u/Uma_Memoria_1910

Offside Trap: The Winner on the Glorious but Silent Sunday

1995-1999

Egao o Misete: Please Keep Smiling, Even After I’m Gone

Kikoshi: An Ordinary Life Under North Flight’s Light

2000-2004

Sushi Train: Horse with a Bizarre Name and a Big Dream

2005-2009

Queen Spumante: Let the Hidden Star Shine Across the Sky!

2010-2014

The Versailles Kingdom: A Story of Versailles Resort Farm and Rose Kingdom

Stories of Soma Nomaoi Horses After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Hakusan Moon: Chasing the Star Spinning Faster Than the Moon

Hana’s Goal: Make the Flowers of Happiness Bloom Down Under

The Call That Made the 2013 Japanese Derby Unforgettable (ft. Epiphaneia, Logotype, Kizuna… and a Dog?)

2015-2019 (The Era of this story)

Marche Lorraine: The Night Before a Near-Impossible Revolution

The Diary of Kutsushita Nugeta’s 41-Day Fight After a Devastating Leg Injury

2020-2024

Resistencia’s Weight-Check Series: 1,231 Days of a Cameraman’s Love Story

The Root of the Undefeated Triple Tiara: Daring Tact’s Journey to Her Debut

Yoka Yoka: The Unyielding Flame from the South

Leading Horse: A Great Chance to Meet a Retired Star (or Their Siblings and Offspring)

Extra:

Paper Owner Game Guide: Find Your Future Stars and Cheer Them On!

Ritto Stakes and Kuri-chan: Even a Mascot Visiting the Racecourse Can Have a Cinderella Story

A Brief Introduction to Chagu Chagu Umakko Festival

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 23 days ago

▲ 43 r/HorseRacingJP

The finalists from the preliminary round of the 2026 Idol Horse Audition have been announced!

Source

The list is as follows:

English Name	Japanese Name	Major wins	Vote Counts
Ask Victor More	アスクビクターモア	2022 G1 Kikuka Sho	3395
Admire Terra	アドマイヤテラ	2026 G2 Hanshin Daishoten	2984
Al Naseem	アルナシーム	2025 G3 Nakayama Kimpai	2876
Masquerade Ball	マスカレードボール	2026 G1 Tenno Sho Autumn	2713
Shin Emperor	シンエンペラー	2025 G2 Neom Turf Cup	2393
Haru Aube	ハルオーブ	2026 Hanshin 3YO&Up 1 Win Class	2332
Realize Sirius	リアライズシリウス	2026 G3 Kyodo Tsushin Hai	2276
Justin Palace	ジャスティンパレス	2023 G1 Tenno Sho Spring	2258

The eight contestants listed above will advance to the final round of voting, and the top three will each have an official plushie made in their likeness.

The final round of voting is now open and will remain open until July 29 at 11:59 a.m. JST. You can vote once a day here.

For reference, here are the horses that finished 9th through 15th in the first round of voting.

English Name	Japanese Name	Major Win
W Heart Bond	ダブルハートボンド	2025 G1 Champions Cup
Koganeno Sora	コガネノソラ	2026 G3 Fukushima Himba Stakes
Namura Clair	ナムラクレア	2024 G2 Hanshin Cup
Wilson Tesoro	ウィルソンテソーロ	2024 JPN1 JBC Classic
Mama Cocha	ママコチャ	2023 G1 Sprinters Stakes
Shirankedo	シランケド	2025 G3 Niigata Kinen
Dream Journey	ドリームジャーニー	2009 G1 Arima Kinen

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 30 days ago

▲ 102 r/HorseRacingJP

Yoka Yoka: The Unyielding Flame from the South

Picture Source, by Nadaraikon on Wikipedia

If you remember the first season of the Umamusume anime, our protagonist, Special Week, is portrayed as a student who came all the way from Hokkaido to Tokyo to enroll at Tracen Academy.

But in real-life Japanese horse racing, more than 95% of Japanese-bred racehorses are bred in Hokkaido. For example, in 2018, 7,100 thoroughbred racehorses were born in Japan, and only 171 of them were born outside Hokkaido.

Among those 171 horses, 64 were from Kyushu, regions with climates completely different from Hokkaido. And only 28 were born in Kumamoto Prefecture, and our protagonist today, Yoka Yoka (ヨカヨカ), was one of them.

Most breeding resources in Japan were concentrated in Hokkaido, while Kyushu was more than 1,000 kilometers away. This made it difficult for breeders in Kyushu to access the better broodmares, stallions, and facilities in Hokkaido.

Because of this, Kyushu-bred horses were often seen as less promising than horses from Hokkaido. There are even races open only to Kyushu-bred horses, which also shows how different their position was in Japanese horse racing.

Outside of those races, Kyushu-bred horses that have won open-class races since 1984 are extremely rare, let alone graded race winners.

But when Yoka Yoka, then known as Honey Dancer 2018, was sent to auction as a two-year-old, the extraordinary talent she showed gave many people hope.

Perhaps she could become a hero, break through the wall that Hokkaido had built over the years and bring light to the breeding industry in Kyushu.

A Lady From the Kingdom of Blaze

Kumamoto Prefecture is known for the spectacular Aso Volcano (阿蘇山), the second-largest active volcano in Japan.

Because of this, Kumamoto is sometimes called “the Kingdom of Fire.” Its mountains and vast hilly grasslands have left deep memories for countless visitors.

In the suburbs of Kumamoto, away from the famous Aso scenery, Yoka Yoka was born on May 13, 2018, at a small farm called Honda Tsuchitoshi Farm (本田土寿牧場).

Her father was Squirtle Squirt, a two-time G1 winner in America who later stood as a stallion in Japan. Her mother was Honey Dancer (ハニーダンサー), whose mother, Honey Bun, was a half-sister to Fine Motion (ファインモーション).

From the beginning, she had a good body shape, and under the blazing sun of southern Japan, she grew quickly and strongly.

She was bought by the JRA at an auction as a yearling, and from then on, she was trained at the JRA Miyazaki Training Farm (JRA宮崎育成牧場). She stayed there until she was sent to another auction as a two-year-old.

As mentioned earlier, she showed great potential during the pre-auction training exhibition. In the end, she was bought by Koji Oka (岡浩二), the representative of an Osaka-based construction company.

Owner Oka had a great interest in Kyushu-bred racehorses because his mother came from Tokunoshima (徳之島), an island in southern Kyushu.

Later, owner Oka gave her the name “Yoka Yoka.” In the Kumamoto dialect, it was a phrase meaning something like “It’s alright, it’s alright.” He then entrusted her to trainer Kiyoshi Tani (谷潔), a veteran trainer based at Ritto Training Center.

Also mentioned earlier, there were races open only to Kyushu-bred horses at Kokura Racecourse, which is also located in Kyushu. But Yoka Yoka did not wait for one of those races to make her debut.

Her trainer believed in her, and chose to let her debut at Hanshin Racecourse instead, facing her Hokkaido-bred rivals head-on in her very first race.

She was the second favorite in that race. The favorite was Mondreise (モントライゼ), a colt bred by Northern Farm (ノーザンファーム), the largest breeder in Japan. He was also owned by Carrot Club (キャロットクラブ), one of the most well-known racing clubs in Japan.

After the start, Mondreise secured an outside position near the front, while Yoka Yoka followed right behind him. As they reached the final straight, Mondreise began to speed up and overtake the horses in front of him. At the same time, Yoka Yoka showed even greater speed and tried to overtake Mondreise as well.

As they ran up the slope, the two became the focus of the crowd at the front of the field. Both of them gave it their all, but in the end, Yoka Yoka got past Mondreise by a head as they hit the wire.

The lady from the land of blaze had defeated elites from the frozen north in her very first race. The result amazed many people.

It was the first time in three years that a Kyushu-bred horse had beaten a Hokkaido-bred horse in a debut race. And this victory, might become the first spark of a story that would burn far beyond Kyushu.

The Phoenix Rise from the Water

Besides the Kingdom of Fire, Kumamoto also carried another name, one that seemed completely opposite to it: the Kingdom of Water.

This name came from the land beneath Kumamoto. Under the region lie pyroclastic flow deposits formed by the eruptions of Mount Aso thousands of years ago. This soil has high water permeability, allowing it to store groundwater deep beneath the land.

Thanks to this, high-quality springs can be found all across the Kumamoto region. This water has supported agriculture and livestock farming there for a long time, and Yoka Yoka, too, was raised by the blessing of that water.

After her stunning victory, Yoka Yoka next set her sights on the Phoenix Sho, an open-class 1200-meter turf race held at Kokura Racecourse.

Finally, she had the chance to show her power in Kyushu, and she did not let her hometown supporters down. From start to finish, she shone like a phoenix at the front of the pack and won the race by one and a half lengths.

Then, almost like an encore, Yoka Yoka returned to Kokura just two weeks later for the Himawari Sho, the only open-class JRA race open exclusively to Kyushu-bred horses.

Because of the race’s weight allowance system and her outstanding performances before the race, she had to carry 57 kilograms, while the others carried only 53 or 55 kilograms. It was a huge burden for a two-year-old filly.

Despite that, she still dominated the race and won by three and a half lengths. Before her, no two-year-old filly had ever won the race while carrying such a heavy weight.

With each victory, the small flame from Kumamoto burned brighter, and more people began to believe that Yoka Yoka might truly be something special.

Her team also knew that her ability was strong enough to carry the bright hopes of Kyushu. So, they had already set their sights on the highest stage for two-year-old fillies: the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies.

The light in Yoka Yoka’s eyes only grew brighter, and ahead of her stood the G3 Fantasy Stakes, a race often seen as a stepping stone toward that grand stage.

But just one week later, another young filly appeared in the G3 Kokura Nissai Stakes. Her name was Meikei Yell (メイケイエール), a lady carrying the name of Nagoya, the city of the golden Shachi.

In the rain at Kokura, she defeated several promising Kyushu-bred horses on their home course. She also beat Mondreise, the same strong colt Yoka Yoka had defeated in her debut, by one and a quarter lengths.

And now, Meikei Yell was aiming for the same race as Yoka Yoka: the G3 Fantasy Stakes, which was held at Hanshin that year.

It felt like a duel invitation sent from another young heroine.

The Phoenix and the Golden Shachi

What is a Shachi, you might ask? A Shachi (鯱) is a mythical creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a fish. Golden Shachi (金鯱) can often be found on the rooftops of Japanese castles. They are used as decorations, but they also carry the meaning of protecting the castle from fire.

Among all Japanese castles, Nagoya Castle is especially famous for the giant golden Shachi on its rooftop. Because of this, Nagoya Castle is also known as the “Golden Shachi Castle.”

At the same time, Nagoya Castle is one of the three famous castles of Japan, along with Osaka Castle and Kumamoto Castle.

And from that city came Meikei Yell, whose owner was Nagoya Horse Racing Co., Ltd. (名古屋競馬株式会社), the company that actually owned Chukyo Racecourse.

On November 7, 2020, the showdown between the blaze and the golden Shachi began on the stage of Hanshin. Both of them had never lost a single race before.

As soon as they broke from the gate, Meikei Yell’s jockey, Yutaka Take (武豊), tried to hold her back in the latter half of the field. But she refused to settle. She kept pulling toward the front, even as Take tried hard to restrain her. At the same time, Yoka Yoka stayed calmly in the front pack.

Did I mention that Nagoya is also famous across Japan for its rather aggressive driving style? Maybe this lady had inherited that Nagoya spirit a little too well.

As jockey Take finally managed to bring the Nagoya lady under control before she went into full runaway mode, they had already reached the final straight. Meanwhile, Yoka Yoka had already swung to the outside and was ready to make her move.

But just as Yoka Yoka began to accelerate, her stride started to wobble. It took some time for her jockey, Yuichi Fukunaga (福永祐一), to bring her back on track. And in front of her was Meikei Yell, already beginning to overtake the other rivals as they ran uphill.

In the end, the lady of blaze could not quite catch the golden Shachi girl. Meikei Yell won the race beautifully with a two-year-old course record, while Yoka Yoka managed to finish fifth. The fire of Kyushu had been stopped by the fire-warding yokai.

Showdown

But that fire was not put out. Yoka Yoka stayed on her path toward the grand stage at Hanshin. After winning the race, Meikei Yell naturally chose to aim for the same stage as well. And more challengers were gathering. Other elite fillies, each with their own distinct personality and story, were also heading there.

First came Geraldina (ジェラルディーナ), the daughter of the legendary Maurice (モーリス) and Gentildonna (ジェンティルドンナ). Behind her stood thirteen G1 crowns and the red-cross banner of the Sunday Racing empire.

