by Chris Pomerleau
The sport of horse racing in Japan is very popular and large crowds come regularly to the track with attendance numbers in line when horse racing was at its heyday of the 1950’s in the United States. There is a very good reason for this, in Japan it is only legal to gamble on horse racing, certain motor sports and select football leagues. The daily handle is large, and a big part of that betting action is on foreign racing. The tracks in Japan are very large in comparison. Tokyo Racecourse has the capacity to hold (223,000) people with a view of Mount Fuji in the backdrop.
The 2021 Breeders Cup proved that Japan racing is legit when Loves Only You won the Filly and Mare Turf (G1) and only to be topped by Marche Lorraine winning the Breeders Cup Distaff (G1). Japan bred horses also saw great success on the recent Dubai World Cup card winning five of the nine races.
The mystery horse in the 2022 Kentucky Derby is Japan’s CROWN PRIDE who is ranked #7 overall on the derby point list with (100) points and ($671,544) in career earnings. He arrived early at Churchill Downs on March 26th in preparation for the derby.
What do we know about Crown Pride, and can he be the first Japanese bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby?
Crown Pride works out at Churchill Downs:
Photo Credit Kate Hunter
PEDIGREE
Sired by Reach the Crown who is the paternal grandson of 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Sunday Silence. Japan historically has strict breeding rules and regulations that would not allow horses that did not have a Japanese sire to compete in the top races. That changed in the 1990’s and Sunday Silence was exported to Japan due to a lack of breeding interest in the United States. Sunday Silence went onto become the leading sire in Japan on thirteen different occasions.
The sire’s dam is out of Crownpiece whose sire is 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. The dam was also a good horse, Classic Crown was a multiple Grade 1 winner. Speaking of Triple Crowns, if you want to go back even further there are breeding lines to Secretariat.
On the dam side King Kamehameha has sired dirt champions in Japan and is also the half-brother to The Deputy who was a force on the 2000 Kentucky Derby trail, winning the G2 Santa Catalina and the G1 Santa Anita Derby.
Crown Pride Pedigree Matrix
PACE TYPE
He appears to be a Presser doing his best running mid-pack from off the pace. His post position and getting out of the gate well is going to be critical for him to be able to get in a good position for a late run through traffic.
SPEED FIGURES
We don’t have speed figures for him, but his last race was impressive from the trip perspective running wide and digging in down the stretch. The finish was not fast which makes one believe he has more stamina than speed but needs a lot of pace to run into to capitalize.
RESUME
Crown Pride won his first two races as a 2-year-old at (1,800 meters) which is close to 1 1/8 miles. He returned the next season and was taken back to around a mile for a stakes race on a sloppy track finishing 6th. It was not the best trip and based on the track conditions it does not appear he likes an off track. He was then sent to Dubai for the UAE Derby winning (earning 100 derby points) with a tough trip going 4-wide on both turns. He dug in down the stretch but was not really gaining as the front runner was gassed and retreating. The concern is the level of competition was not great and horses coming out of the UAE derby have not fared well in the Kentucky Derby (0-15).
UAE Derby replay, Crown Pride is #7.
CONNECTIONS
The trainer Koichi Shintani started as a trainer in 2020 and is amongst the top-rated horseman by wins in 2022, (12.4%) win rate. A bulk Shintani’s wins this year have come on the dirt.
Japan’s leading jockey Christophe Lemaire who has won the jockey title the past five years picks up the mount.
DERBY OUTLOOK
Crown Pride has never faced the talent that he will face in the Kentucky Derby. I am not concerned with the distance, but he will face more speed than he has ever seen. Like most off the pace type runners they need a hot pace in front of them so they can sustain their run and pass the tired front-end horses. While I believe there is potential for this year’s derby to get hot you need to be forwardly placed to be able to win and get some luck navigating through the traffic in front of you. As a pace handicapper I love to play horses from off the pace when these situations arise as a lot of times the price is right. The early indication is that Crown Point’s odds should be in the (25:1) range. A lot needs to happen in the Derby for Crown Pride, but he may be a good price horse to include on vertical bets underneath.
One thing is for certain though, there will be many horseplayers from Japan cheering him on down the stretch.
