Manhattan Cafe was a brown horse standing 16.3 hands (1.70 metres)[2] with a narrow white blaze bred in Hokkaido, Japan by Shadai Farms.

His other major winners included Deep Impact, Stay Gold, Heart's Cry, Zenno Rob Roy and Neo Universe.

[4] She was a descendant of the outstanding German broodmare Schwarzblaurot, the ancestor of numerous major winners including Sagace, Slip Anchor, Stacelita, Zagreb and Buena Vista.

On his final start of his spring campaign, Manhattan Cafe finished unplaced behind Scenography in the Azarea Sho at Hanshin Racecourse in April.

[6] On 16 September the colt was moved back up to Grade II level for the St Lite Kinen over 2200 metres at Nakayama and finished fourth of the sixteen runners behind Shinko Calido, Treasure and Lord Forester.

Manhattan Cafe was then moved up further in class for the Grade I Kikuka Sho over 3000 metres at Kyoto Racecourse on 21 October and started a x/1 outsider in a fifteen-runner field.

The outsider Meiner Despot took the lead from the start and set a slow pace with Ebina positioning Manhattan Cafe behind the leaders on the inside.

He was restrained by Ebina before producing a strong late run to take the lead 150 metres from the finish and won by one and a quarter lengths from American Boss with To The Victory a neck away in third.