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange, Byzantine Dream in the G2 Prix Foy, and Aloh Alii in the G2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano. The French mare Aventure could prove to be Europe’s big hope this time. But it’s not all about the Arc, the day has six Group 1 contests in all, including the Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs.

🇦🇺 Might And Power Day
11 October
G1 Might And Power Stakes

The G1 Caulfield Guineas is traditionally Australia’s strongest three-year-old race. Even though it may have been surpassed in recent years, it still has an honour roll featuring some of the country’s best three-year-olds. This weekend’s G1 Golden Rose in Sydney, featuring leading Caulfield Guineas contenders Autumn Boy and Nepotism, and the G2 Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley, headlined by Yulong’s Vinrock, will likely shape the market. It is one of three Group 1 races on the card, alongside the G1 Might And Power Stakes and the G1 Toorak Handicap.

🇬🇧 Dewhurst Stakes Day
11 October
G1 Dewhurst Stakes

This weekend’s G1 Middle Park Stakes should provide some pointers as to which colts might be lining up in the Dewhurst in two weeks’ time to face Britain’s top juvenile, the recent G1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes winner Zavateri. He edged Aidan O’Brien’s G2 Coventry Stakes hero Gstaad that day by a head, and that colt, plus his Ballydoyle stablemate Puerto Rico, have entries in the Middle Park over six furlongs and the Dewhurst over seven. The latter won the seven-furlong G2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster earlier this month. The Dewhurst meeting will also feature three Group 3 races and the historic Cesarewitch Handicap, which dates back to 1839.

🇦🇺 The Everest Day
18 October
G1 The Everest (IHFA-rated equal 29th), G1 King Charles III Stakes (rated equal 59th)

The world’s richest turf race, with a AU$20 million pot, has attracted the world’s top-rated sprinter aiming to prove he really is the best in the world. Ka Ying Rising has already made the journey from David Hayes’ Hong Kong base and is preparing at Canterbury racecourse for his first start away from Sha Tin. This weekend’s G1 Manikato Stakes will feature two confirmed Everest starters – Lady Shenandoah, considered one of Ka Ying Rising’s biggest threats, and Skybird – while horses like Baraqiel and Alabama Lass will attempt to earn a slot with a good performance on Friday night.

🇦🇺 Caulfield Cup Day
18 October
G1 Caulfield Cup

The Caulfield Cup remains Australia’s premier mile and a half race and the world’s richest 2400m handicap. The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Half Yours confirmed his spot in the feature with a dominant victory in the G3 Naturalism Stakes last weekend and, with Jamie Melham booked to ride, he will likely start favourite on October 18. G1 Underwood Stakes runner-up Buckaroo, who was also second in the Caulfield Cup last year, will attempt to go one better after his good performance last Saturday.

🇬🇧 British Champions Day
18 October
G1 Champion Stakes (IHFA-rated equal 16th), G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (rated equal 29th)

There’s a feast of top-class action at Ascot with five Group 1 races, headed by the Champion Stakes. That contest could feature an exciting rematch between Irish Champion Stakes and Eclipse Stakes winner Delacroix and his Juddmonte International Stakes conqueror Ombudsman. In the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over a mile, Field Of Gold will attempt to atone for his defeat in the G1 Sussex Stakes last time in an open division. 

🇧🇷 Gran Premio Latinoamericano Day
18 October
G1 Gran Premio Latinoamericano

South America’s championship race, the G1 Gran Premio Latinoamericano, returns to Brazil and to Gavea for the first time since 2016. The 16 runners have already been confirmed and will feature two Argentineans, three Chileans, six Peruvians and a Uruguayan to tackle four Brazilians. Joao Moreira will return from Brazil to continue his association with Sao Paulo hero Obataye. ∎