Christophe Lemaire well remembers the day 20 years ago when he donned the yellow and black-striped Shadai racing club silks and went to post on a talented Japanese horse at Ascot, facing the best Europe could assemble for the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. It was an attempt to make history as Japan’s first winner of the great 12-furlong race.
Well, history eluded Lemaire, Shadai, and his mount Heart’s Cry that day in 2006, but on Saturday he’s back in the same silks, riding another exciting Japanese colt, Masquerade Ball, and making history is again on the agenda.
“As a racing lover, this is the race you want to watch,” Lemaire tells Idol Horse as he looks ahead to Masquerade Ball’s rematch with France’s ‘world champion’ Calandagan, while reflecting back two decades to a hot summer’s day when, for a moment, Japan looked like winning Britain’s great weight-for-age feature for the first time.
“Twenty years ago, there was a great fight between three very good horses, Heart’s Cry, Electrocutionist and Hurricane Run. That was a great race, so I hope we will have the same kind of race again … but with a better result.”
Lemaire knows plenty about making history and about winning major races: he and Mirco Demuro were the first – and the only – foreign jockeys ever licensed full-time by the JRA; and at 47 he has been champion jockey in Japan multiple times; his long list of victories includes European Classics, Breeders’ Cup races, Dubai features and Japan’s most storied contests.
But he was just 27 years old and still developing as an elite rider when he rode Heart’s Cry. Lemaire and the five-year-old had defeated the great Deep Impact in the G1 Arima Kinen at Nakayama the previous December and trounced Collier Hill in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic that March – and there he was, at the royal racecourse in England, taking on the previous year’s G1 French Derby runner-up, G1 Irish Derby and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Coolmore’s Hurricane Run, and Godolphin’s G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Dubai World Cup hero, Electrocutionist.
“It was a cracking race,” Lemaire recalls. “Of course, I was disappointed because at the half straight he was in position to win the race, but unfortunately he struggled the last 200 metres and we just finished third behind the two favourites, Hurricane Run and Electrocutionist – two tremendous horses.
“It was a great performance finishing third, but of course, we expected a better result. But the horse was running after a long break after the Dubai Sheema Classic (in March) and maybe had a little bit of lack of fitness or toughness in the last few yards. But there was nothing to complain about. He ran great.”
Masquerade Ball is at a different career juncture to the one Heart’s Cry was at when he went to Ascot. He is a four-year-old, coming off a progressive three-year-old campaign that saw him place a close second in the Japanese Derby, then blossom in the autumn, winning one of Japan’s majors, the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn, before running Calandagan to a head in the G1 Japan Cup.
The King George has a field of 10 likely to go to post this time, including compatriot Wurttemberg, as well as top class competitors Benvenuto Cellini, Minnie Hauk, Kalpana, Lambourn and Goliath, but there is no doubt that Masquerade Ball’s past foe Calandagan, last year’s winner, is seen as the one to beat. Lemaire is confident in his colt’s ability, but at the same time, he knows making history doesn’t come easily.
“As a three-year-old in the Japan Cup last year Masquerade Ball fought very well against Calandagan, an older horse with much more experience than him, and I guess this year he will be again very competitive against Calandagan and the other older horses,” Lemaire says.
“The only thing is that this time, we will have an away game. For the Japan Cup we had the advantage to play at home, so this will be a big challenge for Masquerade Ball. Calandagan, on the contrary, he’s got the experience at Ascot Racecourse and he very much likes the good ground, so he will have all the big cards in his game: it will be a very tough task for Masquerade Ball.
“But we believe in him,” he adds. “We trust him. He’s a very genuine horse and he’s got a lot of ability.”
Masquerade Ball will not have to overcome such a long break as Heart’s Cry had between races. Japan’s current big hope has had one run since his Calandagan clash in Tokyo, a runner-up finish behind Hong Kong’s great war horse, Romantic Warrior, in the G1 QEII Cup at Sha Tin in late April.
That was a race which drew criticism from some quarters about what was perceived to be Lemaire’s ‘conservative’ riding: Masquerade Ball was settled at the tail in the eight-runner feature over 2000m, before making rattling late progress in the home straight.
“We got beaten by the champion Romantic Warrior, but it was over 2000 metres and I think he’s better at the longer distance,” Lemaire says.
“First of all, he’s not the quickest horse out of the gates. Actually, he’s not very good at starting, he’s a bit twisting and moving in the gates, so the timing the other day in Hong Kong was not good. And the peculiarity of the 2000 metres in Hong Kong is that the first corner is coming on you very quickly. So, after a long break, I couldn’t afford to put the horse under pressure early on and burn his energy too soon.”
Lemaire, trainer Takahisa Tezuka, and owners Shadai went to Hong Kong seeking victory, but they also went there knowing the primary target was ahead of them at Ascot and that they were facing Romantic Warrior on his home patch.
“It was not a shame to finish second to Romantic Warrior in Hong Kong and to finish ahead of Sosie who won the Hong Kong Vase. There was no shame to finish between these two horses,” Lemaire says.
“You know, a horse’s career is quite long and you have to respect your horse,” he continues. “It’s easy to say after the race, if I would have been two, three lengths closer to the pace, I could have won. But you face a horse like Romantic Warrior, which is a phenomenal horse. You face a horse who finished third and fourth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Sosie.
“So, you can’t afford to burn too much petrol, especially when you’re coming back from a long break, like he was. So that’s why I was at the rear of the field and I waited until the last moment to ask him for his full potential. But the last 150 metres, when he changed legs, he showed a great acceleration. And even for his mental development, I think this will help him to be stronger in the next race.”
Masquerade Ball was a highly-performed work in progress throughout 2025 but Lemaire feels the son of Duramente matured into the Hong Kong race and has since learned from that experience.
“The way he travelled and the way he finished in Hong Kong made me feel that he’s got stronger and more mature,” he says. “For example, in the Japan Cup, he tended to hang a little bit on his inside when I put him out. But the other day in Hong Kong, he was perfectly straight and very focused on what he had to do. This is one of the aspects where he has improved.
“When a horse is a bit backward as a two and three-year-old, year after year, race after race, they improve physically and mentally. So I guess he will reach his peak – if it’s not at the end of this spring-summer season, it will be this autumn, so I’m very much looking forward to having him at his best.”
Lemaire has no worries about the mile and a half distance and believes Masquerade Ball’s “long acceleration during the race” will work in his favour, as long as the weather stays dry and the ground remains good or quicker.
“He’s an easy ride: if he jumps well from the gate, I will try to ride him where he’s comfortable,” he says. “And if there was nothing wrong in his preparation and if he’s at his best in terms of condition, he will be very competitive, so let’s hope that he will be at his best condition and let’s hope that the race in Hong Kong gave him something extra in terms of condition, some extra speed and stamina.
“The other day he had the stamina but maybe he didn’t have the speed to be close to the pace early on, and to have an extra gear coming to the bend. So, the plan went right in terms of the horse’s rotation (from the Japan Cup towards the King George), so, yeah, let’s hope he will be at his best on Saturday.”
If he is, the Shadai race club members and the Shadai supremo Teruya Yoshida, whose idea it was to target the King George, should be seeing their colt right there to challenge halfway down the Ascot straight.
“The King George is a special race,” Lemaire adds. “When you watch the winners, looking back, you’ve got some fantastic horses: legendary horses won this race.”
If Lemaire can pilot Masquerade Ball to achieve what Heart’s Cry could not, and at long last become the first Japanese raider to win the King George, Yoshida and the Shadai racing club members will be watching a new legend in the making. ∎
