History made with 100 JRA wins in 2019

Godolphin became the first sole-ownership entity to reach 100 Japan Racing Association (JRA) victories in a year when Polar Summer was successful in a Nakayama maiden on Sunday, 1 December.

A tremendous year in Japan has been headlined by Tower Of London, who emulated 2018 Champion sprinter Fine Needle by winning the G1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama in September. The Raven’s Pass colt also scored twice at G2 level, breaking the course record in both the Keio Hai Spring Cup and the Centaur Stakes.

Other leading performers have included two-year-old filly Woman’s Heart, who took the G3 Niigata Nisai Stakes and finished fourth in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, and impressive G3 Keihan Hai winner Right On Cue.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “It is a great achievement for Godolphin to have won 100 JRA races this year. Only a few of the very large syndicates with many thousands of owners and many more horses have reached this goal and indeed Godolphin is the very first non-syndicate to do so in the entire JRA history. It is a credit to our staff and trainers and reflects their hard work, dedication and great professionalism. It also appears that Godolphin’s investment in our Castle Park training centre is paying dividends.

“It is particularly pleasing that it was our superior strike rate rather than number of horses that allowed us to reach this important landmark. While it certainly is a very noteworthy achievement, we will be hoping to do better again next year and we will also be striving to win a greater number of Graded races.”