Tower Of London powers home to take G1 Sprinters Stakes

Tower Of London gained a breakthrough first G1 victory with another exhilarating display in the Sprinters Stakes over six furlongs at Nakayama, Japan, on Sunday, 29 September.

The Kazuo Fujisawa-trained four-year-old, who lowered the course record for the same distance at Hanshin with a sensational victory in the G2 Centaur Stakes earlier this month, broke well and was held up in 11th of the 16 runners early on by Christophe Lemaire.

He started to make eye-catching headway around the field turning for home and showed an excellent turn of foot to go third with a furlong to race.

Tower Of London continued to make relentless headway, with the Raven’s Pass colt collaring long-time leader Mozu Superflare near the line to win by half a length in a quick time of 1m 7.1s on firm turf.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with Tower Of London. We had about 10 of our staff at the track today and there was fantastic excitement.

“Tower Of London had proven himself to be an exceptional athlete before today, having established two track record times earlier this year. However, he needed to win a G1 race to cement his position as one of Japan’s top sprinters and he did so in great style. With two G2 races to his name already this year, he is now very much in the running for champion honours at the end of the season.

“Christophe Lemaire was very pleased with the horse today and reported that he moved really well. He has adapted very well to being brought back to sprinting and we feel that he is improving with every run. We will keep him at this distance for the immediate future.

“We will consult with the trainer over the next few days and make a tentative plan. Today’s race was a win-and-you’re-in for the Breeders Cup, so we will need to decide on that very soon. Tower Of London will remain in training next year and it is very likely that he will travel abroad. Having a really nice horse like him will shorten the winter for us.”