Up With the Birds was the first to arrive. Leaving from Canada and traveling via the U.S., the bay coltlanded shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16 and was transported to the quarantine facilities at the JRA Horseracing School in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture, where he arrived shortly before midnight the same day.
Assistant trainer Mark Ramsammy said, the colt “didn’t show any signs of fatigue from the trip and is in good shape.” Ramsammy said he would “be in regular touch with the trainer to receive instructions regarding training.”
The next day, Ramsammy said, “He seems to be over the long trip. Today, since he’s just had a long trip, we’ll only handwalk him a bit.” Ramsammy said plans were to prepare Up With the Birds for the race in the same manner as he would be prepared back home. The colt was weighed Monday and tipped the scales at 482 kg.
Early on Monday shortly before 7, the second of the foreign raiders, Trading Leather, arrived safely from Ireland via the Netherlands and was transported to the quarantine facilities, where he arrived at 9:30 a.m. Assistant trainer Gerard Flynn commented, “The trip took some 23 hours but the horse is in good shape.” Flynn’s instructions from Bolger, he said, were “ ‘Go and win the race!’ ” He said, “We’ll be seeing how the horse is doing and deciding his training after that.”
The Canada-bred Up With the Birds is by Stormy Atlantic out of the Seeking the Gold mare Song of the Lark. He has garnered seven wins from his 14 starts in Canada and the U.S. His wins have come predominately at distances between 1,700 meters and 1,800 meters, but he has proven successful over the Japan Cup distance, as indicated by his win of the Breeders Stakes at Woodbine in August 2013. Other wins include the G1 Jamaica Handicap in the U.S. in 2013 and this year’s eye-catching win of the July 19 G2 Nijinsky Stakes at Woodbine, where Up With the Birds defeated a field of six that included G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile runnerup Za Approval. Since then he was given two races, the G1 Arlington Million, in which he ran fourth of seven over 2,000 meters, and the Knickerbocker Stakes, a G3 at Belmont on Oct. 11, where he ran second of six over 1,800 meters.
The bay Trading Leather is a son of the undefeated Teofilo, who was 2-Year-Old European Champion in 2006, and is out of the Sinndar mare Night Visit. Trading Leather’s regular jockey is Kevin Manning, who has in fact been paired with him for all his 15 races. The colt has run consistently in the money, having notched four firsts, five seconds and four thirds. The colt was originally raced in the colors of the trainer’s wife, then sold before the start of this year’s season to Godolphin. He has, however, remained in training with Bolger.
Trading Leather has failed to notch a win since capturing the Irish Derby in June 2013, but the bar has been high, with him taking on six G1 events and one G2. From his four races this year he has tallied a second and two thirds. In early July he took on the G1 Eclipse Stakes over 2,000 meters at Sandown as prep for the 2,400-meter King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on July 26 at Ascot. He finished second of nine in the prep but was fifth amid eight runners in the main event 11 lengths behind winner Taghrooda. In 2013, Trading Leather had run second in a King George field of eight.
He is coming off a run at Leopardstown in the 2,000-meter G1 Irish Champion Stakes on Sept. 13. He finished third in the field of seven.
http://japanracing.jp/_news2014/pdf/141118.pdf
