Sprinters Stakes: Lugal Overcomes a Fracture to Claim His 1st G1 Title

Ninth pick Lugal captured his first G1 title in his comeback race at the Sprinters Stakes on Sunday, September 29 after being sidelined for half a year due to a fracture.

Debuting as a 2-year-old in November 2022, the Duramente colt broke his maiden in his fourth career start in January of his 3-year-old season. He captured his first graded title in his 4-year-old kickoff start, the Silk Road Stakes (G3, 1,200 meters), but was 10th in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1, 1,200 meters) in March 2024, after which the colt was found to have a fracture in his left foreleg.

On Sunday at Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, trainer Haruki Sugiyama marked his sixth Japan Racing Association G1 title following his Tenno Sho (Spring) victory with Justin Palace in 2023.

Jockey Atsuya Nishimura captured his ninth graded win and first G1 title in his seventh year since his debut.

How Lugal Won the Sprinters Stakes

Lugal broke sharply from the outer draw and settled third behind Puro Magic (Norihiro Yokoyama's ride), who set a super-fast pace. Responding willingly to the jockey's urging, the Duramente colt advanced to second at the top of the stretch. Then he continued to accelerate strongly to nail the frontrunner 100 meters out and held off the strong challenges from behind to cross the wire a neck in front.

"The track is very fast here at Nakayama these days, so a sharp break was crucial," Sugiyama said in a post-race interview. "Since he disappointed to 10th in the spring's Takamatsunomiya Kinen despite being first pick, our team truly did our best for him to bounce back. We'll carefully consider his future racing options which will probably include overseas campaigns."

Lugal was clocked in 1 minute, 7.0 seconds in the 1,200-meter race. (Watch the race on the JRA's YouTube channel.)

Gratitude for Teamwork

"I'm grateful to the trainer and everyone involved for working so hard to bring the horse back from a fracture," Nishimura said.

He added, "I'm really glad that we were able to win this race because we disappointed everyone when we finished 10th in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen even though we were posted race favorite."

Toshin Macau Falls Short at The Wire

Quick out of the gate, fifth pick Toshin Macau (Akira Sugawara) hugged the rails in sixth to seventh, passed his rivals one by one from the inner course at the stretch and threatened the winner until the wire to finish second by a neck.

Fourth choice Namura Clair (Takeshi Yokoyama) traveled around 12th behind the race favorite, angled out to find space entering the lane and unleashed a powerful late charge that timed the fastest closing speed (33.2 seconds over the final three furlongs) to finish another neck behind in third.

The 2023 Sprinters Stakes winner, Mama Cocha (Yuga Kawada), finished fourth, a neck's length behind Namura Clair and Win Marvel (Kohei Matsuyama) placed fifth.

Slow out of the gate, race favorite Satono Reve (Damian Lane) traveled around sixth to eighth, turned the last two corners wide to make bid from the outside. But the son of Lord Kanaloa was unable to respond in the stretch and finished seventh.

Hong Kong invader and Takamatsunomiya Kinen third-place finisher Victor The Winner, guided by Joao Moreira, sprinted well from a wide stall to briefly rally for the lead but settled in fourth. Making a wide bid turning for home, the sixth favorite improved to third 200 meters out. But he lacked the final kick climbing the stretch hill, failing to reach contention and finished sixth.

Additional Comments on the Race

"I think he ran a reasonable race," trainer Chap Shing Shum said of Victor The Winner after the race. "It was a fast pace and Joao Moreira gave him every possible chance. I'm not disappointed. Our next target will be the Hong Kong Sprint in December."

What was Moreira's assessment of the race?

"It was a fast-run race," the Brazilian jockey said. "The track probably played in favor of the frontrunners, [and] the winner was actually sitting in third in the race on the fence two lengths in front of me and he just kept that distance. Unfortunately, my horse was a little bit affected by the track — it was a little soft.

"At the end of the day, I don't think it was a bad race, the horse tried his best and I'm very pleased with that."

Sent off 13th pick, Hong Kong's other contender Mugen (Karis Teetan) was settled fourth from the rear in the backstretch and made a mild bid turning the last corner but never fired thereafter and was 13th.

"The overall pace was very fast and we couldn't run in good rhythm," Teetan said. "The distance could have been a bit too short for him — 1,400 to 1,600-meter races might suit him better. "

Read the full report, including details on each of the Sprinters Stakes entrants, on JRA News.