Next came Uberleben (ユーバーレーベン), the overly calm assassin who carried a secret weapon inherited from her father, Gold Ship (ゴールドシップ).

And then there was Satono Reinas (サトノレイナス), the undefeated, sharp knightess who carried the dream of the Satono family on her shoulders.

Last came Sodashi (ソダシ), standing at the center of everyone’s attention. She was a beautiful white filly aiming to become the first white horse to win an internationally recognized G1 race.

And Yoka Yoka was not the only one from Kyushu on this grand stage.

There was also Luxon (ルクシオン), who was born at another farm in Kumamoto. She was a daughter of Eishin Flash (エイシンフラッシュ) and a granddaughter of Agnes Tachyon (アグネスタキオン).

Although she had been defeated by Meikei Yell in the G3 Kokura Nissai Stakes, she soon proved her ability by winning the open-class Fukushima Nissai Stakes.

This was the first time that a horse born in Kumamoto had challenged a G1 race. And this time, there was not just one of them, but two. The fire and light from Kumamoto were ready to give their best, hoping to break through the heavy clouds that covered the racecourse.

As the gate opened, Yoka Yoka had a really great start and went straight to the front, while Meikei Yell dropped to the very back after a slow start. One was already running exactly as planned. The other was already fighting against her own reins.

For the runaway Nagoya lady, staying quietly in the back was never going to be easy.

Meikei Yell soon began to ignore her jockey’s commands, tossing her head aggressively as she ran, while Luxon watched her “dance” from behind. Meanwhile, Yoka Yoka executed her front-running strategy beautifully, burning steadily at the head of the field.

As they reached the final straight, Yoka Yoka was still in front. Her jockey began to urge her on, trying to pull away before the others started their chase.

And she really did begin to pull away, burning brightly at the head of the field and sending her light toward her faraway hometown.

But then came Sodashi, and then Meikei Yell. Satono Reinas and Uberleben followed, one after another. The strong competitors from the north closed in, and the light from Kumamoto began to be swallowed by the field.

Though Yoka Yoka had used up all her strength, she could not stop the tide. All she could do was watch as Sodashi was crowned the pure-white queen and became the new light of the white horse family.

In the end, Yoka Yoka finished fifth, while her fellow Kumamoto-born filly, Luxon, finished tenth. Even so, Yoka Yoka’s run still made history. It was the first time that a Kyushu-bred horse had finished in the top five of a G1 race.

Though she did not win the G1 race on her first try, the flame she showed on the track that day made many people believe that one day, she could win another graded race, or even a G1 race, and become the guiding star for countless Kyushu-bred horses.

When the Fire Gathered

At the beginning of every spring, people around Mount Aso carry out Noyaki (野焼き), setting controlled fires across the vast grasslands.

Without these fires, the grasslands would gradually be taken over by bushes and trees. After the flames die down, the land may look black and empty for a while. But from the burned fields, new grass soon begins to grow, making the land suitable for grazing once again.

After Yoka Yoka turned three, an important announcement was made. Her main jockey would be changed to Hideaki Miyuki (幸英明), a veteran jockey raised in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu.

Back in 1994, Miyuki made his debut under trainer Hachiro Tani (谷八郎), the father of Yoka Yoka’s trainer, Kiyoshi Tani. During his career as a trainer, Hachiro Tani had taken in countless Kyushu-bred racehorses, and that might have been one reason why he also accepted Miyuki into his stable.

After Hachiro Tani retired in 1998, Kiyoshi Tani helped Miyuki a lot and gave him many chances to ride horses from his stable. Over time, Miyuki became one of the main jockeys for the Tani stable.

And now, this team with deep ties to Kyushu was aiming for the G2 Fillies Revue, a 1,400-meter race held at Hanshin Racecourse. For the top three finishers, it would also grant a direct ticket to the G1 Oka Sho.

If she won this race, she would become the first Kyushu-bred horse ever to win an internationally graded G2 race in Japan. And if she did it with a jockey from Kyushu in the saddle, the victory would carry even deeper meaning.

After the start, Yoka Yoka settled on the inside of the front pack. But that inside position soon became a problem, as she found herself blocked when they reached the final corner.

But thankfully, a gap opened up as they entered the final straight. Yoka Yoka slipped into that opening and launched her final spurt.

Little by little, she overtook the horses in front of her, like flames spreading steadily across the grassland.

After the uphill climb, with less than 100 meters left, Yoka Yoka finally emerged at the front, her flame shining brighter than ever. For a brief moment, Kyushu’s dream seemed close enough to touch.

But at the same time, an unexpected shadow appeared on the outside. It was Shigeru Pink Ruby (シゲルピンクルビー), who had finished second to last in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. She was only the eighth favorite in this race.

Seeing that shadow closing in, Yoka Yoka tried to fight back. But she could not ignite her flame again in time.

In the end, Shigeru Pink Ruby won by a neck, and Yoka Yoka finished second. On the finish line, it was only a neck. For Kyushu, it might have been a distance measured in years.

Still, the fire was not gone. Yoka Yoka stayed on her original path and went on to run in the G1 Oka Sho. But on that day, her flame was swallowed by the field, and she finished 17th. Shigeru Pink Ruby finished far ahead of her, while Meikei Yell was only one place behind.

To many people, it seemed as if the light had been lost. But her team knew that after the blaze and the blackened field, a new chance would eventually emerge.

In the end, as her name in the Kumamoto dialect said, it would be alright, alright.

Ghost Fire in the Rain

According to legend, at dawn on August 1 of the lunar calendar each year, mysterious flames would appear over the Yatsushiro Sea (八代海), just off the Uto Peninsula (宇土半島) in Kumamoto Prefecture.

These flames were known as Shiranui (不知火), the “unknown fires.”

The legend became an important part of Japanese folklore. Long ago, an ancient emperor of Japan and his army were said to have lost their way on the dark sea, until these unknown fires guided them safely toward land.

Today, Shiranui is believed to have been caused by the lights of fishing boats reflecting on the mudflats under specific weather conditions, creating a mirage-like phenomenon.

But as coastal development changed the shoreline and the mudflats gradually disappeared, Shiranui also faded from sight. For many years, the unknown fires have no longer appeared.

And Kyushu had once held an important place in Japan’s military horse breeding industry as well. But after World War II, Japan’s horse breeding industry gradually shifted toward Hokkaido.

Compared with Kyushu, Hokkaido had the vast land needed to raise racehorses on a larger scale.

Since then, Kyushu’s horse breeding industry has declined drastically. Today, Kyushu-bred graded race winners have become extremely hard to find.

And then, from Kumamoto, Yoka Yoka was born.

She was like a small fire rising from the dark sea.

After her devastating defeat in the Oka Sho, her team decided to try her over a shorter distance. So they sent her to the Aoi Sho, a 1,200-meter turf race at Chukyo Racecourse. She finished second there, proving that their idea had been right. Yoka Yoka truly belonged on the sprinter’s stage.

Then, they returned to Kokura Racecourse in Kyushu for the G3 CBC Sho, which was held there that year. It was another 1,200-meter turf race. With support from fans all around Kyushu, Yoka Yoka became the favorite in the race.

But the dream did not come true that day. First Force (ファストフォース) took the lead, set a blazing pace, and broke the Japanese record with that victory, even though it was his first attempt in a graded race. Yoka Yoka could only finish fifth.

But Yoka Yoka still had one more chance to shine in Kyushu: the G3 Kitakyushu Kinen, another 1,200-meter race held at Kokura Racecourse.

There, Shigeru Pink Ruby, First Force, and several other graded race winners from outside Kyushu were waiting for her. Among them, Yoka Yoka stood as the only one who could defend Kyushu’s trophy on Kyushu soil. But in that race, she was only the fifth favorite.

On that day, rain fell over Kokura under the influence of a typhoon, leaving the turf soft and heavy. But beneath that rain, Yoka Yoka’s flame began to burn once again, faint at first, yet refusing to fade.

And then, the gate opened.

Soon after the start, First Force and Mozu Superflare (モズスーパーフレア), the winner of the 2020 G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, rushed to the front. Just behind them, Yoka Yoka followed on the outside.

After the first half of the race, Mozu Superflare had pulled away in front, while First Force stayed slightly behind in the front pack, just inside Yoka Yoka.

As they entered the final corner, Mozu Superflare stayed close to the inside rail, while First Force and Yoka Yoka swung to the outside.

Perhaps they were trying to avoid the worn-down inner track, which had already taken heavy use throughout the day.

And now, Yoka Yoka had reached the final straight.

There was no one blocking her path. Ahead of her, there were still five or six lengths to chase down.

It was all up to her now, to answer the hopes of Kyushu.

The hopes of Kyushu...!

As she passed the 200-meter mark, though the number of spectators was limited because of the pandemic, their cheers still reached her through the heavy rain, clear and loud.

Hearing those cheers grow closer and louder, Miyuki, the jockey raised in Kyushu, kept urging Yoka Yoka forward. And she answered him with a powerful spurt, closing in on the front faster and faster.

In front of the crowd from her home region, she overtook Mozu Superflare in the final moments and crossed the wire first.

>「ヨカヨカ！地元九州で悲願達成！」

>“Yoka Yoka! The long-awaited dream has finally come true in her home region of Kyushu!”

>--Hirotoshi Sakanashi (坂梨公俊), announcer from Television Nishinippon (テレビ西日本)

The crowd burst into applause and joyful cheers. Yoka Yoka had really done it. The blaze had burned brightly in the rain, just like Shiranui, the unknown fires of folklore, shining through the deep darkness.

With that victory, she became the tenth Kyushu-bred racehorse to win a graded race, and the first one to do so in sixteen years. She also became the first Kumamoto-bred horse ever to win a graded race.

The victory also meant a great deal to her team, especially jockey Miyuki and trainer Tani, both of whom had deep ties to Kyushu.

It carried even greater meaning for them because Hachiro Tani, Miyuki’s former mentor and trainer Tani’s father, had passed away just a year earlier, in the same month.

Perhaps the old man, who had been deeply loved by horse owners across Kyushu, had given them a push from above, just as trainer Tani said after the race.

Round of Fire

As mentioned earlier, at the beginning of every spring, people in the Aso region set controlled fires across the vast grasslands of Mount Aso.

After the burning, the Tazukuri Festival (田作祭) is held at Aso Shrine (阿蘇神社), the religious center of the region, to pray for a good harvest.

The most memorable ritual of the festival is Hifuri Shinji (火振り神事). It is held to celebrate the wedding of Kunitatsunokami (国龍神), one of the principal deities enshrined at Aso Shrine.

During the ritual, attendants light bundles of straw tied to ropes and swing them in wide circles through the darkness. The glowing rings of fire that appear before the spectators look almost like a scene from an ancient legend.

After that victory in Kokura, many believed that Yoka Yoka still had room to grow. If she continued to improve, perhaps she could carry that flame back to the G1 stage one day and become the first Kyushu-bred G1 winner in history.

Her team shared that belief. Before long, they began preparing her for the G1 Sprinters Stakes.

But just a few weeks before the race, she suffered a fracture after becoming unsettled during training.

Thankfully, the injury was not life-threatening, but it was severe enough to bring her racing career to an abrupt end.

She was then sent to Sunday Hills (サンデーヒルズ), a farm in Shin-Hidaka, Hokkaido, owned by her owner, where she began her new life as a broodmare.

Her first foal, Yoka O (ヨカオウ), sired by Kizuna (キズナ), is now racing and giving his best on the track. Her second foal, Yoka Be (ヨカベエ), sired by Contrail (コントレイル), is expected to make his debut during the 2026-2027 season.

However, because Yoka Yoka now lives in Hokkaido, both of her foals are officially considered Hokkaido-bred horses.

Her pasture lies on a hillside overlooking the sea. Whenever she looks out toward the ocean, does she remember the days she spent in Kumamoto, beneath its blazing southern sun?

Whatever the answer may be, one thing is certain: her fans, and the horse breeding community of Kyushu, will never forget her.

In the same year that Yoka Yoka won the G3 Kitakyushu Kinen, both the average sale price and the clearance rate at Kyushu’s auction market rose sharply.

While she may not have been the only reason, her success certainly gave greater hope and attention to the young racehorses born in Kyushu.

At the JRA Miyazaki Training Farm, where Yoka Yoka had been trained as a young horse, a monument was built in her honor.

Her horseshoes were also put on display at WINS Miyazaki, a JRA off-track betting facility near the farm.

At VIESTA Kumamoto, a racing viewing facility in downtown Kumamoto, the hood and saddlecloth she wore in the Kitakyushu Kinen were put on display. The saddlecloth carried jockey Miyuki’s signature.

Also, because of her great popularity, Yoka Yoka became one of the finalists in the 2022 Idol Horse Audition, which was decided by fan vote.

