HORSE RACING ROUNDUP : Horlicks Breaks Hawkster Mark in Japan

Horlicks, a New Zealand mare ridden by Lance O’Sullivan, won the Japan Cup in Tokyo by a head Sunday in world record time for 1 1/2 miles on turf after running neck-and-neck with Japan’s Oguri Cap down the stretch.

Horlicks’ time of 2 minutes, 22 1/5 seconds broke the world record of 2:22 4/5 set by Hawkster at Santa Anita this year. Hawkster, ridden by Russell Baze, finished fifth in the Japan Cup, Japan’s only internationalrace.

The 6-year-old Horlicks earned $956,000, the world’s second richest prize behind the $1.35 million awarded to the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The world’s richest race is the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which offers $1.35 million to the winner, the Japan Horseracing Association said.

“Horlicks started fast from the beginning, so I expected her to set a record time,” O’Sullivan said.

At the start, Britain’s Ibn Bay led a pack of seven foreign and eight Japanese horses, with Hawkster in second spot before 140,000 spectators at the Tokyo Horse Race Course, outside the capital.

In the stretch, however, Horlicks and Oguri Cap surged from the pack and dueled to the wire.

Oguri Cap, ridden by Katsumi Minai, finished second and Pay the Butler of the United States, seeking his second straight Japan Cup victory, was third, three lengths behind Oguri Cap.

Fourth was Japan’s Super Creek, with popular jockey Yutaka Take aboard.

Sir Richard Lewis, the odds-on choice, beat Fifteen Gold Stars by a neck in the $200,000 New York Stallion Stakes for 2-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Sir Richard Lewis, ridden by Angel Cordero Jr. and carrying top weight of 119 pounds, won for the third time in six starts this year. He covered a mile on the fast track in 1:39 2/5 to earn $120,000 for Regents Farms.

Fifteen Gold Stars, 113 pounds and Jose Santos, was next in the field of five. 5 1/4 lengths ahead of Skate’s Honor, 113 pounds and Jerry Bailey. Coach Freddy and Talc’s Reward followed.

Sir Richard Lewis paid $3.00 to win, $2.10 to place and $2.10 to show. Fifteen Gold Stars paid $2.20 and $2.10 and Skate’s Honor paid $2.10 to show.