Christophe Lemaire signs off for Arc challenge with Grade 2 win on Rousham Park

Christophe Lemaire warmed up for the ride on Through Seven Seas in next weekend's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe by upsetting hot favourite Titleholder in the Grade 2  Sankei Sho All Comers at Nakayama on Sunday.

His mount, fourth favourite Rousham Park, raced in seventh on the outside of the pack in the one mile and three furlongs turf contest, where the pace was set by the triple Grade 1 winning Titleholder.

Lemaire moved to the front four wide on the final turn, going on to grab the key stepping stone to the Tenno Sho Autumn Grade 1 by a length and a quarter to Titleholder and Zeffiro. 

The four-year-old son of Harbinger out of winning King Kamehameha mare Reinette Groove, who is the granddaughter of the 1997 JRA horse of the year Air Groove, marked a sixth win from ten career starts, and it is his second Graded stakes win following the Hakodate Kinen in June. He is bred by Northern Farm, owned by Sunday Racing and trained by Hiroyasu Tanaka, who was making it a second consecutive Graded stakes winner following last Sunday's St Lite Kinen through the impressive Lebensstil.

Christophe Lemaire returns to Europe for next week's ArcCredit: Masakazu Takahashi

Lemaire said: "I'm happy to be able to win another Graded stakes with him. I was able to run the race while keeping an eye on the leader Titleholder. I was able to go with the flow and stay calm. The response was very good and he showed a fine spurt. That's excellent. He is a big horse who has a big stride and can keep a good pace. He is getting stronger with each race. He beat the Grade 1 horses in the Grade 2 today though, he can get the Grade 1 races in the future."

Titleholder hadn't run due to right front lameness in the Tenno Sho Spring back in late April. His jockey Kazuo Yokoyama said: "To be honest, I am truly humbled by him for showing such great performance. His training was not so strong and I'll have nothing but fun going forward, including the next race, and I want to do my best with him."

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