Tenno Sho (Autumn) (Group 1)

TOMORROW morning all eyes will be on Tokyo Racecourse for the 168th running of the 10-furlong Tenno Sho (Autumn), one of Japan’s most prestigious and challenging races.

The race is highlighted by last year’s winner and the world’s top rated horse Equinox, looking to join only two others that have won back-to-back runnings.

Equinox has some interesting competition though, last year’s Derby winner Do Deuce and this distance specialist Prognosis, who won the Group 2 Sapporo Kinen in August. Last year’s third-place finisher Danon Beluga is also in the smaller than usual field of 11.

Equinox has never finished out of the first two in his eight-race career and is on a four-race Group 1 winning streak and he memorably ran down Panthalassa here last year to land his first Group 1 victory.

He went on to capture the Arima Kinen before easily winning the Sheema Classic from Westover and a high class field. He returns after four months off following his win in the Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen over 11 furlongs at Hanshin.

Last week, he turned in a sharp workout at his Miho base under his regular partner Christophe Lemaire.

Do Deuce, winner of the 2021 Group 1 Asahi Futurity Stakes for two-year-olds and the 2022 Japanese Derby, followed that up with fourth place in the Group 2 Prix Niel in France before finishing 19th place in the 2022 Arc.

In February, he claimed the Group 2 Kyoto Kinen but in Dubai he was forced to scratch from the Turf with slight lameness. Yutaka Take rides again, seeking his seventh win in the race.

He and Equinox will be meeting for the first time since the Derby, where the latter chased Do Deuce down the stretch but finished a neck behind. Prognosis is a Deep Impact five-year-old in his first Group 1 but his late kick should stand him well up Tokyo’s long straight.