As a result, an official plushie of her was made, giving countless fans a small piece of her story to keep with them.

Yoka Yoka’s flame will keep burning. With that same flame, she rekindled hope for Kyushu’s horse breeding industry.

And perhaps, somewhere beneath the blazing sun of Kyushu, another small spark is already waiting to rise.

----------

My past work (Sorted by Classic-Year Era):

1985-1989

Sakura Star O: Spirit of the Ink-Black Cherry Blossom

1990-1994

Narita Hayabusa: A Sand Falcon Born in the Wrong Era

Offside Trap: The Winner on the Glorious but Silent Sunday

1995-1999

Egao o Misete: Please Keep Smiling, Even After I’m Gone

Kikoshi: An Ordinary Life Under North Flight’s Light

2000-2004

Sushi Train: Horse with a Bizarre Name and a Big Dream

2005-2009

Queen Spumante: Let the Hidden Star Shine Across the Sky!

2010-2014

The Versailles Kingdom: A Story of Versailles Resort Farm and Rose Kingdom

Stories of Soma Nomaoi Horses After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Hakusan Moon: Chasing the Star Spinning Faster Than the Moon

Hana’s Goal: Make the Flowers of Happiness Bloom Down Under

The Call That Made the 2013 Japanese Derby Unforgettable (ft. Epiphaneia, Logotype, Kizuna… and a Dog?)

2015-2019

Marche Lorraine: The Night Before a Near-Impossible Revolution

The Diary of Kutsushita Nugeta’s 41-Day Fight After a Devastating Leg Injury

2020-2024 (The Era of this story)

Resistencia’s Weight-Check Series: 1,231 Days of a Cameraman’s Love Story

The Root of the Undefeated Triple Tiara: Daring Tact’s Journey to Her Debut

Leading Horse: A Great Chance to Meet a Retired Star (or Their Siblings and Offspring)

Extra:

Paper Owner Game Guide: Find Your Future Stars and Cheer Them On!

Ritto Stakes and Kuri-chan: Even a Mascot Visiting the Racecourse Can Have a Cinderella Story

A Brief Introduction to Chagu Chagu Umakko Festival

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 1 month ago

▲ 248 r/HorseRacingJP

Mikki Fight just won the JPN1 Teio Sho, completing back-to-back victories in the race.

Picture Source

Mikki Fight (ミッキーファイト) has never finished worse than third since his debut. He has also won international and local graded races at various racecourses such as Niigata, Hanshin, Funabashi, Nagoya, and of course, Oi Racecourse.

This Teio Sho victory marked jockey Keita Tosaki’s first win in the race since Furioso.

Tosaki had partnered with Mikki Fight earlier in his career and had done well with him, including finishing second in the JPN1 Japan Dirt Classic behind Forever Young. However, jockey Christophe Lemaire took over for more than a year, and this race marked Tosaki’s return to the saddle with him.

Looks like jockey Tosaki got another “very very horse” back!

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 228 r/HorseRacingJP

The Diary of Kutsushita Nugeta’s 41-Day Fight After a Devastating Leg Injury

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Picture Source 2

This is the story of a badly injured horse, and of the owner and veterinarians who refused to surrender to fate.

The horse’s name was Kutsushita Nugeta (クツシタヌゲタ).

His name means “a sock came off.” He had white socks on three of his four legs, but not on his right foreleg, making it look as if one of his socks had come off.

When he walked in the paddock before races, he wore a blue hood decorated with a sock and the word “ヌゲタ” (came off), a playful reference to the missing white sock on his right foreleg. It was a really cute and unforgettable piece of gear.

But on May 9, 2026, he suffered a serious accident that left his right foreleg fractured and his knee dislocated. It was the leg where his sock had come off.

The injury was so severe that euthanasia was considered the only way to relieve his pain.

But his owner refused to give up, and the rest of his story was told through posts by Masaru Sese (瀬瀬賢), the CEO and representative veterinarian of Equine Racing (エクワインレーシング), whom the owner had turned to for help.

This diary may help us better understand the challenges horses face after suffering devastating leg injuries, while also standing forever as a record of Kutsushita Nugeta’s courageous fight.

The diary below was reconstructed and summarized based on posts made by Masaru Sese.

2026.05.14 — Day 0 post-surgery

This is the story of an anonymous former racehorse.

After retiring from racing, he became a riding horse. However, a few days ago, he suffered an accident. His right foreleg was badly injured, with the knee dislocated and the bone fractured.

Almost every veterinarian said that the injury was beyond recovery, and that the only way to spare him from further suffering was euthanasia.

But the horse’s owner refused to give up. Even though they knew that their horse would never be able to become a riding horse again even if he recovered, they still desperately begged us to find a way to save him.

In the end, we finally found a clinic willing to take on what seemed like an impossible challenge with us.

Today is the day of the operation. Hope he makes it through.

2026.05.15 — Day 1 post-surgery

He had slowly recovered from the anesthesia. He had a strong will to eat and drink. This was a good sign of recovery, but still, we couldn’t let our guard down.

Especially because there was still the risk of laminitis, which can be caused by putting too much stress on the other healthy legs.

2026.05.16 — Day 2 post-surgery

Although he seemed energetic, his left foreleg had begun to show signs of laminitis.

To keep the situation from getting worse, we used a sling to support his body, hoping it would help relieve the stress on his legs.

We must not let our guard down.

2026.05.20 — Day 6 post-surgery

Even though his movement was restricted, he seemed to know that carrots were waiting for him, and would always come closer whenever we approached.

Thankfully, the signs of laminitis seemed to have stopped getting worse, and he appeared to be doing well today.

2026.05.21 — Day 7 post-surgery

The situation had changed completely from yesterday.

His other three legs had begun to show signs of laminitis, and he seemed to be in some pain.

We gave him painkillers and anti-inflammatory medication to help ease the pain. We truly hope he gets better.

2026.05.23 — Day 9 post-surgery

The signs of laminitis were still there, but he seemed energetic today.

He seemed to want some carrots and kept turning toward us. We really wanted to give him some, but to keep the laminitis from getting worse, we had to limit what he could eat.

2026.05.24 — Day 10 post-surgery

The signs of laminitis still hadn’t eased. Even worse, his right foreleg had started to swell, so we needed to apply a compression bandage to the affected area.

But despite the worsening condition, he still seemed to be feeling great.

Hope he can overcome this injury, step by step.

2026.05.29 — Day 15 post-surgery

Today was his first cast change.

The injured area still hadn’t healed because it had been rubbed by the cast, but the wound infection was under control, and the stitches were removed as planned.

We also took X-rays of his right front knee and both front hooves. The plate in his knee was still firmly in place. As for his hooves, although we didn’t find any signs of severe laminitis, we still shouldn’t let our guard down.

Although some things didn’t go as expected, we still have hope that he can be cured.

2026.05.31 — Day 17 post-surgery

Two days after the cast change, he still seemed to be adjusting to the new cast, and his activity level was low.

He stood with his hind legs close together, a posture that helped him feel less pain. This indicated that he was enduring discomfort, and the signs of laminitis had also worsened.

But his appetite remained strong, so things were not all bad.

We keep sending spirit bombs his way. Hope he recovers soon.

2026.06.02 — Day 19 post-surgery

Four days after the cast change, he still seemed uncomfortable with the new cast and struggled to use his right foreleg.

Because his knee was fixed in place, he needed to learn a different way to walk.

We used grass to encourage him to practice walking, but it still looked difficult for him.

Still, his appetite was good, his knee didn’t seem painful, and the signs of laminitis hadn’t worsened.

2026.06.06 — Day 23 post-surgery

Eight days after the cast change, he was able to lift and use his right foreleg, and his movement in the stall had improved. This was a very good sign.

Still, the symptoms of laminitis were still there, and dents were even found in his hind hooves.

From now on, it would be a fight against laminitis. Fight on!

2026.06.08 — Day 25 post-surgery

Today was the day for his second cast change.

The plate was intact and firmly in place. The wound was smaller than last time, and the infection was completely under control.

Now he can even walk, which is a really great sign.

On the other hand, however, the condition of his hooves had worsened drastically, especially as the laminae in his hind hooves had started to show signs of separating.

To support his hooves and help reduce the pressure placed on them, we had him wear Soft-Ride boots.

Keep fighting!

2026.06.11 — Day 28 post-surgery

Three days after the second cast change, the symptoms of laminitis were still there. But we thought it was a good sign that they hadn’t gotten any worse.

With the owner’s approval, we will now announce this horse’s name.

“Kutsushita Nugeta”

He overcame a very difficult operation and is now facing laminitis head-on.

Please keep watching over his brave fight.

2026.06.15 — Day 32 post-surgery

Seven days after the second cast change.

For the past few days, the condition of his hooves had neither improved nor worsened. But today, it seemed to have gotten worse.

He started lifting his right foreleg, and the symptoms of laminitis were getting worse.

Nugeta had been fighting really hard, but the pressure on his legs was building up.

This would be a huge challenge for him.

2026.06.16 — Day 33 post-surgery

Eight days after the second cast change.

The concerning situation was still there.

Nugeta still had the will to walk, but the pain in his right foreleg was so severe that his steps seemed heavy.

Watching him eat grass happily while enduring such intense pain, we couldn’t help but prepare ourselves for the worst.

2026.06.17 — Day 34 post-surgery ①

Nine days after the second cast change.

The situation had taken a turn for the worst. His right foreleg could no longer support his weight, and he had lost the will to walk.

Suspecting that the laminitis had worsened, we decided to examine his hooves with X-rays immediately.

Seeing Nugeta reach his head toward us, as if he was trying to say something, was absolutely heartbreaking.

2026.06.17 — Day 34 post-surgery ②

And the results of the examination confirmed our worst fears.

The laminae had detached, and his coffin bone had rotated. The tip of the bone had even nearly pierced through his hoof. That was the source of all the pain he had been enduring.

Unfortunately, in this condition, there was no possibility of recovery. Continuing the treatment would only prolong his suffering.

After discussing it with the owner and the other veterinarians, the decision was made to euthanize him.

Nugeta still had a healthy appetite, just as he always had.

The only thing we could do now was let him bury himself in the grass he loved most, without any restrictions, before the euthanasia tomorrow.

2026.06.18 — Day 35 post-surgery

The end.

June 18, 2026, 09:29 — euthanasia.

It had been 41 days since the accident on May 9, before this challenge came to a bitter end.

The carpal joint fixation surgery he underwent was an operation that had never succeeded in Japan before, and only a few successful cases had ever been reported worldwide.

The challenge to save Kutsushita Nugeta could not save his life.

But was this challenge truly worthless?

The answer would be yes, if we looked only at the result.

But we believe that his case, along with everything we learned from it, will become one of the first steps toward saving other horses who face similar accidents in the future.

If we see it that way, then this challenge had significant meaning.

To everyone who took part in Kutsushita Nugeta’s treatment, to the owner who was willing to take on this near-impossible challenge and pay an enormous amount of money for it, and to everyone who followed his treatment diary on this account and sent their prayers to Kutsushita Nugeta, thank you very much.

And we are truly sorry that we could not save his life.

Rest in peace, Kutsushita Nugeta.

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 41 r/UmaMusume

Hakusan Moon: Chasing the Star Spinning Faster Than the Moon

Hakusan Moon (ハクサンムーン) was a horse who could catch people’s attention even before the race began.

When everyone expected him to head straight toward the starting gate, he sometimes stopped, lowered his head slightly, and began to turn round and round in place.

For anyone watching him for the first time, it was a strange sight. Some laughed. Some worried. Others simply wondered what he was doing at such a tense moment before the race.

He looked almost like a carousel horse spinning at full speed. But once the gates opened, people would soon learn that he had the ability to compete with the best on the track.

Open the Door of Dreams

Long before his debut, his trainer, Masato Nishizono (西園正都), and the training assistants had already noticed him walking round and round clockwise in his stall.

At first, they tried to correct this habit by putting a mirror in his stall, or by giving him an apple-shaped pillow, hoping it would make him feel less lonely and relieve his stress. They also wanted to prevent him from spending too much stamina on this habit.

However, those attempts only made him angry and stressed him out even more. In the end, they gave up and decided to let him keep walking round and round.

So why did Hakusan Moon keep walking round and round, like a carousel? According to the people around him, he was simply a very sensitive horse. For him, circling was a way to relieve his stress.

But Hakusan Moon was not just a sensitive horse with an unusual habit. He also had a pretty solid pedigree.

His father was Admire Moon (アドマイヤムーン), a three-time G1 winner, while his mother, Ciliege (チリエージェ), was a daughter of Sakura Bakushin O (サクラバクシンオー), one of the greatest sprinters in Japanese horse racing history.

