Japan Cup

Star Of Cozzene's chances to be voted horse of the year were nearly eliminated when Apple Tree, making his American debut, won the 1 1/2-mile Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Saturday. Star Of Cozzene, the 1-2 favorite, finished fourth in the five-horse field. In his first 10 starts this year, the 5-year-old had six victories and four seconds.

Sushi, movies by Akira Kurosawa, cameras and those thousands of efficient cars have all had their impact on the United States, but Japan has never had a racehorse that could compare with those bred in America. Even when Japanese horses won the Japan Cup the last two years, beating a few U.S. entries, Yuji Nohira, the Japanese trainer, made no knee-jerk comparisons. "For Japanese horses to find out how good they are, they must travel abroad and meet the best," Nohira said.

World Cup 2010: JAPAN FIFA ranking: 45 Overall World Cup record: 2-6-2 Coach: Takeshi Okada Best performance: Second round, 2002 Overview: Winner of three of the last five Asian Cups, Japan will be making its fourth consecutive World Cup appearance. The offense runs largely through the left foot of experienced winger Shunsuke Nakamura, who played for Italy's Reggina and Spain's Espanyol and starred for Scottish Premier League champion Celtic. Former national team defender Takeshi Okada, who coached the Samurai Blue to a disappointing performance in Japan's first Cup in 1998, is reportedly under intense pressure to do better this time.

Almost five months after their last appearance in the Hollywood Park winner's circle, trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jerry Bailey were back. This occasion was quite a bit more surprising than the one in early July when Cigar won the Hollywood Gold Cup, continuing a winning streak that is now at 12. On Sunday, Duda, the second longest shot in the field at nearly 31-1, rallied from well off the pace to win the $700,000 Matriarch by a length over Angel In My Heart.

Le Glorieux, a 3-year-old colt representing West Germany, won the $750,000 Washington D.C. International at Laurel, Md., Saturday, finishing a neck ahead of 17-1 shot Great Communicator, a U.S. horse, who had led from the start. Le Glorieux, carrying 122 pounds, was timed in 2:02 4/5 over a firm course in the 1-mile grass race at Laurel Race Course. "He broke alertly, but it looked like he didn't want to stay close to the pace," Laffit Pincay said after his first International ride.

Owner Michael Paulson has decided to ship east the eight remaining horses he had with trainer Laura De Seroux, where they will be divided among Bill Mott, Michael Matz and, perhaps, one other trainer. Paulson-owned Azeri, the reigning horse of the year and winner of 11 consecutive races before she was beaten in the Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, has gone to Ashford Stud in Kentucky and her retirement seems imminent.

Will Sunday Silence return as good as ever from his surgery? Only time and Charlie Whittingham will tell. But the results of last Sunday's seventh race at Hollywood Park had to be encouraging for anyone who has ever had a horse with a bone chip removed from a knee. Crown Collection, a 3-year-old son of Alydar who made some strange headlines in the past year, ran for the first time since arthroscopic knee surgery last spring and won the six-furlong allowance race by nearly three lengths.

What had been a forgettable weekend in Japan got a whole lot better for Bobby Frankel once he returned to California. An odds-on favorite to win his second Eclipse Award in a row as the nation's top trainer and his third overall, Frankel swept the $500,000 Matriarch and $500,000 Hollywood Derby Sunday with Starine and Denon, respectively, as Hollywood Park's three-day Autum Turf Festival concluded.

The owner of Calder Race Course and a Japanese company have filed an application with state racing officials for a permit to buy Gulfstream Park, representatives said today. Bertram R. Firestone, 57, and Victoria Co. Ltd., a Japanese sporting-goods company, have asked the state Department of Business Regulation's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering for the permit required of all track owners.