Diamond looking to sparkle for Japan
SATONO DIAMOND, Japan’s big hope to lay the country’s Arc de Triomphe hoodoo to rest, was fitted with the latest technology when he turned in a powerful display on Chantilly’s Les Aigles round gallop on Wednesday.
Trainer Yasutoshi Ikee – who will be attempting to go one better in the Arc after twice finishing runner-up with Orfevre – is still in Japan but will have had every available piece of feedback even before speaking to work rider Yuki Iwasaki, who was fitted with hi-tech Google Glass eyewear – and a GPS transmitter as the horse had his last serious workout before the Prix Foy on September 10.
Heart rate
“The glasses show the speed the horse is travelling every 200m as well as giving the heart rate,” explained Ikee’s assistant Kazuhiro Nakazawa.
“He is also carrying a GPS transmitter and so the trainer can decode the technical aspects of the work,” he added.
While Ikee benefits from detailed information on the gallop the glasses also aid the work rider in knowing how fast he is going.
Ikee’s compatriot Noriyuki Hori used a similar set up in Hong Kong ahead of Neorealism’s Audemars Piguet QEII Cup victory in April.
Satono Diamond, a bestpriced 12-1 for the Arc in which he will be partnered by the Japanese-based Chantilly native, Christophe Lemaire, boasts an extremely consistent profile, having posted an RPR of 122 or higher on five of his last six starts, dating back to his nose defeat to Makahiki in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby).
Satono Diamond
Winner of last season’s Japanese St Leger and the year-ending Arima Kinen, Satono Diamond travelled easily in behind his Group 3winning pacemaker, the seven-year-old Satono Noblesse, and strode out well to just pull ahead of his companion at the end of the seven-furlong gallop.
“The work went well with no problems,” said Nakazawa.
“In Japan that would be considered quite a long piece of work and you wouldn’t find many horses that gallop 1 400m in the morning.
“They tend to concentrate on 1 000m, sometimes 1 200m.”
The son of Deep Impact is likely to have a lighter piece of work next week but connections are not planning on a trip down the road from Satoshi Kobayashi’s host stable to familiarise Satono Diamond with the racecourse ahead of the Foy a week on Sunday.
Challenge
For a horse who is generally third favourite for the Arc, many European observers may know surprisingly little about Japan’s principal challenge for the race that the nation’s racing community covets above all others.
Not that jockey Christophe Lemaire or trainer Yasutoshi Ikee need much in the way of introduction, and it is their partnership which may play a large part in explaining why bookmakers are showing such respect for Satono Diamond.
Lemaire is a multiple Classic winner in his native France as well as in Britain and Japan, while Ikee twice came close to Arc glory with Orfevre and also assisted his father’s 2006 challenge with the great Deep Impact.
Part of Japan’s highly rated three-year-old crop of 2016, Satono Diamond progressed from a third placed finish over an inadequate 1 800m in the 2000 Guineas (Satsuki Sho) to just being caught on the wire by Makahiki in the Derby (Tokyo Yushun).
While Makahiki was sent to Europe to challenge at Chantilly 12 months ago, Ikee and owner Hajime Satomi elected to stay at home and let Satono Diamond mature, a ploy which paid off spectacularly with a win in the St Leger and a thrilling late surge to deny Kitasan Black in the seasonal climax of the Arima Kinen on Christmas Day.