Yamato gets ready for a repeat on the turf. (Jim McCue/MJC)
Shares Program with Laurel Futurity, Selima for 2-Year-Olds
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Defending champion Yamato, unraced since his victory last year, 2021 winner Tide of the Sea and fellow multiple stakes winners Dataman and California Frolic are among 10 older horses with an affinity for distance entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Japan Turf Cup.
The 61st running of the 1 ½-mile Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up is joined on the 10-race program by the $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds and $150,000 Selima for 2-year-old fillies, both scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s 7-year-old Yamato earned his 10th career win and first in a stakes with his popular 2 ½-length triumph in last year’s Japan Turf Cup, despite encountering trouble nearing the half-mile pole. The gelded son of 2005 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner Artie Schiller, claimed for $50,000 four starts prior, then got a scheduled break that wound up lasting longer than anticipated.
“We planned to give him 90 days off and one thing after another happened, so it turned into a year,” trainer Mike Maker said. “He’s an old professional and has had a very consistent work program. Having said that, he’s a heavier-type horse so you’re always concerned if you’ve got him tight enough.”
Yamato has been breezing steadily in Kentucky since early April for his comeback. Jockey Horacio Karamanos, who has won the Japan Turf Cup each of the past three years, gets the return call from Post 3.
“We’ve been trying to get him in for six weeks to no avail. This wasn’t the spot we were pointing for, but it makes sense,” Maker said. “We feel good about bringing him back to a track where he’s won. We expect him to run a big race. He tries hard every time, so I don’t expect this time to be any different.”
Maker and Karamanos teamed up three years ago to win the Japan Turf Cup with Tide of the Sea, who returns this year for Baron Racing Stables and trainer Joe Sharp. It will be the third start for the 8-year-old son of turf champion English Channel since being claimed for $30,000 in January at Fair Grounds.
“The owner liked the horse, and I was willing to give it a chance. We got him and everything was good with him physically. We just thought that being an older horse, we’d try and freshen him up mentally and it would help him come back to his old self. His first race at Indiana was off the turf and not really a good evaluation of that. After that, seeing him get back to the way he ran at Kentucky Downs was very encouraging.”
Tide of the Sea, winner of the 2021 W.L. McKnight (G3) on the Gulfstream Park turf, ran last of five in his comeback July 16 at Horseshoe Indiana, a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance originally scheduled for the grass. Most recently he set the pace and settled for second, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in a similar spot going 1 ½ miles over Kentucky Downs’ unique, European-style course.
“He just seems like he’s one of those specialty distance horses, the further the better. It seems like the key to getting him to fire big is just giving him enough ground to get over,” Sharp said. “Distance is everything with him. The Japan Cup is a mile and a half so that should be right up his alley.”
Jeiron Barbosa rides from Post 4.
“It would be a pretty cool story to see him come back after a couple years and win it again. I’m sure there will be a lot of people pulling for him,” Sharp said. “He is a war horse and it’s just nice to see him return to top numbers after that kind of break.”
Wertheimer and Frere’s 4-year-old homebred Dataman has won two of four starts this year, both in stakes, starting with the one-mile Henry S. Clark April 20 at Laurel. He is unbeaten in two tries over the Laurel turf, his other victory coming in last summer’s 1 3/8-mile Bald Eagle Derby.
Both Dataman’s Laurel wins and four of his five career victories have come under jockey Jorge Ruiz, who will be aboard again from Post 5.
“I like the fact of keeping him local and I like that Jorge can ride him,” trainer Graham Motion said. “He’s a bit of a handful, this guy, so to have someone that knows him is good for him.”
Dataman ran fifth by two lengths in the 1 3/8-mile United Nations (G2) July 20 at Monmouth Park, then was fourth as the favorite in the one-mile Tight Spot Handicap Sept. 1 at Kentucky Downs behind Goliad, who came back to capture the Mint Millions (G3) at the same course and distance just six days later.
“I’m a little annoyed at myself for running him at Kentucky Downs. It just didn’t really suit him. It’s hard to know exactly what his best distance is but I do think he gets the mile and a half,” Motion said. “It was just really hard to make up ground on the winner that day [at Kentucky Downs]. He didn’t have a perfect trip the race before, but he ran very well and wasn’t beaten very far. I think you can almost make a case that he’s a little better this year.”
Julian DeMora Jr.’s California Frolic, 5, exits a one-length victory in the 1 ½-mile Presious Passion Sept. 8 at Monmouth, his third start for trainer Juan Carlos Avila. He won stakes on Gulfstream’s turf and all-weather Tapeta courses in the spring of 2022, and that fall was second in the 1 1/8-mile Virginia Derby (G3).
Also entered are Dean Martini, winner of the 2020 Ohio Derby (G3) on dirt; Dripping Gold, last out winner of a 1 5/16-mile optional claiming allowance Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; Max Swagger, Lord Flintshire, Hay Chief and Irish Cork, the latter for main track only.
