RACING POST-- Christophe Soumillon will keep the ride on Japan’s superstar filly BuenaVista when she takes part in what will be a highly anticipated rematch with promoted Japan Cup winner Rose Kingdom later this month.
Soumillon wasbanned for four days after being deemed culpable for the interference that cost Buena Vista a famous victory in the world’s richest turf race on Sunday, after which the four-year-old was disqualified in a controversial decision at Tokyo racecourse.
But he is set to keep the ride when Buena Vista, whose trainer has hit out at both the Tokyo stewards and his nation’s jockeys, gets the chance to exact revenge on Rose Kingdom in the Arima Kinen at Nakayama on December 26.
After a 24-minute delay as the stewards deliberated, the Japan Cup result was reversed in favour of the three-year-old Rose Kingdom, who received a small bump in the closing stages before passing the post a length and three-quarters behind the odds-on favourite.
The decision, which ruled out a seemingly spectacular winner, had made headlines in racing publications around the world - not least because Buena Vista would undoubtedly have kept the race as interference rules are interpreted in most major jurisdictions.
Ironically, both horses were bred by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farms... Yoshida intends to give the fervent Japanese racing public exactly what they want with a rematch. “The two horses have to run together in the Arima Kinen,” he said. “If they didn’t run, the fans will not understand. I think Soumillon will ride again of course.”
Buena Vista’s trainer Hiroyoshi Matsuda strongly criticised the decision to throw out his four-year-old, a decision that he felt reflected Japanese racingin a poor light on the world stage. (略)
Of the specific interference, Matsuda added: “Did you watch the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe?” he said.
“Horses strike each other but every jockey there thinks this is a common occurrence, but Japanese jockeys overstate the case when they meet any sort of interference from another horse.
“Idon’t think they can join the rougher races in the world - they will have to change their thinking to survive.”
Matsuda will check over Buena Vista but is keen to run her in the Arima Kinen, the grand prix that annually attracts the highest betting turnover of any single horserace on the planet.
Even Rose Kingdom’s trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi admitted to feeling uneasy about his first Japan Cup victory and stressed that he, too, is targeting the Arima Kinen.
“I felt a bad aftertaste in this race result,” he said. “But I was pleased to see the guts my horse had not to throw in the towel after the interference so I will send him to the Arima Kinen to play fair.”
Further down the field, the big Japan Cup disappointment was Arc runner-up Nakayama Festa, who finished a dismal 14th of the 18 runners.