Almond Eye confirmed her place among the greats of Japanese racing with a second win in Sunday’s Japan Cup on the final start of her career.
The five-year-old daughter of Lord Kanaloa retires with nine wis at Group 1 level and Sunday’s second success in the Japan Cup, makes her the highest earning Japanese horse in history with a total of 1.91 billion.
Almond Eye becomes only the second horse to win two Japan Cups, joining 2012 and 2013 heroine Gentildonna, a third success in the race for jockey Christophe Lemaire and second for trainer Sakae Kunieda.
Lemaire settled Almond Eye in the second group as Kiseki went out with a 15-length lead passing halfway. Kiseki was still a long way in front around the home turn but as he inevitably began to tire Lemaire and Almond Eye powered home to hit the front 200m out and then hold off Contrail and Daring Tact to score by 1-1/4 lengths.
The French-trained Way To Paris was the only international challenger in the line-up and finished 10th after being last to the home turn.