2026 Japanese Derby Betting Tips
Lovcen is a worthy favourite to win this weekend's Japanese Derby. The horse is trained by Haruki Sugiyama and has won twice in three encounters to date. He opened with a victory at Nakayama in December and returned to the same track recently to claim the spoils. That was in the Satsuki Shop which is the English 2,000 Guineas.
It's worth noting that Realize Sirius finished less than a length behind Lovcen in that recent encounter and perhaps the horse offers better each-way value. Takahisa Tezuka will be confident of reversing the form, with that April effort coming after a previous victory in Tokyo. In the middle of February, Bereshit was beaten by a head.
The latter will line up here also among the favourites and the connections will have been encouraged by the run in the Kyodo News Hai. Over one mile and one furlong, there was only a slight margin of defeat and there was also a recent strong run at Kyoto. The 11/10 favourite was narrowly touched off by Congestus in the Kyoto Shimbun Hai.
Going To Sky is the fourth horse trading at single figure odds, with the runner having appeared four times already in a short career. There was a win in Tokyo back in October and there was also a more recent victory at the same track. In the Tokyo Hai Aoba Sha, there was plenty to like about the performance over one mile and four furlongs.