Two months after humbling Romantic Warrior in the Group One Dubai Turf (1,800m), Soul Rush headlines the 75th running of the Group One Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, contesting the prestigious contest for the fourth time.

Third behind Romantic Warrior in last year’s Yasuda Kinen, Soul Rush has posted two wins, two seconds and a third from his past five races and looks like he is improving with age.

The seven-year-old son of Rulership will be ridden by Suguru Hamanaka. The 36-year-old jockey breezed the horse over 1,200m on May 29 in a time of 1 minute 21.5 seconds with a final 200m of 10.5 seconds.

On June 4, under a trainer’s assistant, Soul Rush worked solo up the Ritto hill course over 800m, switching gears to extend powerfully over the final 200m. His overall time over the slightly heavy going was 52.3 seconds with a final 200m of 11.8 seconds.

“He was pretty much ready last week,” trainer Yasutoshi Ikee said. “So, I figured working alone up the hill this week was sufficient. His movement was good and it looks like he’s in about the same condition as he has been for his races up to now.”

Ikee, who won the Yasuda Kinen with Satono Aladdin in 2017, added: “I really want him to win over the Tokyo 1,600m, which would help spur on his career at stud. He’s in excellent shape – nowhere is he coming up short.”

Seen as one of Soul Rush’s biggest rivals is Jantar Mantar, a two-time Group One winner over 1,600m with victories in the 2023 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes for two-year-olds and the 2024 NHK Mile Cup for three-year-olds.

Like runner-up Soul Rush, he contested the 2024 Group One Hong Kong Mile and, with added traffic problems in the stretch, finished 13th of 14 runners behind Voyage Bubble.

On June 4, under an assistant to trainer Tomokazu Takano, Jantar Mantar clocked 11.7 seconds over the final furlong of his work.

“He looked fantastic and he used his body extremely efficiently,” Takano said. “He has proven himself over the Tokyo 1,600m and it’s a venue where he can run with confidence.

“There was too much time off before he went to Hong Kong and I’ve been putting the pressure on myself to help him get the results he deserves.”

Three-time Group Two winner Sixpence returns from a seventh-placed finish in the Group One Osaka Hai (2,000m) under Takeshi Yokoyama.

With all of the colt’s five victories coming over 1,600m and 1,800m, the Osaka Hai proved a stretch at 2,000m and a return to 1,600m bodes well.

The Kizuna colt looked in excellent condition in trackwork on May 28 working under Christophe Lemaire and, in final work on June 4, he worked with another horse on the flat.

“His movement was good,” trainer Sakae Kunieda said. “He was in good shape for his last race too but he wasn’t able to keep something in reserve for the finish. Lemaire knows this horse very well and they work well together.”

Lemaire has ridden four of Sixpence’s five career wins.