Espoir City wins the February Stakes at Tokyo Sunday

  PICTURE: Masakazu Takahashi  

Espoir City enhances Dubai World Cup claims

Report: Japan, Sunday

Tokyo: February Stakes (Grade 1) 1m, 4yo+, dirt

THE Japan Racing Association's first Grade 1 race of the 2010 season turned out to be a one-horse show by outstanding first choice Espoir City, as last year's Japan Cup Dirt champion crushed the ¥199,140m (£1.405m) February Stakes field on Sunday afternoon.

The Akio Adachi-trained Espoir City, by Gold Allure out of Eminent City, followed up his three-and-a-half length victory in the Japan Cup Dirt with another dominating performance by winning  by a cosy two and a half lengths over fifth favourite Testa Matta.

The four-year-old runner-up finished more than three lengths ahead of the race's 2009 winner, Success Brocken, who crossed the line five lengths in front of the rest of the pack on firm going in the February chill at the nation's capital.

Jockey Tetsuzo Sato, who won his first February Stakes thanks to his five-year-old partner, said Espoir City still has yet to run his best race, which is a scary thought for the domestic competition and a warning shot for his potential competitors in the Dubai World Cup on March 27, if the connections decide to take him to Meydan.

"I think he's getting stronger and stronger," the 39-year-old Sato said.

"Last year, his start was poor because he couldn't handle the patch of grass turf very well, so that's something we've been working on all long as we got him ready for this race," he said, referring to last year's race in which Espoir City came in fourth.

"He came out of his stall beautifully today and now that the race is over, I can say in hindsight that he was perfect, but before I was worried really about the grass atthe start.

"But he got through it without a hitch today, and things like that speak about how much better of a horse he has become since last year."