“Although we didn’t win, I couldn’t be happier with the horse’s performance,” Bowman said. “At the top of the straight I thought we had them covered.
“I had a beautiful run in transit, he enjoyed the genuine speed that’s here in Japan. If he didn’t have the setback earlier in the year and had been able to be prepared for this from the start, I think he would have won.
“I think just having the one run over the mile into a Japanese 2,200m race, it really is a testing race.
“Although it suits this horse’s style of racing, I think his condition gave out due to the preparation that he had. But full credit to John and his stable for getting him to come here off the back of that at this level and still run so well.
“It’s disappointing because I really thought at the 200m we had them covered, but I got to the winner and I felt like on the line it was going away from me, so credit where credit is due, we were beaten fairly and squarely on the day.”
