Japan To US For Master Fencer, It Was All A Game Of Luck
Although Koichi Tsunoda trained-Master Fencer was fourth on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series three Japanese horses ahead of Master Fencer passed on their invitation, and the colt's owner, Katsumi Yoshizawa, jumped at the opportunity to compete in the American classics.
The Just a Way colt was fourth in the Hyacinth Stakes and then second in the Fukuryu Stakes, two of the four races in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series prior to his trip to the US.
A Japanese horse has yet to win an American Triple Crown race, but two of them, Sunday Break in 2002 and Lani in 2016, finished third, giving off hope that Master Fencer will feel equally at home on Belmont Park's sandy 1 1/2-mile surface that is comparable with certain Japanese tracks.
We will just have to wait and watch