Champion Belgian rider Christophe Soumillon combined with leading local trainer Katsuhiko Sumii and talented stayer Epiphaneia to land the 250 million yen group one Japan Cup in Tokyo this afternoon.

In front of a crowd of over 100,000 patrons, Soumillon gave Epiphaneia the perfect ride, settling the son of Symboli Kris on the back of the speed throughout, before asking him to quicken turning into the 525m long Tokyo home straight.

So quickly did Epiphaneia respond to Soumillon that the four-year-old soon established an unbeatable break romping home by four lengths on the line – one of the largest winning margins in recent time, stopping the clock at 2:23.1 just 0.9 seconds outside the track record.

Now a winner of six of his twelve starts, Epiphaneia had been primed for today’s Japan Cup with a solid effort in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (2000m) coming in sixth behind Spielberg, the run clearly bringing him to his top for this afternoon’s prize.

“I am relieved and happy that Epiphaneia was able to prove what he can do today, because despite showing his outstanding potential in winning the Kikuka Sho, he hadn’t been able to race like we’d hoped—he was short of motivation during the spring—so after his summer break, I focused on having him tuned up a little which didn’t work out too well in the Tenno Sho,” said trainer Katsuhiko Sumii.

“He has so much energy, which can really be hard to control, so I knew that the key to his winning was whether you can preserve that energy to the stretch. I would have to discuss with the owners on his future plans for next year, including any possible challenges overseas but the Arima Kinen would be our immediate plan for next month.”

Christophe Soumillon who had been going through a lean period was upbeat about the win.

“It’s a great opportunity to come for just a week-end and have such a good ride and win one of the most prestigious race in the world. It means a lot because, as you know, I was unable to win this race with Buena Vista four years ago, and I am very grateful to Mr. Yoshida (Katsumi) for giving me the opportunity to ride this time. When I saw him in the paddock he was very powerful—I saw the head lad had to hold him strongly—and he was sweating—I tried to settle him down but the crowd was making noises and I nearly fell off.”

“When the race started, the horse was very keen. The trainer asked before the race to have him sit around six or seventh position but he jumped out of the gate so well and went straight into a good position.

I was hoping that the pace was quite good so that I can relax him at the corners and any part of the race, but unfortunately it didn’t work out like I’d really liked it to be. Usually, when a horse pulls so much and never really relaxes and don’t take one or to blows—because it’s a 2,400 meter race—you make too much of an effort and when they try to accelerate at the stretch, they run out of oxygen and you finish quite badly in the last 100 meters, but when I came into the straight, I was lucky to pull him back just before the straight, to put him second deep.

When I saw him passing between the horses quite easily, I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted to hold him back a little more, just to make sure he can go a little longer and because I knew fillies like Gentildonna and other strong horses would be coming from behind. But he was just striding bigger and the way he was going and reacting so quickly—I tried to forget what happened before and think that “this is a new race starting for him.” So when I asked him to go, he just hung a little to the rail then started to stride like an amazing horse—to be able to perform like that after making the race difficult on himself is just amazing on his part. ”

The highest rated horse in the race, devastating Dubai Duty Free winner Just A Way, was considered suspect at the 2400m by some punters however he redeemed himself with strong second, running on determinedly from mid field approaching the turn.

Although no match for the winner, Just A Way had to cover more ground than the winner in order to find clear running, but once Yuichi Fukunaga got him into the open, Just A Way battled away to hold out a fast closing group of runners that included the luckless three-year-old filly Harp Star.

As expected, the well fancied Harp Star settled well back early but suffered severe interference on the circle when starting to work into the race – a check that cost her three or four lengths, the filly becoming unbalanced for several strikes thereafter.

Pushed widest of all on the home turn, Harp Star made up plenty of ground in the closing stages but had been left with too much to do once she lost her position, eventually running fifth just over five lengths from the winner.

Race and crowd favourite Gentildonna who was aiming to create history by winning a third Japan Cup was given a perfect run by champion rider Ryan Moore.

Coming into the race on the identical preparation that gave her success last year, Gentildonna appeared dull in the coat and was sweating up a shade before the race.

Moore had an excellent break from the barriers settling Gentildonna on the rails in fifth place, trailing the eventual winner for most of the race.

However when the winner made his move, Gentildonna was left flat footed and although not shirking her task, battled strongly to the line but was never in winning contention once the field entered the home straight.

Tenno Sho (Autumn) winner Spielberg as is his custom, got well out of his ground early settling third last out of the home straight.

Once race rider Hiroshi Kitamura started his move on the circle, Spielberg made ground steadily getting to the line strongly for third placing, a half-length behind Just A Way.

The best of the international runners was the german galloper and Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ivanhowe who ran a creditable sixth after saving valuable ground on the fence throughout.

Godolphin galloper Trading Leather providing a disappointing aftermath to a spectacular race, the entire breaking down during the race and had to be euthanized.

Meanwhile the finish of the World Super Jockey Series run over the two days resulted in a resounding win to the local riders.

After finishing the first day at the top of the list with a fifth and a second, Suguru Hamanaka claimed this year’s World Super Jockeys Series by holding on to his lead turning in a second and a tenth in the two legs of day two with a total of 42 points.

Hamanaka captured the title in his third consecutive attempt in the series, having finished second in his first challenge in 2012. In second with 40 points was Yuichi Fukunaga, who won the Excellent Jockeys Trophy and marked his personal-best in his sixth World Super Jockeys Series challenge. Hironobu Tanabe, winner of the Fantastic Jockeys Trophy on tenth favorite Frame Halo, was tied at third with Marvelous Jockeys Trophy victor Keita Tosaki, both marking 37 points.

It was the first time in 26 years that Japanese jockeys monopolized the podium. The comments from the winners are as follows;

“To have finished at the top of such a high-class line-up of international jockeys is just amazing, and I’m very happy. I really wanted to win the series and it feels great even though I wasn’t able to win any of the four races. Since we were representing our own countries, there was this pressure that you don’t feel in other races. I’m glad that the Japanese jockeys swept the top three places and I hope it will contribute to boost Japanese racing more”, said Hamanaka.

Yuichi Fukunaga was philosophical about his second placing, “I feel like I’m always in the runner-up seat (finishing second in the Japan Cup as well). I believe I was lucky to draw a good horse and hope to do just as well in my next WSJS challenge.”

While Hironobu Tanabe thought he was on target (having won the second leg and was third overall after day1) but success was not to be.

“It would have been nice to have won but I think a third-tie isn’t bad. It was fun to experience something different from regular racing”, he said.

Third-tied Keita Tosaki was just happy to see the home team dominate the series.