With that kind of pedigree, it was easy to imagine him becoming a good sprinter.

Beyond the Unknown Path

Round and round, time had carried him to December 3, 2011. It was the day of Hakusan Moon’s debut race, a 1,400 meters turf race at Hanshin Racecourse.

While preparing for the race, his training assistant would hold onto his lead rope to prevent him from going round and round, even when Hakusan Moon was being washed. Even at the wash area, he still wanted to keep circling.

But as Hakusan Moon kept pulling on the lead rope, his training assistant gradually gave up trying to hold him back.

In the end, whenever Hakusan Moon felt the urge to circle, his assistant would simply walk a few circles with him. This happened again and again, from time to time, for seven to eight hours before the race.

All that hard work eventually paid off. Hakusan Moon won his debut race from the front. After that, he made it through the ballot for the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, earning a chance to face some of the best two-year-old runners in Japan.

However, his first G1 appearance ended in last place. Perhaps 1,600 meters was simply too long for him.

After he turned three, his results remained unstable. He could win when things went his way, but if he failed to secure the lead, or if the pace became too fast even for him, he often ended up losing badly.

Round and round, time had carried him to November 24, 2012. This time, Hakusan Moon stood on the turf of Kyoto Racecourse for the G3 Keihan Hai, a 1,200-meter sprint. It was his fourth attempt at a graded race, and the jockey on his back was Manabu Sakai (酒井学).

Guided by Sakai’s precise control of his front-running pace, Hakusan Moon held the lead all the way to the finish line. Despite being only the tenth favorite, he won by a head and claimed his first graded race victory.

The Night Has Fallen

The following year, Hakusan Moon set his sights on the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, one of Japan’s two major sprint G1 races. To prepare for that challenge, he first entered the G3 Ocean Stakes, this time with Shu Ishibashi (石橋脩) in the saddle. However, things did not go as planned. Hakusan Moon was unable to make an impact in the Ocean Stakes and finished only ninth.

After that disappointing result, trainer Nishizono decided to put Sakai back in the saddle. Now reunited, Hakusan Moon and Sakai were ready to face the grand stage together.

But the grand stage waiting for him was not an easy one. Standing in his way was Lord Kanaloa (ロードカナロア), the reigning sprint king. He had never finished worse than third in his 14 starts, and after conquering the G1 Hong Kong Sprint, he had proven himself not only in Japan, but far beyond it.

Against such a champion, Hakusan Moon looked almost like a nameless challenger before the dragon overlord. He had only one G3 victory to his name and was just the 10th favorite in the race. Still, this was his chance to face one of the strongest sprinters of his era head-on.

As the gates opened, Hakusan Moon quickly rushed to the front. After securing the inside position at the head of the field, all he and Sakai had to do was keep that lead and hold off the late closers until the very end.

As they turned into the final straight, Hakusan Moon continued to lead the field. Even after passing the 200-meter mark, he was still holding on to first place.

For a moment, it truly seemed like their first G1 victory was finally within reach. Yet somehow, it felt like the race was unfolding a little too perfectly.

In the last 100 meters, the world-class dragon launched his spurt from fifth place. At that moment, Hakusan Moon and Sakai still held a lead of more than three lengths.

But in the blink of an eye, the gap was gone. Even though Sakai pushed Hakusan Moon with everything he had, Lord Kanaloa still flew past them like a powerful gust of wind.

After crossing the finish line, Lord Kanaloa’s jockey, Yasunari Iwata (岩田康誠), raised his right hand and pointed toward the grandstand, declaring the overwhelming power of the sprint king.

Hakusan Moon finished third. He had missed out on victory, but his brave run against the sprint king made more people recognize just how strong he really was. More importantly, running against a world-class sprinter seemed to awaken something in him.

From that day on, he had a new goal: to chase Lord Kanaloa and gaze upon the world that still lay beyond Hakusan Moon’s reach.

Stargazing

So instead of resting during the summer break, he chose to take on the Summer Sprint Series. His first stop was the G3 CBC Sho at Chukyo.

There, he once again rushed to the very front and tried to win the race in his own style. But in the final stretch, Majin Prosper (マジンプロスパー) caught him and went on to claim back-to-back CBC Sho victories, this time in record time. Hakusan Moon had to settle for second, finishing just behind him.

Then, Hakusan Moon went to Niigata Racecourse to take on the G3 Ibis Summer Dash, one of Niigata’s signature events.

The Ibis Summer Dash is famous for being Japan’s only graded race held over a 1,000-meter straight course. With no turns and no complicated tactics, it is one of the purest tests of sprinting speed in Japanese horse racing.

But before stepping onto the stage for this special race, Hakusan Moon had one small problem: perhaps feeling a little nervous, he stood still and refused to walk onto the turf.

His trainer and jockey continued to encourage him to step forward, but that only seemed to make him more uneasy.

Just after he reluctantly stepped onto the turf, he suddenly began spinning counterclockwise.

Seeing this, Sakai was surprised, but he still tried to stay on his back as Hakusan Moon went round and round.

Then, perhaps after spinning for a while, Hakusan Moon seemed to calm down.

It was as if his nervousness had disappeared, replaced by the will to run and win. As soon as he stopped spinning, he charged straight toward the starting gate, ready to face his rivals on the straight course.

On the straight course built for pure speed, Hakusan Moon and his seventeen rivals charged forward with nowhere to hide. No turns, no tricks, only speed. All of them were fighting to become the conqueror of Niigata’s straight track.

And in the end, Hakusan Moon was the one who conquered it.

As Hakusan Moon looked toward the crowd cheering for him in the grandstand, perhaps he realized something: he had always possessed the strength to face the world head-on, but first he needed to overcome his nervousness. And for him, the way to do that was to become like a carousel horse, spinning round and round.

Until a Miracle Happened

After his win at Niigata, he decided to go straight to the G2 Centaur Stakes. It was the final race of the Summer Sprint Series and an important prep race for the G1 Sprinters Stakes.

But more importantly, it was also Lord Kanaloa’s autumn comeback race. Once again, Hakusan Moon was about to stand in front of the sprint overlord.

Before the race, Hakusan Moon once again decided to go round and round on the turf as a way to relieve some stress. The spectators at Hanshin had probably never seen a racehorse spin like a rodeo horse before, so they were both surprised and worried.

Jockey Sakai, however, already knew about this habit, so he was prepared this time.

Once Hakusan Moon finished spinning, his nervousness faded, and his courage returned. Then he charged straight toward the starting gate, ready to face the world-class overlord of sprint racing.

However, when the gates opened, Hakusan Moon got off to a slow start. He immediately tried to recover, surging ahead from the outside. Fortunately, he had drawn the outermost gate, so there was nothing in front of him to block his path.

While Hakusan Moon worked his way back to the front, Lord Kanaloa had already secured a perfect position in third place. No one was blocking his path, and the sprint king was ready to strike.

As they approached the final straight, Lord Kanaloa launched his spurt with perfect timing.

Jockey Sakai knew exactly where the sprint overlord would begin his attack. All he could do was urge Hakusan Moon forward, asking him for every last bit of speed, hoping he could hold on until the end.

At first, jockey Iwata and Lord Kanaloa seemed confident that they could overtake him easily. But as the finish line drew closer and closer, they began to realize something was off. The gap between them, only about one length this time, was not shrinking.

Hakusan Moon was still holding on.

Iwata began urging Lord Kanaloa with his whip.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes.

But no matter how hard he pushed, the gap was still there. Hakusan Moon would not let him pass. Behind them, the rest of the field was falling farther and farther away.

As they sprinted past the finish line, Sakai struck a powerful winning pose before patting Hakusan Moon. They knew they had slain the dragon in a fair-and-square showdown. For the first time, the broader world felt within reach.

That victory ended the overlord’s five-race winning streak. And with two wins and one runner-up finish across the six-race Summer Sprint Series, Hakusan Moon became the champion of the series.

Meanwhile, Lord Kanaloa and his team were left stunned. No one could have imagined that his winning streak would end in a G2 race, at the hands of a horse who had never even won a G1.

In the end, with Lord Kanaloa’s age in mind, they made a difficult decision: if he lost again in his next race, the G1 Sprinters Stakes, he would retire immediately afterward. For Iwata, that decision brought enormous pressure.

A Dream Between Us

With that enormous win, Hakusan Moon had secured his place in the G1 Sprinters Stakes. More and more people began to realize that the spinning horse was no longer someone they could overlook. He was a real contender, and fans started to take an interest in this strange but fascinating horse.

A rumor even began to spread among fans: the more he spun, the more prepared he was. In other words, the more turns he made, the higher his chances of running well seemed to be.

On September 29, 2013, the duel between Hakusan Moon and Lord Kanaloa was about to unfold on the turf of Nakayama Racecourse. Before the race, Hakusan Moon began to spin once again. As many fans watched in surprise, he turned far more than usual.

This time, carrying the courage he had found through his signature spinning, he would try to prove that he had the strength to become a G1 winner and bring an end to the era of the dragon overlord with his own steps.

Under that enormous pressure, Lord Kanaloa went out from the gate a little late this time. Jockey Iwata quickly adjusted their strategy, settling him in midfield and waiting for the perfect moment to launch his attack.

Hakusan Moon, on the other hand, did what he had always done. He rushed straight to the front, secured the lead, and kept running in his own style all the way into the final straight.

Entering the final straight, Lord Kanaloa shifted to the outside and found a clear path ahead. The moment he saw his chance, he launched his spurt.

The shadow of the dragon was closing in on Hakusan Moon, and fast.

Even after the grueling uphill climb of Nakayama, Lord Kanaloa’s pursuit only grew stronger. Hakusan Moon had already used everything he had to hold on to the lead, but the dragon showed no mercy. He was coming for revenge, determined not to make the same mistake twice.

In another G1 race, Hakusan Moon lost to Lord Kanaloa again. But this time, he came home second and forced the sprint overlord to fight all the way to the finish.

The Time Without You Begins

After that boiling duel, Lord Kanaloa chose the G1 Hong Kong Sprint as the final race of his career, returning to the stage he had conquered the previous year.

And there, the dragon flew one last time. He won by five lengths, one of the largest margins in the history of the race, ending his racing career with one of his greatest performances. With that final victory, the era of the dragon overlord came to a glorious end.

Hakusan Moon, meanwhile, chose to rest until the following year. With Lord Kanaloa no longer standing in his way, a new era of sprint racing was about to begin.

Hakusan Moon’s fans were eager to see whether he could finally reach even greater heights, and perhaps even claim the G1 title that had always seemed just out of reach.

But his results in the following year were fairly bland, or even a little disappointing. In the five races he ran in 2014, his best finish was second place in the G2 Centaur Stakes.

Sometimes he spun before the race. Sometimes he did not. The horse who had once found courage by turning round and round now seemed to have lost his way.

After finishing second again in the G3 Ocean Stakes the following year, Hakusan Moon once again set his sights on the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen. This time, however, a world-class overseas challenger was waiting for him.

Aerovelocity (友瑩格), the Hong Kong-based sprinter who had won the 2014 Hong Kong Sprint, was also aiming for the same race. With Lord Kanaloa gone, Hakusan Moon had lost the great rival who had once given him a clear goal.

But now, another proven international sprinter had arrived from overseas. The broader world that had once seemed within reach was standing right before him, giving Hakusan Moon a new target to chase.

Under the light rain falling over the turf at Chukyo Racecourse, Hakusan Moon began to spin once again. Even though he was only the sixth favorite in the race, the fans cheered as they watched him turn. This time, he spun twice before charging toward the starting gate.

After the start, Hakusan Moon did not rush straight to the front as he usually did. Instead, he settled in second place, with Aerovelocity tracking him on the inside.

Then, around the final turn, despite racing on the outside, Hakusan Moon surged past the front-runner, Am Ball Bleiben (アンバルブライベン), and reclaimed the lead just after they reached the final straight.

After that, Hakusan Moon kept driving forward, while Aerovelocity still had not made his move. Even after passing the 200-meter mark, Hakusan Moon remained about two lengths clear, and the others seemed unable to catch him.

For a brief moment, it felt like the dragon slayer was ready to rise again and finally secure his first G1 win.

Then, just as Mikki Isle (ミッキーアイル), winner of the previous year’s G1 NHK Mile Cup, was closing in on Aerovelocity, the Hong Kong sprinter finally switched gears and began his chase.

Within seconds, both horses had drawn alongside Hakusan Moon, turning the final meters into a fierce three-way battle. But just before the finish line, Aerovelocity was the only one who managed to edge past him.

Hakusan Moon had missed the G1 title once again. But the glimpse of hope he showed in this race was enough to keep his fans believing that, someday, his moment might still come.

