Japanese trainer Katsunori Tanaka hopes to follow in his father-in-law Yoshito Yahagi’s footsteps by winning one of the Melbourne Spring Carnival’s “three majors”.

Yahagi prepared Lys Gracieux to take out the 2019 Cox Plate, and now Tanaka is chasing his own success with Golden Snap in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup (2400m).

The mare will attempt to become the third Japanese-trained runner to win the race in the past 11 years, following Admire Rakti (2014) and Mer De Glace (2019).

Tanaka said Golden Snap was well weighted with 53.5kg and primed for the challenge.

“She is probably not as proven as some of the other Japanese horses that have come over in the past few years,” Tanaka said.
“But I have been aiming to race her in Australia, especially in the Melbourne Cup, for a year-and-a-half and I think she is the right candidate as she is lightly handicapped.”

Drawn in barrier 18, Golden Snap will be ridden by regular jockey Suguru Hamanaka, with Tanaka instructing him to keep the mare in rhythm.

“We want to ride her to keep her momentum going, we don’t want to stop and start,” he said.

Golden Snap is a $23 chance, with Half Yours the $2.90 favourite.