page_title: Suave Richard
section_title: 2019: five-year-old season
hierarchical_section_title: Suave Richard / Racing career / 2019: five-year-old season
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 2019/11/24 ジャパンC スワーヴリチャードEnglish: Japanese race horse Suave Richard at Tokyo racecourse. Tokyo (JPN) 24 Nov 2019Japan Cup (Grade 1) (3yo+) (Turf) 1m4f Yielding RankHorse NameOddsAgeWgtJockeyTrainer1stSuave Richard (JPN)41/10H557Oisin MurphyYasushi Shono2ndCurren Bouquetd'or (JPN)29/1F353Akihide TsumuraSakae KuniedaOthers are omitted. (15 horses entered in a race.)
context_page_description: Suave Richard is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2019 Japan Cup. He showed promising form as a juvenile in 2016 when je won one of his three races and finished second in the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes. In the following year he was one of the best colts of his generation in Japan, winning the Tokinominoru Kinen and the Copa Republica Argentina and running second in the Tokyo Yushun. As a four-year-old he won the Kinko Sho and the Grade 1 Osaka Hai as well as taking third place in both the Yasuda Kinen and the Japan Cup. In 2019 he finished third in the Dubai Sheema Classic and the Takarazuka Kinen and won the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse in November.
context_section_description: Suave Richard began his fourth campaign in the Nakayama Kinen over 1800 metres on 24 February when he stayed on well without being able to reach the leaders and came home fourth behind Win Bright, Lucky Lilac and Stelvio. Rather than attempt a repeat victory in the Osaka Hai, the horse was sent to the United Arab Emirates to contest the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan Racecourse on 30 March. Ridden by Joao Moreira he was restrained at the rear of the field before finishing strongly to take third place behind Old Persian and Cheval Grand. On his return to Japan he went off the 7.8/1 sixth choice in the betting for the Takarazuka Kinen over 2200 metres on 23 June at Hanshin. He finished third behind Lys Gracieux and Kiseki after racing on the wide outside for most of the way before keeping on well in the straight.
  On his return in autumn Suave Richard was partnered by Norihiro Yokoyama when he made his second bid for the Tenno Sho. He raced in mid-division before making some progress in the straight but never looked likely to win and came home seventh behind Almond Eye, beaten five and a half lengths by the winner. On 24 November Suave Richard was one of fifteen horses to contest the 39th running of the Japan Cup and started the 4.1/1 third choice in the betting behind Rey de Oro and Wagnerian. The other contenders included Makahiki and Cheval Grand in a field which, for the first time, contained no overseas challengers. Ridden by Oisin Murphy he raced in mid-division he made a forward move on the inside entering the straight, gained the advantage 200 metres from the finish and held off the challenge of the three-year-old filly Curren Bouquetd'Or to win by three quarters of a length. Commenting on his decision to launch his final challenge along the inside rail Murphy said "I had the option of forcing Curren Bouquetd'or out. I could have done that. He's a big enough horse. But that would have taken too much energy, so I took the shortest way... I knew for the last 200 meters that Suave Richard would win" while Yasushi Shono said "both the horse and the jockey had a lot of courage".
  Suave Richard ended his season on 22 December with a second attempt to win the Arima Kinen. He started at odds of 16.5/1 and was never in serious contention before finishing twelfth of the sixteen runners behind Lys Gracieux.
  In January 2020, at the JRA Awards for 2019, Suave Richard finished third to Win Bright and Indy Champ in the poll to determine Best Older Male Horse. In the 2019 World's Best Racehorse Rankings Suave Richard was given a rating of 121, making him the 29th best racehorse in the world.
caption: Suave Richard wins the Japan Cup
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