Japanese shippers loom large in Breeders’ Cup Challenge races in Korea

For the past two years, Japan has swept both Breeders’ Cup Challenge races at Seoul, the Korea Cup (G3) and Korea Sprint (G3). Although reigning titleholders Crown Pride and Remake are not back for a three-peat attempt, several compatriots will try to maintain the Japanese trend.

A pair of Hong Kong shippers adds to the international dimension of both events, slated for overnight Saturday into the early hours of Sunday morning, our time. 

Korea Sprint (G3): Race 7, 2:25 a.m. ET

Offering a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), the Korea Sprint features a trio of evenly-matched Japanese contenders who should have the class edge. 

Although #13 Chikappa (11-2) was a disappointing 10th in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2) on Saudi Cup Day, his latest effort hints that he’s cycling back into form. He tuned up with a fourth in the Aug. 11 Cluster Cup at Morioka, where he clocked the joint-fastest final 600 meters (about three furlongs) in :34.5. Last year, the well-bred son of Real Steel was an up-and-coming sophomore holding his own against older sprinters, and I’d like to think that he still has scope to improve. Out of an Into Mischief half-sister to multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter Zensational, Chikappa keeps Yutaka Take aboard.

#2 Sunrise Hawk (17-1) has enjoyed success at the listed stakes level at home, but collateral form implies that he can mix it up in international Grade 3 company. The question is whether he will return to the strong form he’d shown earlier in the year after being well beaten at Chukyo in his latest. 

#12 Tagano Beauty (11-1) is officially the highest-rated horse in the field, but not by much over Chikappa and Sunrise Hawk. The eight-year-old veteran shortens up to about six furlongs for the first time after competing mostly in the range of about seven furlongs to a metric mile. The other caveat is that Tagano Beauty has not won since last November’s JBC Sprint, where he just denied Chikappa on the head-bob, and he comes off a series of unplaced efforts. But Tagano Beauty has plenty of back class, and the deep closer will be coming late. 

Leading the home team is #5 Vincero Cavallo (2-1), who captured all three legs of the local sprint series during the spring. Freshened by design ahead of this assignment, he doesn’t have much to find on international ratings. Vincero Cavallo is rated at 108, compared to Tagano Beauty (112) and Chikappa and Sunrise Hawk (tied at a mark of 111). 

Hong Kong’s #7 Self Improvement (70-1) brings an international rating of only 83, but he is a course-and-distance specialist on the dirt at Sha Tin. Still, the only previous Hong Kong-based horse to win the Korea Sprint, Super Jockey (2016), set a much higher standard from his exploits in Dubai. 

Korea Cup (G3): Race 8, 3:45 a.m. ET

The Korea Cup, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), has attracted even higher-profile performers from Japan and Hong Kong.

At this time last year, #3 Ramjet (13-2) positioned himself as the next-best Japanese dirt sophomore after Forever Young. Rattling off a four-race winning streak, including the 2024 Hyacinth S. on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby, the Unicorn (G3), and the Tokyo Derby, Ramjet was put in his place by Forever Young when they clashed in the Japan Dirt Derby and Tokyo Daishoten (G1). 

Yet Ramjet’s efforts in defeat implied that he could run well on the international stage himself, only to flop in both the Feb. 22 Saudi Cup (G1) and April 5 Dubai World Cup (G1). In his only subsequent start back home, the Maeda homebred was a lackluster sixth in the July 2 Teio Sho. If he can recapture his best form, Ramjet would rebound here.

#6 Dura Erede (17-2) likely offers “each-way” value. While he lacks the occasional brilliance of Ramjet, and rarely wins, Dura Erede has boxed on for third in the past two editions of the Champions Cup (G1) at this about 1 1/8-mile trip. He also has experience in foreign ventures, having placed second in the 2023 UAE Derby (G2) and fifth in last year’s Dubai World Cup. His recent seventh in the Aug. 9 Elm (G3), off a layoff, smacks of a useful tightener. 

Hong Kong’s #2 Chancheng Glory (7-2) and the third Japanese entrant, #7 Diktaean (10-1), are ranked at 114 on the international ratings, implying that they’re very much in contention with Ramjet (top-rated 116) and Dura Erede (115). 

The distance makes Chancheng Glory more appealing than Diktaean, whose marquee results have all come at upwards of 1 1/4 miles. The rub is that Chancheng Glory has yet to race on dirt, and rain in the forecast means that he might have to deal with the added variable of a wet track. 

Chancheng Glory has the pedigree for dirt, as an Iowa-bred son of Mor Spirit. Two of his most notable efforts came at this about nine-furlong trip on turf – a near-miss in the 2024 Hong Kong Classic Cup and his lone stakes victory in the Jan. 31 Centenary Vase (G3). Chancheng Glory hasn’t been beaten far by reigning Hong Kong Triple Crown star Voyage Bubble, so he’s talented enough if he adapts to the surface. 

Last year’s Korean champion three-year-old colt, #4 Success Baekpa (13-2), is the best of the locals in the aftermath of an injury to Horse of the Year Global Hit. Considering that Global Hit was a distant third in this race last September, Success Baekpa would do well to replicate that result. His international rating of 109 indicates that he’ll need a career-best to prevent an international sweep of the placings. Fellow Korean champion #8 Speed Young (10-1) is also pegged at 109, but he’s 0-for-12 at Seoul.