The Other Side of the World, Still Unseen

Round and round, another year passed, but his results still did not improve. After another second-place finish in the G3 Ocean Stakes and a crushing eleventh-place defeat in the 2016 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, trainer Nishizono still believed in him and continued preparing him for the G2 Centaur Stakes. By then, however, even his training results were no longer encouraging.

At last, his retirement was announced before the autumn season. The carousel horse who had turned round and round on the turf had finally come to a halt, still without a G1 title to his name.

But those circles before races were never meaningless. Through every turn, Hakusan Moon found the courage to move forward, running straight toward the dreams, rivals, and broader world that had once seemed far beyond his reach.

After leaving the racetrack, he was announced to stand at stud at Lex Stud (レックススタッド).

According to the staff there, he often spent his time relaxing in the pasture. He was not a troublesome horse during grooming at the washing area, nor was he difficult to handle inside the stable.

And most importantly, even after leaving the racetrack, he still kept walking round and round in his stall. After all, this was part of what made him Hakusan Moon.

Revealing the Unseen World

Round and round, time had reached 2025. Another champion sprinter named Satono Reve (サトノレーヴ) had appeared. He won the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, claiming his first G1 title after finishing third in the G1 Hong Kong Sprint last year.

With this victory, he proved that the world-class speed of his father, Lord Kanaloa, still lived on. Through his damsire, Sakura Bakushin O, he also carried the blood of one of Japan’s greatest sprint kings.

And guess what? His mother was also Ciliege, making him Hakusan Moon’s half-brother, born ten years apart.

After that win at Chukyo, Satono Reve returned to the world stage, carrying the speed that made Lord Kanaloa a world-class sprinter and the courage that once driven Hakusan Moon to face world-class rivals, as he challenged G1 sprint races in both Hong Kong and England.

He finished second in each of them.

The following year, after winning the Takamatsunomiya Kinen again, he followed the same path, returning to Hong Kong and England to take on the world’s best sprinters once more. In the end, he finished second again in both races, repeating the results of the year before.

But the path has not ended. Beneath the turning stars and moon, Satono Reve’s journey toward the broader world continues.
.

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My past work (Sorted by Classic-Year Era):

1985-1989

Sakura Star O: Spirit of the Ink-Black Cherry Blossom

1990-1994

Narita Hayabusa: A Sand Falcon Born in the Wrong Era

Offside Trap: The Winner on the Glorious but Silent Sunday

1995-1999

Egao o Misete: Please Keep Smiling, Even After I’m Gone

Kikoshi: An Ordinary Life Under North Flight’s Light

2000-2004

Sushi Train: Horse with a Bizarre Name and a Big Dream

2005-2009

Queen Spumante: Let the Hidden Star Shine Across the Sky!

2010-2014 (The Era of this story)

The Versailles Kingdom: A Story of Versailles Resort Farm and Rose Kingdom

Stories of Soma Nomaoi Horses After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Hana’s Goal: Make the Flowers of Happiness Bloom Down Under

The Call That Made the 2013 Japanese Derby Unforgettable (ft. Epiphaneia, Logotype, Kizuna… and a Dog?)

2015-2019

Marche Lorraine: The Night Before a Near-Impossible Revolution

2020-2024

Resistencia’s Weight-Check Series: 1,231 Days of a Cameraman’s Love Story

The Root of the Undefeated Triple Tiara: Daring Tact’s Journey to Her Debut

Leading Horse: A Great Chance to Meet a Retired Star (or Their Siblings and Offspring)

Extra:

Paper Owner Game Guide: Find Your Future Stars and Cheer Them On!

Ritto Stakes and Kuri-chan: Even a Mascot Visiting the Racecourse Can Have a Cinderella Story

A Brief Introduction to Chagu Chagu Umakko Festival

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 237 r/UmaMusume

Today is Dai Yusaku’s birthday, one of the most memorable one-hit wonders in JRA history.

Picture Source

Today (June 12) is Dai Yusaku's (ダイユウサク) birthday.

Best remembered as the winner of the 1991 Arima Kinen, Dai Yusaku pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the race's history.

Starting as the 14th favorite in a field of 15, he defeated the heavily favored Mejiro McQueen (メジロマックイーン) and Nice Nature (ナイスネイチャ) while setting a new race record. His winning odds of 137.9 remain among the highest for an Arima Kinen winner.

After retiring from stud duty in 1998 without leaving any notable offspring, Dai Yusaku was sent to Urakawa Yushun Village AERU (うらかわ優駿ビレッジAERU).

There, he became neighbors with Winning Ticket (ウイニングチケット), the winner of the 1993 Japanese Derby, and Nippo Teio (ニッポーテイオー), a three-time G1 winner and Haru Urara’s father.

He lived a happy retirement life there for many years until he passed away peacefully in December 2013, at the age of 28.

To learn more about his story, feel free to check out this write-up.

In Umamusume anime Season 2, a mob Umamusume representing him appears in Episodes 3, 4 and 5 under the name “Dai Sangen.”

She even glows in Episode 5, while standing on the turf before the Tenno Sho Spring. The image above is her appearance in the anime.

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 38 r/HorseRacingJP

God Baroque wins the Hokkai Yushun today, and now just one step away from the Hokkaido Triple Crown.

Race Footage

Race Result

For reference, the Hokkaido Triple Crown consists of the H3 Hokuto Hai (Dirt 1,600m) , H1 Hokkai Yushun (Dirt 2,000m), and H2 Okan Sho (Dirt 1,800m). All three races are held at Monbetsu Racecourse and are local graded races. (The "H" stands for Hokkaido Keiba grading.)

God Baroque (ゴッドバロック) is a son of Silver State. Through his father's bloodline, he is a grandson of Deep Impact, while his damsire is Kurofune. He has never finished worse than third in nine starts, including a runner-up finish in the JPN2 Hyogo Junior Grand Prix, a race often regarded as a stepping stone to the JPN1 Zen-Nippon Nissai Yushun.

God Baroque won the Hokuto Hai in April, and with this victory in the Hokkai Yushun, he is now one win away from becoming the ninth Hokkaido Triple Crown winner.

Besides God Baroque in Hokkaido, God Fencer in Hyogo, Gliese in Kanazawa’s four-race crown series, and Finger in the national Dirt Triple Crown, each has already won two of the major races for three-year-olds in their own regional series. Meanwhile, the Kochi Yushun will be held on June 14.

How many Triple Crown winners are we going to witness this year?

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 112 r/HorseRacingJP

Finger, the Haneda Hai winner, just won the Tokyo Derby, winning two crowns of the dirt triple crown.

Race Results

Race Footage

Finger (フィンガー) has won the Tokyo Derby with jockey Keita Tosaki (戸崎圭太). With victories in both the Haneda Hai and the Tokyo Derby, he is now only one crown away from completing the Dirt Triple Crown.

The top four finishers were all JRA horses. To be honest, that wasn't much of a surprise.

The fifth-place finisher was God Fencer (ゴッドフェンサー), a horse registered with the Hyogo Prefecture Horse Racing Association in Kansai.

He had already won four local graded races at Sonoda Racecourse in Osaka suburb, including two of the three races in the so-called "Hyogo Triple Crown", the Kikusui Sho and the Hyogo Yushun.

However, this was his first time challenging a JPN graded race. It also came at Oi Racecourse in Tokyo, a course he had never raced at before and far from his training base.

Also, God Fencer was actually born in Aomori Prefecture, instead of Hokkaido.

With all these odds against him, he still finished as the highest-placed NAR horse, ahead of even the runners trained in South Kanto Region. I'd say God Fencer has proven that he has plenty of talent, and maybe he can become the next Hyogo Triple Crown winner.

reddit.com

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 112 r/UmaMusume

Marche Lorraine: The Night Before a Near-Impossible Revolution

Breeders’ Cup Series, one of the most prestigious race series in America. Each year, countless horses with different strengths come to this American dream stage, each trying to reach the pinnacle of American racing, or perhaps even the world.

The original purpose of creating these races and offering such high prize money was to save the declining horseracing industry, and encourage breeders to find ways to breed stronger and faster horses.

Far away in Japan, breeders and racing associations there watched the success of these races and began searching for a way to recreate it at home.

In Hokkaido, where most Japanese racehorses are bred, one of those races was the Breeders’ Gold Cup, a race with a long history dating back to 1989. It was originally created to bring together dirt horses from both the JRA and NAR and decide the best dirt horse in Japan.

However, as time passed and Hokkaido local horse racing continued to shrink, the nature of the race changed drastically.

Today, the Breeders’ Gold Cup is a JPN3 race open only to mares. Although it once shared a similar concept with the JBC series, which was created in 2001, the race gradually moved down a very different path.

On August 12, 2021, the horse racing fans at Mombestu Racecourse could never have expected that the first horse to break through the wall of American dirt racing would come from the winner of this race, a mare who had never even won a JPN1 race.

Her name was Marche Lorraine (マルシュロレーヌ), the underestimated revolutionist.

You Were Dreaming Again, Weren't You?

After Marche Lorraine’s win in the JPN3 Breeders’ Gold Cup, many of her fans, and even the Carrot Club (キャロットクラブ) members who held shares in her, expected her to run next in the JPN1 JBC Ladies’ Classic. It was often seen as Japan’s version of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a race meant to decide the strongest dirt mare in Japan that year.

Before this race, she had already built a strong record in mare-only dirt graded races, winning the JPN2 Ladies Prelude, the JPN2 Empress Hai, and the JPN3 TCK Jo-o Hai. She had also run in the JBC Ladies’ Classic the year before, finishing third.

However, her results in mixed-gender races were much less impressive. In the JPN1 Teio Sho that year, she could only finish eighth. Even in the G3 Heian Stakes, she finished only third.

So when her trainer, Yoshito Yahagi (矢作芳人), announced that she would travel to America with Loves Only You (ラヴズオンリーユー), a two-time G1 winner on turf and her childhood friend, to challenge the Breeders’ Cup Series, many people were puzzled by the decision.

After all, Marche Lorraine was heading for the G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, one of the most highly regarded mare-only dirt races in the world, and a race that almost no foreign horse had ever won before.

But trainer Yahagi knew Marche Lorraine better than anyone else.

Marche Lorraine had actually started her career on turf, but she never truly found her place there. Later, her training assistant noticed that she might be more suited to dirt, and her later graded race wins eventually proved him right.

But Yahagi saw her potential from a different angle. He believed that her running style and speed might fit the faster, firmer dirt surfaces in America, which were very different from the deeper dirt tracks in Japan.

The JBC Ladies’ Classic that year was held at Kanazawa Racecourse, where the distance was shortened from the usual 1,800 meters to 1,500 meters to fit the characteristics of the course. That was not ideal for Marche Lorraine, who was better suited to middle-distance races.

Meanwhile, the Breeders’ Cup Series was held at Del Mar Racecourse in Southern California that year, with nearby airports offering direct flights from Japan and helping reduce the risks of transportation.

Plus, Marche Lorraine and Loves Only You had been best friends since they were fillies. Back then, they trained together and were even sent to the same trainer despite representing different owners.

Having each other’s company in a land far away from home might help both of them feel more comfortable, and perhaps even perform better.

But even after considering all these factors, many people were still not convinced, especially the club members who held shares in her.

One reason was the cost.

As mentioned earlier, Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine raced for different ownership clubs.

Loves Only You belonged to DMM Dream Club (DMMドリームクラブ), which had a policy of sending its horses overseas whenever possible. Under that policy, members would not be charged additional fees when a horse they held shares in raced abroad.

Carrot Club (キャロットクラブ), the ownership club Marche Lorraine belonged to, did not have a similar policy. If Marche Lorraine was sent overseas, her members would have to pay extra expenses.

Another reason was the sheer difficulty of the challenge itself.

Even Loves Only You, a two-time G1 winner, did not have everyone’s full confidence to win her race. So it was even harder to persuade people that Marche Lorraine could succeed, since she had never even won a single internationally recognized graded race, yet she was being sent to challenge dirt racing in America, the main battlefield American horses had dominated for years.

But still, the plan went ahead, and "the Japanese Duo" were sent to America for the Breeders’ Cup. Even then, many people saw Marche Lorraine less as a true contender and more as a companion supporting Loves Only You.

Maybe even the JRA saw it that way. They opened betting and provided streaming only for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, the race Loves Only You ran in.

In contrast, there was no betting for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and not even a live broadcast was provided.

The Scenery of Dawn

So Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine went to Del Mar to prepare for their big races. There, they were joined by another companion: a lead pony named Rocco.

With a local guide by their side, and with each other’s support, both mares soon became familiar with the environment along the California coastline.

And soon, November 6, 2021 arrived, the dawn of the battles that would define their journey.

