Top-level racing continues in Japan with the May 5 NHK Mile Cup (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse offering a field chock full of 3-year-olds looking for their best conditions going forward.
The cast of characters includes last year's Japanese champion 2-year-old colt, Jantar Mantar, who seems to have hit his distance limit at one mile, and a couple of promising fillies.
Though he broke his maiden on debut at 1 1/8 miles, Jantar Mantar, by Palace Malice, has come up short in two tries beyond the mile distance since winning the 2023 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1) to finish his 2-year-old campaign, most recently fading to finish third in the 1 1/4-mile Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas, G1).
"He wasn't able to hold off the other two horses in the closing stages last time, and just couldn't find any more at the end," said trainer Tomokazu Takano about the decision to stick with the one-mile distance. "But I was still satisfied with his third-place finish. He's a top-class horse with a lot of ability."
A few of promising fillies also figure in the Mile Cup.
Bond Girl missed the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) last year with a setback and that cascaded into her not getting into the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas, G1). When she finally got back to the track April 6, she finished second in the New Zealand Trophy (G2) at Nakayama Racecourse, which trainer Takahisa Tezuka called "a good run," adding, "What's more, it gained her some valuable prize money to get entered into races from now."
Another 3-year-old filly, Ascoli Piceno, knocked off the colts in last year's Niigata Nisai Stakes (G3) and won the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, but lost her undefeated record while finishing second in the Oka Sho in her 3-year-old debut and again goes up against male competition.
Gonbade Qabus, by 2019 United States Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, relegated Bond Girl to second in the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup (G3) last October but he has not raced since.
