Oriental Express and Indigenous targeted for November's Group 1 race
Ivan Allan is planning another Japanese raid with his star stayers Oriental Express and Indigenous. The pair were entered yesterday for the Japan Cup on November 25, with their trainer hoping they can fly the flag for Hong Kong both there and at the International meeting in December.
'The entries close on Thursday for the Japan Cup and I hope they both get an invitation,' Allan said yesterday. 'They are getting old now, but both have run well in Japan in the past and they are capable of doing so again. Oriental Express is the champion stayer of Hong Kong and Indigenous finished second in the Japan Cup two years ago, so they must have a good chance of getting a run.'
On the prospects of the pair running at the International meeting on December 16, Allan added: 'Let's wait and see. First they have to get in the Japan Cup. But it's possible to run at both meetings because there is a three-week gap between them.'
The Japan Racing Association allows up to 10 overseas horses to run in the Group 1 event over a mile and a half, though in the past two seasons the number of foreign-trained runners has fallen below that figure and the majority of the 16-runner field has been Japanese-trained horses.
Another factor in favour of the Allan-trained pair is that places for overseas runners will not be decided on ratings alone. The race conditions state: 'Upon making the final selection, the JRA will not only take into account the relative merits of each horse, but will seek to spread continental representation to include the main racing countries of the Americas, Europe, Oceania and Asia.'
Indigenous finished a 1.5-length second behind local runner Special Week in the 1999 Japan Cup, ahead of such luminaries as English Derby winner High-Rise, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victor Montjeu and Borgia, who went on to win the Hong Kong Vase three weeks later. Indigenous was fourth in that event. The eight-year-old, who makes his seasonal debut in tonight's Happy Valley Trophy, was the last Hong Kong-trained horses to win the Vase, back in 1998, and that is his likely target again in December.
Oriental Express has also finished second in a Group 1 race in Japan, filling that spot in the 1998 Yasuda Kinen behind 2.5-length winner Taiki Shuttle. The eight-year-old was due to retire at the end of last season, but he earned an extra few months following his emotional victory in the ING Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup in May, a win that clinched the champion stayer award for the grey.
He makes his second appearance of the season tonight in the Happy Valley Trophy, having finished eighth behind stablemate Fairy King Prawn in the National Day Cup last week. His probable target at the International meeting is also the Vase, which is likely to be his final racecourse appearance.
Allan's last foray to Japan was clouded in controversy when Fairy King Prawn initially was refused entry for the Yasuda Kinen due to fears over foot-and-mouth. Following intense international pressure, the JRA persuaded the Japanese Government to lift its restrictions and allow Fairy King Prawn to run, but Allan's star miler could finish only ninth.
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