Loves Only You would be guided by Yuga Kawada (川田将雅), who had ridden her twice before and achieved good results both times.

He was also Marche Lorraine’s main jockey, but this time, he would not be riding her.

Marche Lorraine would instead be ridden by Oisín Murphy, an Irish-born jockey with a deep interest in Japanese horse racing and a close connection with trainer Yahagi.

He had already ridden several of Yahagi’s horses overseas, and the original plan had actually been for him to ride both Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine.

However, Yuga Kawada later approached trainer Yahagi and told him that he really wanted to take part in the Breeders’ Cup. And DMM Dream Club’s connections agreed, giving him the chance to chase that long-cherished dream race with Loves Only You.

And they really did it. Loves Only You captured a thrilling and deeply fulfilling victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, for herself, for her connections, and for all of Japan. With that win, she became the first Japanese-bred and Japanese-trained racehorse to win a Breeders’ Cup race.

And next, it was Marche Lorraine’s turn. As most Japanese fans closed their streams in satisfaction, she was about to step into a field as formidable as any Breeders’ Cup Distaff had seen in recent years.

There was Letruska, a mare riding a powerful winning streak that included four G1 victories and one G2 win.

There was also Malathaat, that year’s Kentucky Oaks winner. And she was not the only Oaks heroine waiting for Marche Lorraine.

Shedaresthedevil, the previous year’s Kentucky Oaks winner, was also in the field.

And there was Dunbar Road, winner of the 2019 G1 Alabama Stakes, who had also finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff the previous year.

Marche Lorraine was the only contender among the eleven runners who had never even won an internationally recognized graded race. Because of that, she was considered a long shot by almost everyone except her connections.

With almost no one believing in her, not even many people back home, the underestimated revolutionist stepped into the starting gate with determination and an unwavering spirit.

Under the warm, bright Southern California sunshine, the bell rang across the field, and eleven top mares broke from the gate.

Soon, Private Mission, the G2 Zenyatta Stakes winner, rushed to the front and dictated the pace of the race. She kept cranking up the speed, setting such a blistering pace that even the broadcaster was stunned.

While favorites such as Letruska and Shedaresthedevil pressed Private Mission from close range, Dunbar Road, Malathaat and Marche Lorraine remained near the rear, quietly waiting for the right moment to launch their attack.

As they reached the entrance to the third turn, the brutal early pace finally began to take its toll. The front runners started to lose speed, and the horses behind began to close in.

That was when Marche Lorraine made her move.

She swung to the outside, avoiding the tiring runners on the inside, and began to build up her speed. One by one, she swept past the rivals in front of her. Before they had even fully entered the home stretch, Marche Lorraine had already taken the lead.

But as they entered the home stretch, she was not alone. Dunbar Road and Malathaat had finally worked their way out of traffic behind her, and now the two late runners were coming after her.

Under the warm, bright Southern California sunshine, one heavy favorite and two underdogs were now locked in a fierce battle.

>"Marche Lorraine is trying for the Giant Upset!"

As Marche Lorraine used her powerful stride to hold on to the lead, Dunbar Road fought desperately to close in.

A daughter of the successful sire Quality Road, she was trying to claim the spotlight on this grand stage in what was her third, and possibly final, attempt at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Dunbar Road unleashed her power like an unbridled monster. She drifted inward, bumping into Malathaat on the inside, but never stopped driving forward. Step by step, she kept closing the gap, forcing Marche Lorraine to fight for every inch of her lead.

In the final strides, the two mares hit the wire almost together. For that brief moment, both Dunbar Road’s glory and Marche Lorraine’s revolution hung in the balance.

No one could tell who had won. As everyone waited for the official result, the broadcaster checked the finish-line footage from several angles, but even then, it was impossible to tell who had crossed the line first.

At last, the result became official. Marche Lorraine had won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, becoming the first Japanese-bred and Japanese-trained horse to win an American G1 dirt race.

It was one of the biggest upsets in American horse racing, and a powerful statement to the world that Japanese breeding could stand at the very highest level.

As she walked back to the grandstand for the celebration, she showed the “Dictus Eye” she had inherited from her father, Orfevre (オルフェーヴル). In that fierce look, there was no mistaking where she came from.

The revolution seemed successful.

In a World Where Tomorrow Can't Be Seen

The wonderful results for Japanese horses at the Breeders’ Cup became a catalyst for more Japanese horses, especially dirt horses, to take on the world.

Even horses who had struggled on Japanese dirt, where prize money and race grades were often lower, began to see overseas races as a new possibility.

But for Marche Lorraine herself, the world did not change as much as that victory seemed to promise.

In America, her victory was recognized as one of the most shocking and historic moments of the year.

She was even nominated for the Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Female Horse, standing beside the very mares she had defeated on their own battlefield.

But back in Japan, although many fans recognized her achievement, the award results seemed to tell a different story.

Marche Lorraine had become the first Japanese horse ever to win an American dirt G1 race, literally creating history with her hooves. Yet she did not receive a JRA Award of any kind.

No Horse of the Year.

No Best Older Filly or Mare

No Best Dirt Horse.

Not even a Special Award.

Only the NAR recognized her, giving her a special award at the NAR Grand Prix.

The JRA Award for Best Dirt Horse went to T O Keynes (テーオーケインズ), the winner of that year’s G1 Champions Cup. He had also won a G3 race and had beaten Marche Lorraine in the JPN1 Teio Sho.

In the voting, the result was overwhelming. T O Keynes received 240 of the 296 votes cast by horse racing reporters from different media organizations, while Marche Lorraine received only 47.

The JRA Special Award did not go to her either. To receive it, a horse needed at least six positive votes from eight representative reporters, but Marche Lorraine failed to reach that number.

And that, of course, sparked anger among Japanese horse racing fans.

Marche Lorraine had broken through the wall of American dirt racing, a wall that had seemed impossible to break for decades.

She had done it as a long shot, a mare almost no one believed could win. How could such a revolutionary not even be considered worthy of recognition?

Then, the media’s explanation only made the dispute even worse.

In the statement, they explained that Marche Lorraine’s dirt record in Japan seemed weaker than T O Keynes’s. After all, T O Keynes had won a G1 dirt race in Japan and had even beaten Marche Lorraine in the Teio Sho.

They also argued that, compared with past Special Award winners, Marche Lorraine did not have enough general popularity among casual fans.

To many fans, however, this explanation only made the result feel even more unfair.

The best way to make her more widely recognized would have been to give her an award. Yet somehow, the fact that she was not popular enough became the reason she could not receive one.

And there were already several examples in the history of the Special Award that seemed to go against that logic.

Traditionally, the Special Award had been given to horses that achieved historic moments in Japanese horse racing, even if they could not be selected as Horse of the Year for various reasons. It was not an award based simply on the number of wins a horse had in that year.

For example, Tokai Teio (トウカイテイオー) made only one start in 1993, in the G1 Arima Kinen, and won. Yet he received the JRA Special Award because that victory marked the longest interval between wins in JRA history at the time.

Even more ironically, Stay Gold (ステイゴールド), Marche Lorraine’s grandfather, also won only one G1 race in 2001, and the only G1 race of his entire career. Yet he received the award because his victory in the Hong Kong Vase was the first overseas G1 win by a Japanese-bred horse.

But for Marche Lorraine, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff she won, and the enormous wall she broke, were not considered worthy of even a single award.

After the announcement sparked even greater dispute among racing fans, the media soon released another clarification. In it, they apologized for remarks that might have belittled Marche Lorraine’s achievement, and even the Breeders’ Cup itself.

But the award had already been announced, and the decision could not be revoked. In the end, racing fans had no choice but to accept the result.

The Night Is Still Young

But maybe things had changed, at least a little.

After this incident, people began to pay more attention to dirt racing. The JRA also started working with the NAR to reorganize the dirt racing system for two- and three-year-old horses from both organizations.

This included creating a new “Dirt Triple Crown” route for three-year-old dirt horses, upgrading more local graded races to JPN graded status, increasing their prize money, and allowing more JRA horses to participate.

By doing so, they hoped to keep more dirt horses in Japan, instead of watching them go abroad and never return because they could find more prize money, prestige, and opportunities overseas.

And by then, another revolutionary had appeared.

Forever Young (フォーエバーヤング), also trained by trainer Yahagi, had shown great potential on dirt since he was two years old.

He was sent abroad to challenge dirt races around the world. He first won the Saudi Derby and the UAE Derby, then finished third in the G1 Kentucky Derby, another pinnacle of dirt racing.

Later that year, he returned home and won the Japan Dirt Classic, completing a remarkable run through the major Derby races of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Japan.

Then, in 2025, he finally stood at the top of the dirt racing world by winning the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

This time, no one could doubt him.

After winning the Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Male in America, he was fully embraced back in Japan as well.

He won Best Dirt Horse, Best Older Male Horse, and even JRA Horse of the Year. It was the first time a dirt horse had ever received that honor, and he did so without running in a single JRA race that year.

The first light of the revolution had finally reached Japan. But the road ahead is still long.

And now, at Northern Farm (ノーザンファーム), Marche Lorraine is raising her foal alongside her best friend, Loves Only You. What would she think as she watches the world slowly begin to change?

----------

My past work (Sorted by Classic-Year Era):

1985-1989

Sakura Star O: Spirit of the Ink-Black Cherry Blossom

1990-1994

Narita Hayabusa: A Sand Falcon Born in the Wrong Era

Offside Trap: The Winner on the Glorious but Silent Sunday

1995-1999

Egao o Misete: Please Keep Smiling, Even After I’m Gone

Kikoshi: An Ordinary Life Under North Flight’s Light

2000-2004

Sushi Train: Horse with a Bizarre Name and a Big Dream

2005-2009

Queen Spumante: Let the Hidden Star Shine Across the Sky!

2010-2014

The Versailles Kingdom: A Story of Versailles Resort Farm and Rose Kingdom

Stories of Soma Nomaoi Horses After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Hana’s Goal: Make the Flowers of Happiness Bloom Down Under

The Call That Made the 2013 Japanese Derby Unforgettable (ft. Epiphaneia, Logotype, Kizuna… and a Dog?)

2015-2019 (The Era of this story)

Resistencia’s Weight-Check Series: 1,231 Days of a Cameraman’s Love Story

2020-2024

The Root of the Undefeated Triple Tiara: Daring Tact’s Journey to Her Debut

Leading Horse: A Great Chance to Meet a Retired Star (or Their Siblings and Offspring)

Extra:

Paper Owner Game Guide: Find Your Future Stars and Cheer Them On!

Ritto Stakes and Kuri-chan: Even a Mascot Visiting the Racecourse Can Have a Cinderella Story

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 310 r/UmaMusume

Last Impact, a witness to several generations of racehorses, passed away from colic on June 8 at the age of 16.

News Source

Last Impact, a son of Deep Impact, passed away from colic on June 8, 2026, at the age of 16. His mother was Superior Pearl, a half-sister to Narita Brian and Biwa Hayahide.

His racing journey began in 2012 and ended in 2017.

He was there when Epiphaneia won the 2013 Kikuka Sho,

when Fenomeno won the 2014 Tenno Sho Spring,

in Gentildonna’s final run in the 2014 Arima Kinen,

in Gold Ship's final win in his career in the 2015 Tenno Sho Spring,

when Marialite defeated the top choices Kitasan Black and Duramente in the 2016 Takarazuka Kinen,

and when Cheval Grand took his revenge on Kitasan Black in the 2017 Japan Cup.

Although he ran in G1 races 11 times, he never won one himself.

His best achievements were back-to-back wins in the G2 Kyoto Daishoten and the G2 Kinko Sho in 2014. He also finished second in the 2015 Japan Cup, and third in the 2016 Dubai Sheema Classic, behind the British-trained Postponed and the Japanese-trained Duramente.

After retirement, Last Impact became a riding horse at Northern Horse Park and participated in various events there, such as horse parades and show jumping.

He was said to be a gentle and beloved horse there, with the nickname “Lasupaku” (ラスパク).

Hope he runs freely in heaven.

reddit.com

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 450 r/HorseRacingJP

Last Impact, a witness to several generations of racehorses, passed away from colic on June 8 at the age of 16.

News and Picture Source

Last Impact, a son of Deep Impact, passed away from colic on June 8, 2026, at the age of 16. His mother was Superior Pearl, a half-sister to Narita Brian and Biwa Hayahide.

His racing journey began in 2012 and ended in 2017.

He was there when Epiphaneia won the 2013 Kikuka Sho,

when Fenomeno won the 2014 Tenno Sho Spring,

in Gentildonna’s final run in the 2014 Arima Kinen,

in Gold Ship's final win in his career in the 2015 Tenno Sho Spring,

when Marialite defeated the top choices Kitasan Black and Duramente in the 2016 Takarazuka Kinen,

and when Cheval Grand took his revenge on Kitasan Black in the 2017 Japan Cup.

