Epiphaneia Proves Easy Winner of Japan Cup

Epiphaneia powers to 4-length win of Japan Cup

The 4-year-old Epiphaneia, racing under the No. 4 saddle cloth, scored the biggest victory of his career and did it with a 4-length margin when he blew away one of the strongest fields in the Japan Cup ever.

On Sunday, Nov. 30 before a crowd of over 100,000 people, the son of Symboli Kris S scored the first Japan Cup win for trainer Katsuhiko Sumii since Vodka slipped into the winner’s circle by a mere nose in2009. He bettered not only race favorite Gentildonna, winner of both the 2012 and 2013 Japan Cups, but topped the world’s top ranking racehorse Just a Way.

It was a win that caught both Sumii and jockey Christophe Soumillon by surprise. An hour after his stupendous ride, Soumillon said, “I’m still high.” Sumii, surrounded by congratulatory reporters and shaking hands right and left, blurted out with uncharacteristic emotion and frankness and a big smile on his face. “I’m so surprised. I didn’t think he’d gotten enough work.”

The lanky bay colt, his coat soaked black with sweat, had everyone at first worried and then surprised on the overcast Sunday afternoon. Known as a powerful and hard-to-handle horse, Sumii’s words to Soumillon before the race were simply “He’s very keen and likely to pull hard.” Soumillon watched the horse in the preparade ring and his anxiety grew. “I could see how difficult it was for his head lad to hold him and the horse was sweating and nervous-looking.”

To Sumii, used to the colt, he appeared “rather quiet” in the preparade ring, “but in the preliminaries he became agitated and I was a bit concerned.”

Soumillon, riding down to the gate, was equally concerned. “I was not confident,” the Belgian-born jockey admitted. “The trainer had asked me to ride the colt in about sixth or seventh position, but I didn’t see how I was going to do that.” Then, just before race start at 3:55 p.m. and “all the people screaming and making noise in the crowd, I nearly fell off,” Soumillon said.

Breaking well, Epiphaneia fell in behind frontrunner Satono Shuren and Tamamo Best Play in third position on the rail. “It was a fast pace and he had a good position,” remarked Sumii. “He was under control, but just barely and that is very difficult for this horse.”

Soumillon, aware that he was further forward than the trainer had instructed said, “I thought I could maybe slow him down a bit in the turns, but couldn’t.”

Just before the turn into the straight, Soumillon said he had, “pulled back a little and I wanted to hold him for another 100 meters, but I also knew that strong horses like Gentildonna and others were right behind me.” Now into the straight with Epiphaneia till on the rail, it was the next moment and the kind of split-second decision that separates the good from the best. Soumillon decided to go for broke.

“Usually when a horse pulls so much and is never relaxed during the race, you pay a high price in the stretch for the huge effort. But, suddenly I saw him wanting to go and his strides were getting longer. The race was starting all over again for him.” Soumillon neatly moved the colt out and around Satono Shurenand sent him sprinting up and between him and Tamamo Best Play. Epiphaneia stepped into the lead from 300 meters out and never let go of that lead, putting more and more room between him and the rest of the 18-horse field.

“He was far away from the others and running well,” Soumillon said. “I was so surprised.” Soumillon said he knew he’d won it from 150 meters out. “It’s very rare to have a horse stop after that. The only time that happened,” Soumillon said remembering surely like a bad dream another Japanese champion he’d ridden at Longchamp, “was with Orfevre in the Arc.”
The win of the Japan Cup was Soumillon’s first in five bids. In 2010, he crossed the line in first aboard Buena Vista, but she was set back to second for what was deemed “careless riding” on his part. It was Sumii’s second win of the race.

“This was a great opportunity to come to Japan for just one weekend and have a ride in Japan’s top race and such a prestigious race,” the 33-year-old Soumillon said. “I am a very lucky jockey. This was one of the greatest performances of my career.”

Sumii, who said plans are to take Epiphaneia to the Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) next, said, “I was waiting for him to show the ability I knew he had and had displayed in the Kikuka Sho. I’m relieved about that, but I know I can’t sit back.”

Following Epiphaneia over the line was Just a Way in second under Yuichi Fukunaga, Epiphaneia‘s regular rider, who gave up the ride to go with Just a Way. Fukunaga had ridden Epiphaneia for all but one of his previous 11 starts and all of his five previous wins. This year, he had started out the year with a third in the G2 Sankei Osaka Hai on April 6, then traveled to Hong Kong for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup and ran fourth. Last time out, in the Nov. 2 Tenno Sho (Autumn), he piloted Epiphaneia to a sixth-place finish.

The Japan Cup win was worth 250 million yen, the highest prize money for any race in Japan. Epiphaneia‘s winning time was 2 minutes 23.1 seconds.
Making the money in third place was Tenno Sho (Autumn) winner Spielberg, who finished half a length behind Just a Way. Making the board wasGentildonna in fourth place and race second choice Harp Star in fifth.

Of the three foreign-based horses, Germany’s Ivanhowe had the best result with a sixth-place run and Canada’s Up With the Birds ran 16th. The race was marred by tragedy though. Ireland’s runner, the 4-year-old colt Trading Leather, was suddenly pulled up before the final turn under jockey Kevin Manning. The colt was later found to have suffered a fracture and was euthanized.

Epiphaneia, who was bred at Northern Farm in Hokkaido, is out of the Special Week mare Cesario, who won the American Oaks for Sumii. Epiphaneia is now six for 12 with total earnings of over 678 million yen. In addition to the Japan Cup, he won the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) in 2013, the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai the same year and the G3 Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes in 2012.