Off Trail takes wide path in breathtaking G3 Radio Nikkei Sho success

Off Trail unleashed a sensational turn of foot as he came from last to first in the straight to record an initial G3 victory in the Radio Nikkei Sho at Fukushima, Japan, on Sunday, 30 June.

The Farhh colt, who was making a second appearance over nine furlongs after finishing second in the Listed Shirayuri Stakes in May, was half a stride slow leaving the stalls and raced in a clear last of the 12 runners.

Hironobu Tanabe switched Off Trail out from the inside rail with half a mile to race and produced the Keiji Yoshimura-trained three-year-old widest of all in the straight.

Off Trail was still last with a furlong and a half to race before displaying superb acceleration, picking off the whole field to pip Sirius Colt by a head on the line. His winning time of 1.45.3s equalled the course record set by Embrasser Moi 26 years earlier.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “We’re thrilled with Off Trail. It had been a reasonably tough weekend at the office for us with our previous eight runners, but Off Trail’s thrilling victory with our last runner of the day ensures that everyone will be turning up for work tomorrow with a big smile on their face.

“And we can probably look forward to more in the future. Off Trail is a May 14th foal and physically is somewhat backward. I expect he will have a summer break now and some down-time in Hokkaido will hopefully help him to bulk up and mature.

“He had been campaigned mostly over a mile previously and we always felt that stepping him up in trip would help and indeed he needed every inch of the nine furlongs today. However, I was surprised when trainer Yoshimura called me after the race to hear him mention the Golden Eagle in Australia over 7.5 furlongs in late October as a future consideration, a race Yoshimura san won last year with another of his charges Obamburumai. While it’s always wonderful to visit Sydney, we won’t be rushing to make that decision anytime soon.”