Papal Bull and Halicarnassus Eclipsed By Moon

Papal Bull and Halicarnassus failed to fire as Admire Moon won the 2.6million Japan Cup in Tokyo.

The two British runners came home a respective seventh and 17th behind the impressive scorer, who fended off the Olivier Peslier-ridden Pop Rock by a head in a nerve-jangling finish.

Meisho Samson, the 4-5 favourite, was another neck away in third in the hands of Yutaka Take, with Japan Derby winner Vodka fourth.

Papal Bull, hardly the most straightforward of animals, missed the break once the traps opened and essentially faced a losing battle from then on.

Sir Michael Stoute´s enigma was last rounding the first corner and although Ryan Moore devoured plenty of ground, he could not recover sufficiently to trouble the judge.

Stoute felt the overwhelming atmosphere at Tokyo racecourse, which pulled in a crowd of over 100,000, had a detrimental effect on Papal Bull.

'He got very upset before the start,' reflected the Newmarket trainer, twice a winner of the Japan Cup with Singspiel (1996) and Pilsudski (1997).

'He kept looking around at the noise and the clapping.

'He missed the break which cost him any chance but ran on very well.'

Mick Channon´s Halicarnassus was hindered by a dreadful draw and the poor record of three-year-olds in the race and was never sighted under Darryll Holland.

'We had a terrible draw,' acknowledged the jockey.

'We were pushed wide at the start. When we travelled up I thought we could run on into some money but he faded up the straight.

'It´s very hard for a three-year-old but there´s always next year.'

The European brigade, severely decimated by Dylan Thomas being unable to compete after falling foul of veterinary regulations, was completed by Saddex.

Peter Rau´s German colt was hard at work some way out, however, and came home a leg-weary 11th.

But this was an occasion to salute Admire Moon, who showed bags of stamina and pace to eke out another memorable success for jockey Yasunari Iwata, who won last year´s Melbourne Cup on Delta Blues.

Second at Flemington on that day was ironically Pop Rock, who again lost absolutely nothing in defeat.

Nor did the well-fancied favourite Meisho Samson, who stuck to his task doggedly but lacked the finishing kick of the first two home.

A jubilant Iwata said of the 99-10 winner: 'It was so close I really didn´t know for sure I had won until I saw the video replays.

'It was the first time for me to win a Grade One race at Tokyo so I´m really happy about it.'

The British duo may have been out of fortune but the outcome of the Japan Cup represented another huge fillip for Sheikh Mohammed as Admire Moon, trained by Hiroyoshi Matsuda, will spearhead his Darley Japanese operation upon retirement.

The son of End Sweep has now claimed three scalps at the highest level, including the Dubai Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba in March, earning over £4million in prize-money as a consequence.

'Admire Moon was excellent,' added Iwata.

'He´s such an amazing horse - it´s indescribable how good he is.'

? PA Sport