Tokyo challenge for Shadow Emperor

Two-year-old colt Shadow Emperor, who made a winning start to his career, is stepping up to G3 level for the mile Saudi Arabia Royal Cup at Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, 6 October.

The son of Just A Way stayed on strongly for a neck success in a Hanshin newcomers’ race over the same trip on Saturday, 8 September.

Trained by Inao Okada, ridden by Ryuji Wada and drawn one, he takes on seven other juveniles including course and distance winner Gran Alegria plus allowance race runner-up Draupnir.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, commented: “Shadow Emperor won on his only previous start and remains rather inexperienced but, in fairness, it is the same situation for many of the other runners in the race.

“However, Shadow Emperor’s win was on soft ground and he will most likely be encountering fast ground for the first time on Saturday.

“Also, he will have a long journey to Tokyo for this race whereas Hanshin, where he won on debut, is very close to his base in Ritto.

“He is by Just A Way, who is doing very well with his first crop of two-year-olds. Overall, the race is a very difficult one to predict.”