Fall top-level racing produced its second major upset in a week as champion miler Agnes Digital outran a highly touted super trio led by T.M. Opera O to win the 2,000-meter Emperor's Cup on Sunday on the rain-soaked turf at Tokyo Racecourse.
As in last week's Kikkasho, a slow pace, this time coupled with a slow track, helped boost a relatively unpopular pick to victory, and brought not applause but murmurs of discontent from the stands.
T.M. Opera O and Agnes Digital went neck and neck from the top of the stretch slope, 200 meters from the finish line, with Agnes Digital on the far outside and T.M. Opera O a good 7 meters to his inside.