Superstar Filly Almond Eye completed the Japanese fillies’ triple crown on Sunday when winning the Japan Cup. What was most impressive however was the manner of her victory.
She broke the track record in the hands of Christophe Lemaire, winning the race by two lengths and finishing 1.5 seconds faster than the previous record set in 2005.
This has given Japan real hope of finally saddling a winner of l’Arc de Triomphe, a race that has eluded the nation up to this point after some very near misses. She is now as short as 8/1 for the French showpiece and there is little doubt the three-year-old has a live chance.
“I had every confidence in her potential and she was in great form coming into the race—she traveled smoothly to Tokyo yesterday and settled in nicely—and although she broke a little in air at the break, she was still able to secure a good position up front and into a nice flow,” Almond Eye's trainer, Sakae Kunieda told Paulick Report.
The Sakae Kunieda trained horse has now won all five of her outings since making her debut in January. Four of those wins have been at Grade 1 level and she will now be looking to take on the opposite sex more regularly with a busy 2019 pencilled in for the Silk Racing Company owned star.
Fans are licking their lips at the prospect of her taking on another superstar filly in the shape of Enable and her performance on Sunday shows she can give Enable plenty to think about.