Paint it black: Beat Black leads the field at the Tenno-sho at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday. KYODOKYOTO — Triple Crown champion Orfevre was stunned by long-shot Beat Black in the spring Tenno-sho on Sunday, the runaway favorite crossing the line in a tie for 11th out of 18 in one of the wildest finishes in the race's history.Beat Black, who went off as the 14th choice, took the tape four lengths ahead of runnerup and third pick Tosen Jordan, winner of last year's autumn Tenno-sho.Second favorite Win Variation came in third another two lengths back in the ?274 million, 3,200-meter marathon at Kyoto Racecourse.The reigning horse of the year in Japan, Orfevre — who also won the Arima Kinen last season — was never in the race, traveling second to last for most of the trip, and made only a marginal effort in closing the gap down the stretch.Orfevre had been targeted for the world's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the fall, but trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said the plan could be scrapped after Sunday's disappointing display."We can't be talking about the Arc when he races like this," Ikee said.Beat Black's Shu Ishibashi rode a gutsy race in lifting the Emperor's Cup, going wire-to-wire on the firm going at Kyoto Racecourse to cut a time of 3 minutes, 13.8 seconds — only 0.4 seconds off the race record held by the legendary Deep Impact."This is incredible, it really is," said the 28-year-old Ishibashi, who won the first Grade 1 title of his career as he led the 5-year-old. "The track here has been fast lately, and I wanted to ride a race that would take full advantage of it."I wanted to keep the pace brisk and was ready to make my move at any time. I let him go with 1,000 meters left in the race. I just floored the pedal, all the way," he said.The Hitoshi Nakamura-trained Beat Black was so far ahead of the pack, the 5-year-old horse all but had the race in the bag rounding the final turn.Tosen Jordan made a valiant effort to catch him on the 400-meter straight, but there was no stopping Ishibashi's mount on this glorious afternoon in the ancient Japanese capital."If you worry about the other horses, you can't race the way we did today," Ishibashi said. "The horse had been training really well and was in such good condition."I was so lucky to be aboard this horse," he said.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Beat Black upstages Orfevre at Tenno-sho
Paint it black: Beat Black leads the field at the Tenno-sho at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday. KYODOKYOTO — Triple Crown champion Orfevre was stunned by long-shot Beat Black in the spring Tenno-sho on Sunday, the runaway favorite crossing the line in a tie for 11th out of 18 in one of the wildest finishes in the race's history.Beat Black, who went off as the 14th choice, took the tape four lengths ahead of runnerup and third pick Tosen Jordan, winner of last year's autumn Tenno-sho.Second favorite Win Variation came in third another two lengths back in the ?274 million, 3,200-meter marathon at Kyoto Racecourse.The reigning horse of the year in Japan, Orfevre — who also won the Arima Kinen last season — was never in the race, traveling second to last for most of the trip, and made only a marginal effort in closing the gap down the stretch.Orfevre had been targeted for the world's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the fall, but trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said the plan could be scrapped after Sunday's disappointing display."We can't be talking about the Arc when he races like this," Ikee said.Beat Black's Shu Ishibashi rode a gutsy race in lifting the Emperor's Cup, going wire-to-wire on the firm going at Kyoto Racecourse to cut a time of 3 minutes, 13.8 seconds — only 0.4 seconds off the race record held by the legendary Deep Impact."This is incredible, it really is," said the 28-year-old Ishibashi, who won the first Grade 1 title of his career as he led the 5-year-old. "The track here has been fast lately, and I wanted to ride a race that would take full advantage of it."I wanted to keep the pace brisk and was ready to make my move at any time. I let him go with 1,000 meters left in the race. I just floored the pedal, all the way," he said.The Hitoshi Nakamura-trained Beat Black was so far ahead of the pack, the 5-year-old horse all but had the race in the bag rounding the final turn.Tosen Jordan made a valiant effort to catch him on the 400-meter straight, but there was no stopping Ishibashi's mount on this glorious afternoon in the ancient Japanese capital."If you worry about the other horses, you can't race the way we did today," Ishibashi said. "The horse had been training really well and was in such good condition."I was so lucky to be aboard this horse," he said.
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