Who Will Fulfill Their QUEST in Japan?

The JUAN CANNON Stakes
A mile and three sixteenths on Firm Turf
$95,000
All horses, 3 years old and up
We have just finished watching the morning workouts here in Japan and we are getting set to run down The JUAN CANNON Stakes Race named for Stakes winner Juan CannonA beautiful sunny day is forecast for this weekend. We’ve got a nicely matched field and this should be fun. Let’s take a look:

#1 AMERICAN QUEST trainer – bagpuss, ( 5/2), Jockey – G. Arnold (18%), Avg Sp # (100.3)
One of two 3 year olds in the race, this Coronado’s Quest out of American Humor colt has five wins in only 13 races and two of those are stakes wins. Last outing was not his best as he stumbled out of the gate, went wide on the first turn and never really caught up. He is dropping back down to a preferred distance here and should compete. G Arnold up in the stirrups will skillfully guide him home.

#2 HORDE RUN A FOUL(IRE) trainer – pickindim, ( 5/2), Jockey – P. Vincent (8%), Avg Sp # (101.2)
This lightly raced four year old Northern Spur colt that has won half of his 12 races this year.. The second post will be to his advantage as he likes to grab the rail and go for the lead early. He has looked good in his last two stakes races with a win and a second and he has shown some zip in training workouts this week. Trainer pickindim would like to bump his earnings over $300k and this may be the spot.

#3 SHANNON STEED(IRE) trainer – poppop2, ( 11/1), Jockey – N. Tippins (12%), Avg Sp # (84.6)
One of three Irish bred’s in the race, this five year old Galileo horse has 10 wins in a long career but is running only his fourth race for trainer poppop2 who recently purchased him for $1.5 million. He is dropping back to his best distance after running long distances for two years. I think this is a good move by the trainer though this is a tough crown to come up against. He could surprise here though.

#4 OLLIE’S QUEST trainer – beamnreasn , ( 9/5), Jockey – A. Hudson (12%), Avg Sp # (106.6)
Wow! Extremely interesting four year old Rainbow Quest colt here that has only raced eight times with four wins. None of those were stakes but in four of the last six races, he ran a 106 speed figure or better. That is going to win most of the time. A slow starter, sometimes he seems to get caught back too far and can’t finish. Last out, he had to go wide in the final turn and couldn’t make up all the real estate. A Hudson will be up and will have to watch for that.

#5 ETERNITY(IRE) trainer – blackirish, ( 9/2), Jockey – K. Ledwith (24%), Avg Sp # (95.5)
Promising three year old Fasliyev colt that is venturing out of 3 year old company for the first time. He doesn’t seem to have quite the speed of some in this race but is definitely a gamer and will bring it for sure. He has the track’s best jockey up in Ledwith and will be in play at the top of the stretch. Whether or not he can finish remains to be seen..

#6 BIJOU MATINEE trainer – tbonefarms ( 10/1), Jockey – W.G.Home (14%), Avg Sp # (89.2)
Longshot Bijou Matinee is a four year old Noverre out of Single Schott colt that has one win since trainer tbonefarms claimed him early this year. He has been consistent, especially at a mile but doesn’t seem to have the talent to win with this group. He may be better off in allowance races although he had a couple of seconds in stakes races six races back.

Paz