King Joy avenged his painful loss from one year ago as the 6-year-old son of former Grade 1 champion Marvelous Sunday won the Nakayama Daishogai over defending champion Merci A Time on Saturday afternoon.
Trainer Yutaka Masumoto's King Joy, who settled for second to Merci A Time by a length and a half in last year's race, turned the tables on the 2007 winner over the last 50 meters to capture the most prized race for jumpers in the fall.
Jun Takada's mount finished half a length ahead of third choice Merci A Time in the 4,100-meter contest, cutting a time of 4 minutes, 45.0 seconds on firm conditions at Nakayama Racecourse to cash in the winner's check of 80 million yen.
Long-shot T M Toppazure took third a further 2 1/2 lengths back in a wild race that three horses failed to finish. Favorite Maruka Rascal, who won his last race by a whopping 28 lengths and won the Nakayama Grand Jump by 13 lengths in April, came home fifth after leading most of the way.
Takada, who won the race for his first time aboard the second favorite, was thrilled to make up for last year's disappointment. Masumoto also won the Nakayama Daishogai for his first time.
"Last year, we lost too close of a race," an absolutely elated Takada said of King Joy, who was coming off a win of three-plus lengths in the Kyoto High-Jump a month ago. "The trainer told me then and there that we'd get them back next year.
"He's a very easy horse to ride. The one thing I didn't want to do is fight the horse, and I wasn't thinking about the pace or anything else. It really wasn't about what the other horses did or didn't today. What was important was that he ran at a rhythm he liked and I think he managed to do that today."
King Joy went off as the second pick of the group, and Maruka Rascal, ridden by Makoto Nishitani, set the pace as expected before 7-year-old Julep became the race's first casualty, getting caught on the last hurdle of the first lap. Heading into the second lap, Nishitani lost control of his mount as the 6-year-old veered way off course, nearly crashing into the outside railing.
Maruka Rascal would recover to climb back on to the lead, but the detour cost him an advantage of close to 20 lengths and sapped him of fuel heading for home, by then which the field was down to 13 as Yuta Biscuit and Barone Fountain also dropped out.
Maruka Rascal managed to stay in front until the halfway point of the straight before Yoshiyuki Yokoyama's Merci A Time caught up to him from the outside. A repeat for Merci A Time seemed a lock - but King Joy begged to differ, roaring up the stretch to snatch the lead and dip under the wire first for a win that was overdue.
King Joy, out of Princess Able, is now 4-for-14 on the steeplechase circuit. Owned by Takao Matsuoka, King Joy took his earnings to more than 277 million yen.
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