Tower Of London second in G3 Keeneland Cup

Tower Of London and Right On Cue both ran good races to finish second and fourth in the six-furlong G3 Keeneland Cup at Sapporo, Japan, on Sunday, 25 August.

Raven’s Pass colt Tower Of London (Kazuo Fujisawa/Christophe Lemaire) was slightly slow into his stride and was held up towards the rear of the 16-strong field.

The four-year-old moved up to ninth at the top of the straight and ran on strongly between horses entering the final furlong to take second with just under half a furlong to race.

Tower Of London could not go on with Danon Smash near the line and went down by three-quarters of a length.

Right On Cue (Mitsugu Kon/Yoshihiro Furukawa), a four-year-old Shamardal colt, also raced towards the back of the runners and travelled wide throughout.

He quickened well down the centre of the course in the straight to finish a never-nearer fourth, beaten just over a length in total by Danon Smash, who won in 1m 9.20s on good ground.

Harry Sweeney, President of Godolphin in Japan, said: “Tower Of London ran another very solid race to finish second. He broke sluggishly and had plenty to do turning for home but accelerated strongly to grab second place.

“He didn’t have an absolutely clear passage in the home straight either and can probably be considered slightly unlucky. The winner, who is also a four-year-old, was carrying 1kg less and Tower Of London will have a very good chance if they meet on level weights later in the year.

“The most likely target for him now is the G1 Sprinters Stakes (6f, Nakayama) in late September, a race we won last year with Fine Needle. Both jockey and trainer were unanimous that they preferred this option over the G1 Mile Championship (Kyoto, November), which is the only other G1 option for him in Japan this year.

“Right On Cue, who also carried the Godolphin Silks in this race, defied his odds to take fourth and will clearly also be competitive in Group races over sprint distances. Overall, it was a good day at the office.”