The field is almost set for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park on Saturday (Nov. 4). The 1¼-mile Classic is the centerpiece of racing’s two-day, 14-race, $31 million championships. In the days leading up to the race, usracing.com will publish snapshots of the entries. Updates with odds and post positions will be published following the draw on Monday, Oct. 30.
Horses based in Japan have excelled in major races all over the world in recent years, including at the Breeders’ Cup. The breakthrough on U.S. soil came two years ago at Del Mar when the highly regarded Loves Only You took the Filly & Mare Turf (G1) and Marche Lorraine, a 49-1 shot, won the Distaff (G1).
That broke Japan’s 0-for-13 slump at the year-end championships and earned American horseplayers’ respect for its runners. It contributed to making Derma Sotogake a buzz horse at this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1), even though no winner of the UAE Derby (G2) has ever finished in the money there.
No matter, because a brilliant workout at Churchill Downs and his 5½-length runaway at Meydan helped make him the 7-1 third betting choice on Derby Day. A bad start (“brushed gate, toiled”) ruined his chances, but Derma Sotogake showed grit while grinding from 14th early to finish a distant sixth, eight lengths behind Mage.
He hasn’t run since then. Reportedly a foot problem forced him to miss a race in late September in Japan, so the long break wasn’t by design. After running in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Kentucky, he required extra time to recuperate.
“He needed more time to get his original condition back after running in three countries,” Ayaka Segawa, an interpreter for the colt’s connections,” told drf.com. “We waited until he was sound so that we could send Derma Sotogake to the Breeders’ Cup (in) great condition.”
Betting advice: Winning the Classic off a six-month layoff would be a much greater shock than Marche Lorraine’s 2021 upset. Toss him out.
Post position: 5
Odds: 20-1
Jockey: Christophe Lemaire
Trainer: Hidetaka Otonashi
Owner: Hiroyuki Asanuma
Biggest Win: UAE Derby (G2), Meydan, March 25
Age: 3
Career record: 9-4-0-2
Career earnings: $1,162,164
Top Equibase speed figure: 93
Pedigree: Mind Your Biscuits-Amour Poesie (JPN), by Neo Universe (JPN)
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Front-runner/stalker
Notes: It’s pronounced DER-ma so-da-GEG. His owner, Hiroyuki Asanuma, is a dermatologist who uses derma in all of his horses’ names. Sotogake is a wrestling move … Like many Japanese stakes winners, Derma Sotogake is a grandson of breed-shaping sire Sunday Silence, who was exported to Japan a year after winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and BC Classic in 1989 … Derma Sotogake was sired by the New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits, a stakes-winning sprinter who earned more than $4.2 million. He ran 11th in his final start, the 2018 Classic at Churchill Downs.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
