Yasuda Kinen (Group 1)

TOMORROW’S Group 1 Yasuda Kinen (7.40am) has an added dimension, with two of Hong Kong’s best horses travelling over for the race. Bidding to give Hong Kong its third win in the race, after wins by Fairy King Prawn (2000) and Bullish Luck (2006), Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble will do battle with the top Japanese milers on the turf course at Tokyo in a maximum 18 runner field. Ground conditions are likely to be softer.

Romantic Warrior will jump from gate seven, while Voyage Bubble will start from stall 15 of the 18. Trainer Shum was pleased. “It should be easier for James (McDonald) to hold a position from there - very happy.”

Romantic Warrior, a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong and Australia sets the standard. He won the Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin beating fellow rival Voyage Bubble by a neck in February. Voyage Bubble was third in the Group 1 FWD Champions Mile last time and needs to do more.

Soul Rush is one of the top Japanese runners, the six-year-old by Rulership finished fourth in last December’s Grade 1 Hong Kong Mile, his one run this year in Japan saw him win the Grade 2 Yomiuri Milers Cup at Kyoto in April. Joao Moreira rides.

Serifos has finished fourth and second in the past two years and finished second to Soul Rush last time in the Grade 2 Yomiuri Milers Cup.

The five-year-old Harbinger mare Namur had good runs in Hong Kong and Dubai, where she was just pipped in the Group 1 Dubai Turf, and was sent off the second favourite for the recent Grade 1 Victoria Mile in Japan, but could only manage eighth. A habit of slow starts will need to be overcome as Yutaka Take once again rides.

The four-year-old Elton Barows is one of two likely runners for trainer Haruki Sugiyama, and the horse’s last race was in the Grade 1 Champions Mile in Hong Kong in April, where he finished eighth. Gaia Force also trained by Haruki Sugiyama, contested the Grade 1 February Stakes last time, and put in a good run to finish second on dirt.

Parallel Vision’s latest win was in the Grade 3 Lord Derby Challenge Trophy over a mile at Nakayama in March. His rider Christophe Lemaire knows him well with five wins on board.