JAPAN'S leading three-year-old colt Gold Ship (Naosuke Sugai/Hiroyuki Uchida) produced a stunning display to beat his elders to take the Arima Kinen, the nation's end-of-season grand prix at Nakayama on Sunday.
With three furlongs to run, the grey son of Stay Gold was absolutely last of 16 in a field featuring several fellow Grade 1 scorers - although these did not include Japan Cup one-two Gentildonna and Orfevre after connections opted to bypass the 385 million yen (£2.8m) event. As they approached the final turn, Gold Ship had to circle the entire field, finally being produced at least eight horses wide down the straight, where he still appeared to have plenty to do.
The colt proceeded to mow down his rivals to record a brilliant victory going away as his jockey stood up in his irons to salute the crowd passing the post.
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