A lengthy inquiry resulted in disqualification of the winner of the $5.8 million Japan Cup (Jpn-I) on Nov. 28 when favored Buena Vista was moved down to second and Rose Kingdom was declared the winner.
Favored by the crowd of 106,322 at Tokyo Racecourse, Buena Vista rallied in the straight under jockey Christophe Soumillon to pass leader Victoire Pisa and post a popular 1 ¾-length victory over a closing Rose Kingdom, the 2009 champion 2-year-old colt in Japan ridden by top Japanese jockey Yutaka Take. Final time for 2,400 meters (about 1 ½ miles) on turf was 2:25.2.
But the jubilation was short-lived. After a 24-minute inquiry, the stewards disqualified Buena Vista for interference in the stretch. The top two finishers are both owned by the same entity, Sunday Racing Company, although Rose Kingdom is trained by Kojiro Hashiguchi and Hiroyoshi Matsuda trains Buena Vista.
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