Masquerade Ball, who won the Listed Ivy Stakes with two clear victories in a row since debut, eyes a G1 win following an impressive home workout. Spotted at 10.51am on 25 December, just before the gates closed, stable jockey Shimada (Keita Tozaki will take the reins for the race) rode exercised the colt amongst a group of three on the Miho woodchip track. Masquerade Ball was perfectly matched between Orchid Romance, who was in front, and Spirit Guide, who sat last. He accelerated smoothly and comfortably, and with a strong closing effort (6F84.7-38.1-11.7) he was in line with the former and a length-and-a-half ahead of the latter.

Trainer Tezuka, who watched the workout, commented "He got nervous when he was alone, so we put him under pressure by running three horses together. He ran right to the end without losing concentration." Admitting that he showed signs of youth a week ago, the trainer continued, "Even when he went back to the wrong hand, he quickly came back to the right hand and switched from right to left hand himself in the stretch. He seemed to have made some corrections from last week," the trainer added.

Shimada, who also confirmed the horse's feeling, said, "The horse is better than when I rode him the week before last." The baton is now passed to Keita Tosaki, who will be aiming for his second consecutive G1 victory.