Shonan Pandora in shock Japan Cup win

TOKYO: Long-shot Shonan Pandora stunned favourite Lovely Day to win the Japan Cup by a nose yesterday, keeping the trophy out of the hands of foreigners for a 10th successive year. The four-year-old 9/1 bet produced an electrifying finish in the home straight to beat Last Impact and Lovely Day and become the seventh filly to win Japan’s richest race, run over 2,400 metres on turf in Tokyo. Shonan Pandora and Last Impact are both offspring of the beloved Japanese horse Deep Impact, a triple crown winner and winner of the Japan Cup in 2006. Not since Frankie Dettori rode the British-trained Alkaased to victory in 2005 has a foreign horse won the cup, which has a total purse of around $5.2 million. “The horse was in fantastic shape so I just tried to give it everything in the saddle,” victorious jockey Kenichi Ikezoe told reporters after completing victory in two minutes, 24.7 seconds. —AFP