u/zahneyvhoi

Link to article.

One of the most hotly-anticipated non-G1 races of the year is coming up this weekend! The predicted odds boil the main narrative down to the fight between Admire Terra who is at his most competitive form this year in preparation for his Arc run and Shohei who's hoping to win this race as one step forward towards winning his first G1 in the near future.

Other notable contenders include: Ecoro Walz, who has yet to win a graded title but had looked competitive since his post-Kikuka Sho optimisation in 2024 towards 1800-2200m races; Sakura Farrel, the likely pacesetter who quickly broke out of allowance class and is hoping to improve from his G3 Epsom Cup showing; Rousham Park, one of the oldest entrants who has shown flashes of brilliance including a 2024 Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up placement; and Shake Your Heart, whose sharpening of spurt prowess over the course of his career had launched him to two graded titles between the end of his 5YO season and right before the Osaka Hai this year.

As a last bit of note for those who know me from my "An Uma Fan Explains (Badly)..." series, I'm sticking to my promise & will be doing an article on this race! See you soon!