Although he ran in G1 races 11 times, he never won one himself.

After retirement, Last Impact became a riding horse at Northern Horse Park and participated in various events there, such as horse parades and show jumping.

He was said to be a gentle and beloved horse there, with the nickname “Lasupaku” (ラスパク).

Hope he runs freely in heaven.

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 2 months ago

▲ 49 r/HorseRacingJP

Paper Owner Game Guide: Find Your Future Stars and Cheer Them On!

Paper Owner Game, or POG, is a game where you can imagine yourself owning racehorses and cheer for them along the way!

The rules are super simple, and the satisfaction of seeing the horse you chose become a graded race winner, or even a G1 winner, is enormous!

There are several online POG games hosted by different horse racing websites and magazines, and the one I’m going to introduce the one hosted by netkeiba, the largest Japanese horse racing database and information website.

All you need is a netkeiba account to participate. No money, no VPN needed!

The basic rules are simple:

A new season begins after the Japanese Derby each year and runs for one full year.
You can choose up to 10 horses per season.
For each horse, the deadline is 23:59 JST on the day before its debut race, so you don’t need to choose all ten horses at once.
Once you choose a horse, your choice cannot be changed.
You earn 1 point for every 10,000 yen your horses earn when they finish in the top five, excluding overseas races. If they finish sixth or lower, you still get a fixed 10 points.
Points earned from weekend races are usually added on the following Monday or Tuesday.

That's it! Pretty easy, right?

The images above show how to choose your POG horses.

Don’t know who to choose? Here are some tips!

First, you can check each newcomer’s pedigree and look for familiar names from Umamusume.

Horses featured in Umamusume usually had strong racing careers, so their descendants may have a better chance of becoming strong racehorses too.

You can also check netkeiba’s news about the newcomers. These articles often mention which horses seem to have higher potential based on their pedigree and training results.

Also, you can go to the “POGランキング” tab and click “人気馬ランキング.” This ranking shows which horses are popular among other players. It can change drastically the day before a horse’s debut race, so keep a close eye on it!

You can also click on the highly ranked horses to check their pedigrees and see what people are saying about them in the comment section (掲示板).

One small tip: Choose your horses after their debut races have been confirmed, usually on Thursdays or Fridays. That way, you can avoid picking horses that might not even make it to their debut race.

For me, POG is not just a way to test my luck or knowledge of pedigrees and training statistics. It is also a way to feel more connected to Japanese horse racing.

There is something really special about going to the racecourse, buying a betting ticket for the POG horse you’ve been cheering for online for months, and finally watching them run right in front of your eyes.

Even if they don’t win, the ticket still becomes a wonderful souvenir.

So I would say POG is a really fun and interesting game, and now is the perfect time to jump in, since the new season starts this weekend!

u/Uma_Memoria_1910 — 3 months ago

▲ 81 r/UmaMusume

Geraldina: Send Her Victorious

"No one person ever has, or ever will, do so much for so long for horseracing than did Her Majesty the Queen. It was a passion founding on love of a horse and of excellence that only grew down the years..."

The British-accented narration echoed across the racecourse as the huge crowd fixed their eyes on the screen. Above them, beneath heavy clouds, the Union Jack and the Hinomaru flew at half-mast.

In 2022, the Queen Elizabeth II Cup was held under a different kind of weight. What should have been a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee had become a tribute to her instead. The Queen had passed away just two months earlier.

To the horseracing world, she was more than a monarch beloved around the world. She was a lifelong horse lover who had devoted much of her life to riding, breeding, and supporting the sport. Across the globe, several major races carried Her Majesty’s name.

Far from Britain, on an island in the Far East, one of those races was about to begin. With Kyoto Racecourse still under renovation, the 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Cup was held at Hanshin, where the crown of Japan’s strongest mare was waiting to be claimed.

And the field that day was worthy of both the name it carried and the crown it promised.

There was Daring Tact (デアリングタクト), the first undefeated Triple Tiara winner in JRA history, still trying to find her way back after a long battle with suspensory ligament desmitis.

Next came Win Marilyn (ウインマリリン), another mare from Daring Tact’s generation and the runner-up in the 2020 Japanese Oaks. She had already won three G2 races, but a G1 title still remained just out of reach. On this stage, she was trying to prove that the 2020 mare generation had more than one heroine.

Alongside her were Win Mighty (ウインマイティー) and Win Kiitos (ウインキートス), two other graded race winners from Win Racing Club. Together with Win Marilyn, they formed a small Win trio, companions under the same banner, yet rivals chasing the same crown.

There was Akai Ito (アカイイト), the previous year’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner, now aiming for back-to-back victories, hoping to tie the red thread of fate once more.

The challengers from the three-year-old generation could not be overlooked either. Stunning Rose (スタニングローズ), one of the heirs of the Rose family and that year’s Shuka Sho winner, stood alongside Namur (ナミュール), the runner-up of that race. They too had come to chase the crown of the strongest mare in Japan.

And then there was an overseas raider, the first to appear in this race in 11 years. Not since Snow Fairy, the brilliant globetrotter who painted Kyoto’s turf with unforgettable colors by winning the race in 2010 and 2011, had a foreign mare stepped onto this stage. This time, her name was Magical Lagoon, the Irish Oaks winner of that year.

One by one, those formidable rivals had already entered the gate. Only Geraldina (ジェラルディーナ) remained outside. She stood for a brief moment, looking over the others already waiting inside, as if taking in the whole field before finally stepping into the gate herself.

Born Beneath Thirteen Glories

At first glance, Geraldina seemed no different from the other contenders. Her race record even looked a little ordinary compared with the stars around her. But her pedigree was far more stacked than anyone could imagine.

Her father was Maurice (モーリス), the mile overlord with six G1 wins and the 2015 JRA Horse of the Year title. Her mother was Gentildonna (ジェンティルドンナ), the fourth Triple Tiara winner in JRA history and a seven-time G1 winner from Japan to Dubai, an absolute queen on dirt.

If horse racing had a royal family, Geraldina was born right into it.

She carried the weight of her parents’ combined 13 G1 wins from birth. Her name echoed that of her mother, Gentildonna, and the same silks became her royal robe.

Draped in the red-crossed banner of Sunday Racing, Geraldina was marked as one of the empire’s strongest heirs from the very beginning.

She entered the same stable as her mother, under trainer Sei Ishizaka (石坂正). Her mother had made a late debut and never ran in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, the greatest stage for two-year-old fillies. So for Geraldina, that race became the first dream she was expected to chase.

On September 12, 2020, Geraldina took her first step toward chasing her legendary parents at Chukyo Racecourse, with Yasunari Iwata (岩田康誠), her mother’s trusted partner, in the saddle.

She came from Maurice’s first crop, while her older sister had struggled to rise beyond pre-open class. Because of that, even with such a royal pedigree, Geraldina was sent off only as the third favorite.

But once the race began, she was nothing like her mother. Gentildonna had been calm and collected in her races, but Geraldina ran wildly, almost unbridled.

Even as jockey Iwata struggled to keep her running straight, she still showed the monstrous turn of foot inherited from her parents. Yet it was only enough for third.

Because of her immature temperament, it took her three starts to finally get her first win. By then, however, her first major goal was less than a month away, and she had not earned enough prize money to secure a place in the field. Her only hope was the lottery, and fortunately, she drew a spot just days before the race.

Stumbling on the Royal Path

On December 13, 2020, Geraldina faced her first major conquest at Hanshin Racecourse, the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Her rivals were princesses with strong personalities:

Meikei Yell (メイケイエール), the runaway Nagoya lady;

Uberleben (ユーバーレーベン), the overly calm assassin hiding a powerful weapon;

Satono Reinas (サトノレイナス), the undefeated, keen knightess;

and the brightest of them all, Sodashi (ソダシ), a beautiful white mare aiming to become the first white horse to win an internationally recognized G1 race.

Her hopes of victory were challenged almost immediately as the gate opened. Geraldina broke poorly and dropped behind the pack, with Meikei Yell beside her.

But soon after, the runaway lady showed her true nature. Meikei Yell rushed forward and quickly swept to the outside of the pack, while Geraldina remained alone at the very back.

As they reached the final straight, Geraldina finally swung to the outside. But ahead of her were Meikei Yell and Uberleben.

Then, Uberleben revealed her concealed weapon: the stunning burst of speed she had inherited from her father, Gold Ship (ゴールドシップ).

Uberleben unleashed that weapon and shot toward the front. Geraldina tried to follow, but she could not quite catch her. She had a powerful weapon of her own, but she was still learning how to use it.

As Uberleben and Meikei Yell surged toward the front, they ran into another fierce battle already unfolding. Along the inside, Sodashi was desperately holding on to the lead, while Satono Reinas closed the gap between them bit by bit.

The battle continued down to the wire, and no one could tell who had won the race at first glance.

In the end, Sodashi won by the slimmest margin, becoming the pure-white queen of her generation. Satono Reinas had come painfully close, but victory slipped away. Behind them, Uberleben passed Meikei Yell at the last moment and took third.

And where was our immature princess, Geraldina? She finished seventh. Her first great dream had shattered before she could even reach it.

But she soon found a new dream: the Triple Tiara path. If everything went perfectly, she could become a Triple Tiara winner, just like her mother.

Before that, however, she needed to earn enough prize money, or at least prove herself in one of the prep races leading to the first stage, the Oka Sho.

So Geraldina entered the Elfin Stakes, a 1,600-meter turf race originally held at Kyoto, but moved to Chukyo that year because of the renovation of Kyoto Racecourse.

Winning the race did not guarantee a spot in the Oka Sho, but it was still an important step toward the grand stage.

The previous year, Daring Tact had taken this route and dominated the Elfin Stakes by four lengths before sweeping all three Triple Tiara races as the first undefeated Triple Tiara winner in JRA history. Now, Geraldina was trying to follow that same path.

But once again, she stayed near the back and swept to the outside as they reached the final straight. This time, however, her jockey, Yuuichi Kitamura (北村友一), noticed that she was still drifting outward.

He pulled the reins inward and used the whip, trying to stop her from wasting even more ground. By the time she finally corrected her path and began her spurt, it was already too late. She finished tenth, and her dream of reaching the Oka Sho slipped out of reach.

To make matters worse, trainer Ishizaka was scheduled to retire at the end of February due to the age limit for trainers. Geraldina was then transferred to Takashi Saito (斉藤崇史), a reliable trainer who had already reached G1 glory with Chrono Genesis (クロノジェネシス).

Her first dream was gone, and the hands guiding her forward were no longer the same. Geraldina was lost.

In her next race, the one-win-class Kinosaki Tokubetsu in June, Geraldina returned to Hanshin Racecourse, the place where her first dream had fallen apart. Beside her was a new partner, veteran jockey Yuuichi Fukunaga (福永祐一).

In the rain, Geraldina broke fairly well. But soon after, she rushed to the very front and veered far to the outside even before entering the turn. She was in full runaway mode, driven by her desire to win, yet completely lost in the storm of her own emotions.

Jockey Fukunaga could feel it. But he could not fully stop her reckless move, because his whip had come loose and might slip away at any moment. If he lost it, he could lose control of Geraldina completely, putting both of them in danger.

So instead of fighting against her, he tried to calm her down. He used the reins carefully, guiding her direction and controlling her speed little by little. By the time they reached the final straight, they were even closer to the grandstand than to the rest of the pack.

Fukunaga knew this was no longer the moment to chase victory. It had become a lesson. Instead of asking her to win, he began teaching her how to run.

They finished eighth in the end, but more importantly, they came back safely.

Holding Tight to the Reins

Geraldina wanted to win, and she had the talent to do it. Everyone around her could see that clearly. Her trainer even held a faint hope that she might still make it to the final leg of the Triple Tiara, the Shuka Sho. But horseracing demands more than pure strength.

Just two weeks later, Trainer Saito entered her in another one-win-class race, the Macao Jockey Club Trophy at Kokura. In that short time, he tried to teach her not to panic or lose heart when a race did not go her way.

And this time, it seemed to work. She secured a good position, stayed straight, and finally showed off her incredible turn of foot in the way Fukunaga asked her to.

By the time she passed the 200-meter mark, she had already pulled away from the others. She won by two and a half lengths.

In her next race, also at Kokura, she still wobbled slightly as they entered the final straight. But this time, she did not lose herself. She chased from the back of the pack to the front in just 250 meters and won by one and a half lengths.

By September, the Shuka Sho was only a month away, but Geraldina was still not an open-class horse. Time had almost run out. To enter the race, she needed at least 16 million yen in prize money, but she had only earned 15 million.

