By Ray Paulick
OSAKA, Japan—Espoir City made it look easy in Sunday’s $2.9-million Japan Cup Dirt at Hanshin race course, wresting the lead after a quarter from the lone American-based runner, Tizway, then coasting to a 3 1/2-length victory under jockey Tetsuzo Sato. The win was the fourth in a row (third straight in a Grade 1 race) and ninth from 17 starts for the 4-year-old son of the Sunday Silence stallion Gold Allure out of Eminent City, by Brian’s Time.

Espoir City paid 310 yen to win (on a 100 yen bet) after covering nine furlongs in 1:49.90 on a fast track. Silk Mobius was second and Golden Ticket third in the 16-horse field. Tizway, who broke on top, wound up 12th under Rajiv Maragh after getting shuffled back on the last turn and caught behind a wall of horses.

The winner is trained by Akio Adachi and is owned by the Yushun Horse Club, one of the oldest and largest racing clubs licensed by the Japan Racing Association and boasting about 10,000 members.

Espoir City is the sixth consecutive Japanese-bred winner of Japan’s biggest dirt race and the ninth Japanese-trained horse to win the event in the 10 runnings since being inaugurated in 2000.

Trainer Adachi, who sent Bamboo Ere to Dubai to contest the 2009 Golden Shaheen sprint, where he finished fourth, said he would consult with the head of Yushun Horse to discuss a possible trip overseas for the Japan Cup Dirt winner. Adachi credited jockey Sato for helping turn Espoir City around from a runner who was too eager in the early portion of his races to one who now is more settled and mature. “Mentally, he’s still a baby,” Adachi said of Espoir City. The colt began his career racing on grass but has been much more successful since being switched to dirt racing.

Sato, who won the 2003 Japan Cup in similar wire to wire fashion aboard Tap Dance City, said his plan was to let Tizway take the early lead and wait to see if the American horse drifted out while rounding the first turn on the clockwise course (all of Tizway’s races have been run counter-clockwise in the United States). “I knew Tizway would be the early speed and would probably go off the rail on the turn, giving me a chance to take over,” Sato afterwards.

ALSO ON SUNDAY’S HANSHIN CARD were the final two races in the World Super Jockeys series. Norihiro Yokoyama, who was tied for the points lead going into Sunday’s finale, locked up the title when he guided Taghano Premiere to victory in the day’s 10th race. Yokoyama ended up with 47 points, well ahead of Hong Kong’s Douglas Whyte (38 points) and Ryan Moore (37) of Great Britain. Calvin Borel, who won one of the two Super Jockey races on Saturday, along with Garrett Gomez, were blanked in Sunday’s competition, though Gomez won an earlier race on the program on Yamanin Chasseur,  a huge longshot that paid 33,850 yen on a 100 yen bet (338-to-1). Borel finished fifth in the standings and Gomez was last of the 15 riders.

Several thousand of the 40,226 fans on hand for Sunday’s program stayed around for the World Super Jockeys awards presentation in the track’s walking ring. Each of the riders wore matching hats and warmup jackets and ran into the paddock under a spotlight after being introduced individually to the crowd. Following an Olympic Games type of ceremony, the jockeys doused Yokoyama with champagne, and many of them tossed their caps and jackets into the crowd for fans to keep as souvenirs. Many of them, including Gomez and Borel, waded into the crowd to sign autographs. They were the human stars on a day, but there’s no question that Espoir City was the equine celebrity.

The loss of Summer Bird from the Japan Cup Dirt to an injury sustained the prior weekend, undoubtedly had an impact on the gate. Attendance was down 17.5% from the 2008 Japan Cup Dirt. Handle on the Japan Cup Dirt was 15.2 billion yen (about $172 million), down 5.9% from 2008. Total handle on the day was 23.2 billion yen (about $264 million), down 3.4%. Only 3.4% of the total handle was wagered on-track.