Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream

The 63-year-old if successful would deliver the race the Japanese consider the Holy Grail of the sport and which they have been trying to win since Speed Symboli tried his luck in 1969. Yahagi has staked a lot on his three-year-old, persuading owner Susumu Fujita to splash out the princely sum of 2.1 million euros ($2.3 million) for Shin Emperor at the sales in Deauville, France, in 2022. Yahagi's mind was on the Arc when he targetted Shin Emperor, not least because he is the brother of French-trained 2020 Arc winner Sottsass.