Do Deuce, closing from last, reminded viewers why he has been one of Japan’s prominent males in the last three years in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse. Ridden confidently by 55-year-old Yutaka Take, Do Deuce was at the back of the field for the first mile of the $7.01 million races at 1 1/2 miles. Take moved Do Deuce wide on the turn, and steadily moved toward the front, taking the lead with about a furlong remaining. Do Deuce, who paid $5.70 as the favorite in American pools, was fully extended to the wire to finish a neck in front of 15-1 Durezza and 32-1 Shin Emperor, both of whom finished in a dead heat for second. The field included three European-based runners, all Group 1 winners this year. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Goliath, the winner of the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Ascot Racecourse in Britain in July, finished sixth, two positions in front of Auguste Rodin, who won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita and won the Group 1 Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. Fantastic Moon, winner of the Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Baden in Germany in September, finished 11th in the field of 14. A foreign-trained horse has not won the Japan Cup since Alkaased from Britain scored by a nose at 9-1 in 2005. Take said Do Deuce was tough to handle in the first half of the race behind a slow pace. “I had to struggle keeping him in hand,” Take told Japan Racing Association publicity. “Making ground from the last corner, his speed was so great that he was already in front in an instant and after that a normal horse would be worn out and pinned down, but this horse is exceptional. I wasn’t sure that I’d won until the end, I kept believing he would stay and he did.” Do Deuce, a 5-year-old Japanese-bred horse by Heart’s Cry, has won 8 of 16 starts, including five Grade 1 races. He was the champion 2-year-old male of 2021 in Japan, the year he won the Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity. In May 2022, Do Deuce won the Grade 1 Japanese Derby, his only stakes win last year. In 2023, Do Deuce ended the year with a win in the Grade 1 Arima Kinen Stakes last December. Earlier this year, Do Deuce finished fifth in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in the United Arab Emirates in March, and was sixth in the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen as the favorite at Kyoto, Japan, in June before rebounding with a victory in a key prep race for the Japan Cup – the autumn running of the Grade 1 Tenno Sho at 1 1/4 miles at Tokyo on Oct. 27. Do Deuce is scheduled to be retired after a final start in the $7.01 million Arima Kinen at Nakayama Racecourse on Dec. 22. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.