Photo:

Sophie Shore / Eclipse Sportswire – edited

Crown Pride left little doubt about whether he would pull
off a repeat Sunday at Seoul Racecourse. The 5-year-old from Japan led at every
call on the way to an emphatic, five-length triumph in the Group 3, US$1,195,126
Korea Cup going about 1 1/8 miles around two left turns on the fast dirt.

Ridden by Yuga Kawada as was the case in last year’s
10-length win, the Reach The Crown entire who is trained by Koichi Shintani
earned an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. If he runs, Crown
Pride would return to the U.S. for the first time since he finished 13th in the
2022 Kentucky Derby.

The same connections also repeated an hour earlier in the US$1,045,736
Korea Sprint (G1). By finishing first again, Remake earned an invitation to the
Breeders’ Cup Sprint, also at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Two-time graded-stakes winner Anarchist,
who was shipped from California, finished third.

Starting in the Cup from the outermost stall in the open-company
field of 11, Crown Pride (5-2) stumbled before Kawada quickly hustled him to
the lead in the first 100 yards. He led by about two lengths after the first
quarter- and half-mile and by about three through six furlongs.

By the time the field turned into the stretch, Crown Pride’s
advantage was about five lengths. Odds-on favorite Wilson Tesoro (1-5), the
5-year-old who finished fourth in the Dubai World Cup (G1), charged from
mid-pack into second place. Global Hit (11-1) moved at about the same time to
get to third, and early stalker Light Warrior (14-1) was running in fourth.

As the field spread out in the final quarter-mile, Kawada
gave Crown Pride some right-handed urging, and the order did not change among
the top four.

The winning time was 1:51.8 without a run-up for the 1,200
meters, 12 yards less than 1 1/8 miles. The only splits that were shown were
1:02.6 for five furlongs and 1:14.4 for six.

Crown Pride paid $7.40 and $3.20 for what would be a show
bet in North America. Wilson Tesoro returned $2.10 and Global Hit $5.00. There
was no equivalent of U.S. place betting.

Owned by Teruya Yoshida, Crown Pride is 4: 2-0-0 this year.
Last out he won the Mercury Cup on July 15 at Morioka. He also finished ninth
on Feb. 24 in the Saudi Cup (G1) and 12th on May 1 in the Kashiwa Kinen at
Funabashi.

Remake wins Sprint; Anarchist is 3rd

After settling in the middle of the 15-horse field, odds-on
favorite Remake (1-5) accelerated in the turn, took the lead with 120 yards to
go and ran on to a two-length victory in the Korea Sprint, a 1,200-meter race
that translates to about eight yards short of six furlongs.

Anarchist (9-1), the second betting choice trained by Doug O’Neill
and ridden by California-based Edwin Maldonado, led briefly before the turn and
then stalked pacesetter Jasper Krone (13-1) into the stretch before fading and
settling for third.

Remake, a 5-year-old horse by Lani, was tucked in along the
rail by Kawada. He then cut the corner to find a path that eventually took him
out to the middle of the track to reel in his rivals.

Jasper Krone finished second. He was six lengths better than
Anarchist, who finished a half-length ahead of fourth-place Speed Young (20-1).

The winning time without a run-up was 1:10.3 after posted
splits of 23.2 for the first quarter-mile and 34.4 for the first three
furlongs.

Remake paid $2.40 and $2.10, Jasper Krone $6.80 and Anarchist
$3.20.

This was Remake’s first start in more than five months. He
won the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) in February on the Saudi Cup undercard and then
finished fourth last out in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) on Dubai World Cup night.

Remake’s breeder-owner Koji Maeda campaigned Lani to a
ninth-place performance in the 2016 Kentucky Derby.