The feature race of the day is a 1500m B2/B3 event at Urawa where a number of runners are showing encouraging signs since commencing with new stables.
Urawa: Race 3 – Margot Beat
Margot Beat made his stable debut off a lengthy break when second at Funabashi last month where he ran second over 1200m. The son of Big Arthur would have been in dire need of that outing which came after almost a year away from racing where he previously held his own at JRA level. Has joined the leading stable of Yuta Sato who is striking at 20% from their past 50 starters. From the good barrier, expect jockey Aoi Shinoya to settle the colt midfield. Clearly the horse to beat however may not start prohibitively short courtesy of rivals such as former JRA runner Ange Rei with Taito Mori in the saddle.
Urawa: Race 10 – Dexter
Dexter hit the ground running in his stable debut when only narrowly beaten at this course and distance last month. Prior to that had been racing for the Takeuchi stable where he hadn't quite been measuring up at JRA level although wasn't disgraced when a midfield eighth at Nakayama four starts back. Contests the feature race of the day where it is anticipated he will start favourite and rightly so. Should land prominent from barrier 1 and take beating. Main competition looks set to come from Kurohyo and For Messi who are also both coming off last start seconds in their first starts for the Ito and Saito stables respectively.
Urawa: Race 11 – Bel Tanto
Suspect we can get the favourite, Yamatake Kochan, beaten in this event courtesy of the Satoshi Kokubo-trained Bel Tanto. The Belshazzar colt resumes after a two start campaign mid-year which returned fair results which likely came in under market expectations. Has since been given time to mature and strikes a race where he appears well placed to upstage a potentially vulnerable favourite. From barrier 2, the three-year-old is expected to land prominent and should be there at the business end.
Morioka Dirt: Race 12 – Leaping Reason
Interesting runner. Leaping Reason kicked off with the in form Sakurada stable three starts ago and won on the turf at this course two back with the same rider Yu Suzuki in the saddle. Was outclassed in a far stronger race on the turf last start and now drops back to a more realistic assignment. Lone outing on the Morioka Dirt returned a win. Strikes a race with a bit of depth to it. Expect the likes of Dear Rickey, Taisei Excel, Z Passion to command their fair share of market support so hopeful of getting a decent each way price about this daughter of Black Tide.
