Sunday’s 82nd running of the G1 Tokyo Yushun – the Japanese Derby - is the pinnacle for three-year-old thoroughbreds in Japan with all interest in Duramente’s bid to capture the second jewel in this year’s Triple Crown.

Duramente won the first leg, the G1 Satsuki Sho at Nakayama in April with a spine-tingling stretch drive in that 2000m classic that pegged him as the horse to beat in the Derby.

Known as a “difficult” horse, Duramente showed he could more than handle the distance but running right-handed for the first time as well.

After taking up a rear position on the rail and then moving wide into the final turn, Duramente, under Mirco Demuro, shot up the stretch to clock a blistering last sectional of 33.9 seconds for the final 600m.

Now back at Tokyo where he has previously notched two wins and two seconds, the extra 400m of the Derby will demand the hot-headed Duramente keep his cool.

Tokyo’s long home stretch, however, is surely a plus, as are the skills of his partner, Demuro.

Furthermore the Derby favourite has the best winning average of all the JRA G1 races. In the past 31 runnings of the Derby the favourite has won 17 times and finished second on five other occasions.

Duramente should hold favouritism over his arch-rival and Satsuki Sho runner-up Real Steel.

Two races prior to the Satsuki Sho, in the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai in February, Real Steel ran a perfect race and topped Duramente, who had been unable to settle in the early stages.

Next out in the G2 Spring Sho in March, Real Steel ran second by a neck to Kitasan Black before he was sent forward in the Satsuki Sho and finished 2.5 lengths ahead of Kitasan Black in third.

Real Steel had used up more of his reserves than Duramente in the early stages.

Duramente’s stablemate Satono Crown wil be ridden by Frenchman Christophe Lemaire who, along with Demuro, became a fully licensed JRA jockey earlier this year.

Unlike Demuro, Lemaire has yet to win any of the five three-year-old classic events in Japan and is riding in his first Japanese Derby.

Satono Crown started favourite in the Satsuki Sho where he suffered his first career loss when sixth after interference at the top of the stretch that forced him to run wide.

Tokyo, where the colt has won two from two, is considered perhaps the best venue in Japan for clear running and wil give Satono Crown ample chance to rally.

Others in the reckoning are G2 Aoba Sho winner Reve Mistral, who is on a three-race roll, and Aoba Sho runner-up Tanta Alegria, a consistent runner who has finished in the money over longer distance races at left-handed tracks.

The Deep Impact-sired Porte d’Auteuil may also come into consideration at his first time at the distance and venue.