Japanese runners dominated Korea’s top international races Sept. 6, finishing 1-2 by wide margins in both with Diktaean a repeat winner in the featured Korea Cup (G2) and Kentucky-bred Dragon Welds prevailing in the Korea Sprint (G3).
Both earned “Win and You’re In” Challenge spots in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Diktaean turned down a similar chance after winning last year.
The Cup was all-Japan with a long way to go in the 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles). Sunday Funday , dispatched as the favorite by the Seoul Racecourse crowd, opened a huge lead entering the long stretch. Jockey Takayuki Yano took aim on the leader, drew even at the 200-meter mark and won off by some 6 lengths. The rest of the field was far back.
“I was hoping for a sustained run in the end, and he has done it,” Straits Times quoted Yano. “This is the third time a Japanese horse has won the race back-to-back after London Town and Crown Pride.
“I think Japanese fans will love this (result) very much and I thank them for their support. If we were to be invited again next year, we would aim for a third consecutive win.”
Diktaean might have a more immediate assignment back home. After the 2025 Korea Cup triumph, the King Kamehameha gelding returned to Oi Racecourse to win the Tokyo Daishoten (G1), defeating Mikki Fight .
In two previous runs this season, he finished fifth in the Kawasaki Kinen and third in the Teio Sho. Overall, he has 12 wins from 34 starts.
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The Sprint came down to the two Japanese contenders, American Stage and Dragon Welds, with some 150 meters to run. They raced side-by-side briefly before Dragon Welds drew clear and ran on to win by 6 lengths with Keita Tosaki in the irons. Tosaki said the race went to plan after his colt got a good start to the 1,200-meter (about 6-furlong) journey.
Photo: Katsumi Saito
Dragon Welds defeats American Stage to win the Korea Sprint at Seoul Racecourse
Hong Kong-based Self Improvement, like Diktaean, was looking for a second straight win but never reached contention and beat only two rivals.
Dragon Welds, a Frosted colt out of the Eskendereya mare Little Dipper , has quickly climbed the ladder of Japan’s improving dirt competition. A winner at both 2 and 3, he now has won all four starts in 2026, including a last-out victory in the Tokyo Sprint at Oi.
He was bred by Willow Oaks Stable and sold at the 2024 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training for $150,000 to T B Bloodstock out of the Harris Training Center consignment.
American Stage, by contrast, already has an international profile. The 4-year-old son of Into Mischief , bred by Spendthrift Farm, finished sixth in the 2025 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) at Meydan Racecourse and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. This season he was fourth in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2) and 12th in the Golden Shaheen.
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