Screen Hero, a horse that had barely been in the picture before the race, managed to grab top billing Sunday with a half length win of the Japan Cup at Tokyo.
Coming in second in the JC 28th running was race favorite Deep Sky, with second pick Vodka in third place a three-quarter length later. Matsurida Gogh, Oken Bruce Lee and Meisho Samson followed in that order.
A crawling slow pace threw a wrench into the race for many, but winning jockey Mirco Demuro of Italy was able to give Screen Hero a smooth ride from the start, breaking from the No. 16 slot and easing his way in to five widths' off the rail five off the front.