Group 1 winner Docklands will be competing in his fifth racing jurisdiction when he lines up in the Grade 1 Mile Championship in Kyoto on Sunday.
The five-year-old, trained by Harry Eustace in Newmarket and owned by Australian syndicate OTI Racing, will bid to become the first international raider to win the contest and take the winning prize of over £1,400,000 including bonuses.
Docklands has been the stable star for Eustace and a consistent performer in 2025 over the mile distance. He won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot (replay below) and was beaten by less than two lengths in Group 1 company on his last two starts.
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The well-travelled gelding raced in Melbourne and in Hong Kong last year for Eustace. The young trainer started training in 2021 and won his first major race when landing the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2023 with Docklands. His first international win came with Sea King in last year’s Group 3 Bendigo Cup in Australia. The horse went on to race in the Melbourne Cup.
Eustace, who trains from Park Lodge Stables in Newmarket, saddled two Group 1 winners at Royal Ascot this year and he spoke to Great British Racing International (GBRI) about his first Group 1 winner, saying: "Docklands has obviously been a star for us all the way through but he’s taken his form to a new level this year and got the ultimate result at Royal Ascot.
"There was a huge amount of confidence shown by the owners not selling him after his three-year-old year and for them to be rewarded for their trust in him and in us is incredibly satisfying.
“The Mile Championship in Japan came on the radar relatively soon after Royal Ascot. Jane George at the International Racing Bureau mentioned it to us and the fact it came with a bonus having won the Queen Anne Stakes made it very enticing."
Eustace also provided an update on Docklands since he arrived in Japan, stating: "Docklands is well since Champions Day. He travelled well into Tokyo and shipped to Kyoto. He seems to have taken his travelling very well and all the signs are positive.
“The Japanese thoroughbred industry speaks for itself and to have a horse get invited to race against them is great and we’re really excited.”
On the owners, he added: "OTI Racing have been a pleasure to deal with. Their approach of being patient and allowing their horses the time to mature in their own time has shown in Docklands, who’s kept improving and he’s running his best races as a five-year-old. We are incredibly grateful for their support."
A return to Sha Tin for the Hong Kong International Races on December 14 is in pipeline for Docklands the after his Japanese engagement.
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