The trial races that offered priority entry were no longer a realistic option either, as they came too soon after her last start.

Her last chance to stand on a triple tiara G1 stage had faded away. For a moment, it seemed as though she would become just another famous descendant with an ordinary record, quietly disappearing before she could leave her own mark.

But giving up would mean the end. It was not that she lacked talent. Her recent winning streak had already proved that. She had simply been too late for the path that had once been prepared for her.

So Geraldina had to choose another road. If she could no longer chase the Triple Tiara like her mother, then she would have to build her own story from somewhere else.

That place was the Nishinomiya Stakes, held just before the Shuka Sho. It was a 1,800-meter race at Hanshin Racecourse, with Kyoto still under renovation. For Geraldina, this stage would become her own “Shuka Sho.”

This time, she stayed on the outside near the back, a position she knew very well. As they reached the final straight, she adjusted her position carefully, just as Fukunaga asked her to. Then, when he gave the signal, she responded and started her spurt.

For a short moment, she had to battle with Izu Jo no Kiseki (イズジョーノキセキ). But this time, Geraldina did not lose herself. She overtook her in the end and won the race by one and three-quarter lengths. With this victory, she was officially crowned as an open-class horse.

She had done well in her own “Shuka Sho.” And in the real Shuka Sho, held only 40 minutes later, another daughter of a Triple Tiara winner, Akaitorino Musume (アカイトリノムスメ), won the race and carried the glory back to her legendary family.

It felt like a sign. Maybe the children of great champions were not doomed to fall short of their parents after all.

Thorns on the Road to the Throne

After becoming an open-class horse, Geraldina began stepping into graded races and competing against her seniors.

Her next dream was the G1 Osaka Hai. But in the graded races leading up to it, luck never truly came her way. She finished fourth twice and sixth once, close enough to show her ability, but not enough to secure a place on the grand stage. Once again, a dream was taken away.

She could still unleash a strong burst of speed in the final stretch, one that proved she had enough power to stand alongside older, proven horses. But race after race, she kept arriving just a little too late, and the trophy remained out of reach.

In the G3 Naruo Kinen, held at Chukyo that year, she even showed that she had overcome her old problem of running wide on counterclockwise courses. But the horse she had to chase was Weltreisende (ヴェルトライゼンデ), a strong runner from the 2020 generation who had just returned from more than a year away because of a bowed tendon.

Weltreisende, however, was not ready to surrender to the new generation. Even after taking the lead, he kept pushing forward. Geraldina tried to chase him down, but the finish line came too soon.

She finished second, while Weltreisende finally claimed his first graded-race title after years spent under the shadow of Contrail (コントレイル) and a long fight with a bowed tendon.

Then came the G3 Kokura Kinen. Once again, she finished third, another near miss before the autumn racing season began.

On September 8, 2022, the passing of the Queen of the United Kingdom shocked the entire world, and the horseracing industry was no exception.

In Japan, the Queen Elizabeth II Cup had originally been meant to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne. But after her passing, the celebratory subtitle was cancelled. What had once been planned as a celebration became a memorial to the end of an era.

A few weeks later, Geraldina entered the G2 All Comers, a race traditionally used as a stepping stone toward the autumn G1 season. It was also her first race in the Kanto region.

But most eyes were fixed on another mare: Daring Tact, the Triple Tiara winner still trying to find her rhythm again after a long battle with desmitis.

As the race began, Geraldina did not drop to the back as usual. This time, she stayed on the inside of the front pack, trying a different kind of race. But when they entered Nakayama’s short final straight, she still seemed trapped among the horses around her.

But as the others struggled to keep their speed on Nakayama’s brutal uphill stretch, Geraldina saw her chance. Gaps began to open in front of her, and she spotted one between the front-runner Babbitt (バビット) and Win Kiitos, the mare racing outside him.

Then she broke through the opening with the power she had inherited from her mother. The weapon she had once struggled to control was finally working for her.

She stormed past the finish line with incredible speed, securing her first graded-race win. In the saddle, Takeshi Yokoyama (横山武史) raised his arm in celebration. Guided by the lessons taught by those around her, the heir to thirteen G1 victories and Sunday Racing’s red-crossed empire had finally proven herself.

The high-profile Triple Tiara winner, Daring Tact, finished sixth. But despite another setback, her pride had not faded.

Together with Geraldina and Win Kiitos, who finished third, she now looked toward the same goal: the race that carried Her Majesty’s name. There, each of them would try to run the best race of her life, not only to claim the crown, but also to honor the Queen’s memory.

The Coronation

"...In life, as in racing, there are highs and lows along the way, but, as with this country, the one shining constant for racing and for all of us, has been the commitment of our Queen, whose affection never wavered."

The British-accented narration continued across the racecourse.

That unwavering spirit seemed to shine in the eyes of the seventeen horses already waiting inside the gate. Geraldina still stood outside, looking over them, with the same light in her own eyes.

Beneath the Union Jack and the Hinomaru flying at half-mast, the elite mares broke from the gate. Mud flew behind their powerful strides, and from the back of the field, Geraldina stayed wide, trying to avoid the kickback.

As the race progressed, the rivals on the inside, including Daring Tact and Namur, were packed tightly together, fighting for better positions through the mud. Meanwhile, Geraldina slowly moved up on the outside.

As they reached the final straight, the front-runner Rosa Noir (ローザノワール) began to struggle.

Behind her, the Win trio, who had formed a wall near the front in the early stages, were still fighting on. Among them, Win Marilyn was chasing the hardest. Magical Lagoon was caught between the Win team, when her jockey asked her to quicken, she could not respond well.

Geraldina was still on the outside, the position where she could do her best. This time, her jockey, Cristian Demuro, told her it was time to claim the crown.

She began her monstrous spurt despite the muddy ground, while Daring Tact and Namur chased desperately behind her.

With 200 meters to go, only one horse still stood in Geraldina’s way: Win Marilyn, fighting desperately for her first G1 victory. As a daughter of Screen Hero (スクリーンヒーロー), Geraldina’s grandfather, she carried a familiar weapon in her blood.

Geraldina closed in. Then, from behind, another unexpected challenger appeared: Lilac (ライラック), a daughter of Orfevre (オルフェーヴル).

She had not won a race since the G3 Fairy Stakes earlier that year, but now this was her chance to show the strength she had inherited from her father.

Ten years earlier, Gentildonna and Orfevre had fought fiercely down to the wire in the Japan Cup. Now, on another G1 stage, their daughters were carrying that old rivalry into a new generation.

Geraldina overtook Win Marilyn without mercy and shook off Lilac’s challenge with pure power. This time, she was no longer only the daughter of Maurice and Gentildonna. On a stage even her mother had never stood on, Geraldina was about to claim her own crown.

>"Geraldina! The blue-blooded mare has fully awakened here!"

>「ジェラルディーナ！超良血、ここで完全に覚醒！」

>Kazuhiro Ishida (石田一洋), announcer from Kansai Television (関西テレビ)

After Geraldina crossed the finish line, jockey Demuro could not hide his joy. It was not only for the victory, but also for Geraldina herself, the new queen among Japan’s mares. He blew a kiss, then stood up in the saddle and shouted in celebration.

Moments later, the result confirmed a dead heat for second. Win Marilyn and Lilac had crossed the line together, both giving everything they had in pursuit of Geraldina.

For a race held in Her Majesty’s memory, the victory felt almost too fitting. Deep in Geraldina’s pedigree was a faint link to Highclere, a great mare once owned by Queen Elizabeth II. Yet in the end, this was not only a story of bloodline.

Under Her Majesty’s name, and beneath the flags flying at half-mast, Geraldina had finally claimed a crown of her own, not by inheritance alone, but through her own growth and the perseverance of the team around her.

A Queen's Duty

After her coronation, Geraldina did not stop. She went on to challenge the G1 Arima Kinen, the grand stage her mother had once conquered.

But waiting for her there was Equinox (イクイノックス), a rising monster who had already shown immense potential and had just produced one of the most unforgettable victories in JRA history in that year’s Tenno Sho Autumn.

Perhaps the weight of becoming a G1 winner had finally been lifted from Geraldina’s shoulders. In the gate, she seemed almost too relaxed. She broke late and struggled to find a good position in the pack.

By the time she finally found a gap to shoot through, only 200 meters remained. She did everything she could to pass the rivals on the inside, but ahead of her, the young genius Equinox was already pulling away.

Although she finished third, she was still the first mare to cross the finish line. Even in defeat, Geraldina had proved that her G1 victory was no fluke.

As 2023 began, Geraldina had turned five, and she started chasing the stages her mother had never conquered. First came the G1 Osaka Hai, the race she had failed to reach the previous year, where she finished sixth.

Then came Hong Kong’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, another race carrying Her Majesty’s name. After winning the Japanese race of the same name, Geraldina tried to carry her crown overseas, but this time, the crown was guarded by the local hero Romantic Warrior (浪漫勇士). She finished sixth again.

In the G1 Takarazuka Kinen, she met Equinox once more and fought her way to fourth. She finished the spring season without a win, but the final chapter of her racing career was still waiting.

Under Sunday Racing’s rule, mares were to retire by March of their six-year-old season, which meant Geraldina had only one final season left to prove herself.

After a full summer off, she returned to the track in the G2 All Comers, the race where she had earned her first graded-race victory. It had once been the stage of her breakthrough, but this time, she could only finish sixth.

The Abdication

Then came the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, the race where she had once become queen. This time, the stage had returned to Kyoto, and Geraldina came back as the defending champion.

Besides familiar rivals such as Lilac, there was one surprising challenger: Divina (ディヴィーナ), the daughter of Verxina (ヴィルシーナ), the mare who had finished right behind Gentildonna in all three Triple Tiara G1 races.

Like Geraldina, Divina was also a daughter of Maurice, and she had just captured her first graded-race win in the G2 Fuchu Himba Stakes. It felt almost like a reflection of Geraldina’s own path one year earlier.

The race of destiny began beneath the Union Jack and the Hinomaru, now flying high once again. But inside the gate, Geraldina reared up, and once again, she broke late.

After some adjustments, Geraldina settled on the outside of the pack, with Divina right behind her. When they reached the final straight, both mares swung to the outside, Divina tracing the path Geraldina herself had taken one year before.

But this time, Geraldina could not close the gap to the front.

She could only watch as another young heir of the red-crossed empire, Brede Weg (ブレイディヴェーグ), rose to claim the crown she had once worn.

Geraldina finished fifth, while Divina finished seventh. Neither of them could complete the story they had hoped for.

For her final race, Geraldina chose Hong Kong, where she challenged the G1 Hong Kong Vase. In this memorable last run, she settled on the inside of the front pack, using the same strategy that had once brought her victory in the All Comers.

But this time, she was blocked in the final straight. She could not find a better position, nor could she unleash her spurt in time. She finished fourth in the eight-horse field, and her racing career came to a quiet, modest end.

Passing Down the Legacy

After retirement, Geraldina returned to Northern Farm (ノーザンファーム), where her mother was also living at the time, and began her new life as a broodmare.

Back when Geraldina was still a foal, Gentildonna was said to be the boss among the mares. Years later, after Geraldina became a broodmare herself, she inherited that role too.

After her mother’s sudden passing in November 2025, Geraldina inherited more than just her place among the mares. She also became the one to carry on their G1-winning bloodline. Her second child was born in March this year (2026), with Epiphaneia (エピファネイア) as the father.

Hope Geraldina and her children can live healthy and happy lives. And perhaps, someday, another graded race winner will rise from the bloodline she now carries forward.

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My past work (Sorted by Classic-Year Era):

1985-1989

Sakura Star O: Spirit of the Ink-Black Cherry Blossom

1990-1994

Narita Hayabusa: A Sand Falcon Born in the Wrong Era

Offside Trap: The Winner on the Glorious but Silent Sunday

1995-1999

Egao o Misete: Please Keep Smiling, Even After I’m Gone

Kikoshi: An Ordinary Life Under North Flight’s Light

2000-2004

Sushi Train: Horse with a Bizarre Name and a Big Dream

2005-2009

Queen Spumante: Let the Hidden Star Shine Across the Sky!

2010-2014

The Versailles Kingdom: A Story of Versailles Resort Farm and Rose Kingdom

Stories of Soma Nomaoi Horses After the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Hana’s Goal: Make the Flowers of Happiness Bloom Down Under

The Call That Made the 2013 Japanese Derby Unforgettable (ft. Epiphaneia, Logotype, Kizuna… and a Dog?)

2015-2019

Resistencia’s Weight-Check Series: 1,231 Days of a Cameraman’s Love Story

2020-2024 (The Era of this story)

The Root of the Undefeated Triple Tiara: Daring Tact’s Journey to Her Debut