On the 7th at Chukyo Racecourse, the 26th G1 Champions Cup was captured by 3rd favourite W Heart Bond (Filly, 4yo), ridden by Ryusei Sakai, who tracked the pace, took command, and narrowly held on in a fierce late battle to prevail by a nose over 2nd favourite Wilson Tesoro (Horse, 6yo), who darted through along the inside. The winning time was 1:50.2.

Finishing 2 and 1/2 lengths back in third was 7th favourite Ramjet (Colt, 4yo). Meanwhile, race favourite Narukami (Colt, 3yo) disappointed, fading to 13th.

The winner, W Heart Bond, is by Kizuna out of Persistently, by Smoke Glacken. Coming off her first graded stakes victory in the Miyako Stakes, where she defeated colts, she stepped up to an even deeper field here and dug in to claim her first G1 title. She becomes only the second filly to win the Champions Cup, and the first in 10 years since Sambista in 2015. For jockey Ryusei Sakai, this marks a G1 hat-trick in the Champions Cup, following back-to-back wins aboard Lemon Pop in 2023 and 2024.