A stunning victory in Sunday's G1 Takarazuka Kinen further enhanced Equinox's status as the world's best racehorse. 🇯🇵 #イクイノックス
But just eight months ago, Japan's now globally-revered superstar hadn't even won a Group 1 race.
💫 The story of Equinox’s meteoric rise 👇
“I’m looking forward to Damian unlocking her full potential. I want to see her amazing power.”
Trainer Naosuke Sugai reveals to Asian Racing Report that Sodashi will be ridden by
@lanedamian
in the G1 Victoria Mile. #レーン #ソダシ #ヴィクトリアマイル
As Messi is to football or Jordan is to basketball, so is Yutaka Take to Japanese racing.
David Morgan sat down with the legendary jockey whose fame transcends the sport in his country.
#武豊 #天才 #平成の盾男 #レジェンド
“Now that I reflect on it, comparing (Gold Ship) to a rock star, he really was, but maybe even a rock star on drugs is more accurate. He was that wild."
Trainer Naosuke Sugai on his unpredictable champion Gold Ship. #ゴールドシップ
"Here in Japan the horses are the stars. They are the idols of the sport." Naosuke Sugai - trainer of Gold Ship, Just A Way and Sodashi - is more than happy to take a back seat to the gallopers he prepares. #ソダシ #ゴールドシップ #ジャスタウェイ
Nice moment at the Select Sale when Christophe Lemaire spotted a fan wearing a polo shirt from his
@cl_by_clemaire
fashion line …
After posing for dozens of selfies with fans,
@christo68914587
wandered over & asked for one of his own
#CLbyC
ルメール #セレクトセール
#SelectSale
Yoshita Yahagi casts an eye over his three charges, different races Saturday ...
🇯🇵🎌🇯🇵
Bathrat Leon, 1351 Sprint
#バスラットレオン
#1351
ターフスプリント
Continuar
#コンティノアール #サウジダービー
Panthalassa
#パンサラッサ #サウジカップ
#矢作芳人 #サウジカップデー
“Gold Ship had a big ego; Just A Way was very gentle and easy to handle. For whatever reason, they got along. That was the reason they were able to go to the Arc together, they travelled on the same plane, side-by-side.” #ゴールドシップ #ジャスタウェイ
“Comparing Gold Ship to a rock star, he really was, but maybe even a rock star on drugs is more accurate. He had wildness at heart, a real masculinity." Naosuke Sugai on his two-time Takarazuka Kinen winner Gold Ship. #宝塚記念 #ゴールドシップ
Jockey Yuichi Fukunaga weighs out for the final time in a stellar career after a third in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint aboard Remake.
2,636 career wins. Walks away at his best.
#福永祐一
Just as the mere mention of the words “Orefevre” & “Arc” trigger flashbacks for Yasutoshi Ikee,
@lanedamian
chimes in with a gentle suggestion for Silver Sonic:
“Melbourne Cup … don’t get bogged in the Arc, come to Australia.”
#シルヴァーソニック #レーン #レッドシーターフH
The rising force in Japan's stallion ranks, Kitasan Black, in imperious form at Shadai Stallion Station today. 😤
Sire of superstar duo Equinox and Sol Oriens. 🇯🇵
Sound on 🔊
#キタサンブラック #イクイノックス
“I’m applying to go back because I want to go and give it another go, if they’ll have me. I didn’t want to leave Japan: I loved it."
@HollieDoyle1
tells Asian Racing Report she has unfinished business on the JRA.
#ホリー・ドイル #競馬 | ホリー·ド���ル騎手
BREAKING: “Right now I think the best thing for me and my family is to be back in Brazil." Champion jockey Joao Moreira opens up to Asian Racing Report on the personal struggles that have motivated his request to leave Hong Kong.
SODASHI / #ソダシ PLUSHIE GIVEAWAY
Win a super-rare official JRA Sodashi plushie 🦄
To enter: RT this tweet & FOLLOW
@asianracingrep
Prize is one brand new large-sized Sodashi Oka Sho plushie, as pictured.
Entries close 6pm Tues 28 June. Winner announced Wed 29 June
Christophe Lemaire on the chances of 2022 JRA Horse of the Year Equinox in Saturday’s Sheema Classic in Dubai.
“I’m full of confidence with him, he is an easy ride and a true fighter.”
#イクイノックス
#イクイノックス #ウインマリリン #シャフリヤール
A race fall in Japan has left popular jockey Kanichiro ‘Joe’ Fujii with severe spinal injuries. Joe spoke to Asian Racing Report’s Michael Cox about his brave battle to walk again.
BREAKING: Joao Moreira has been called on by master trainer Noriyuki Hori to ride reigning Japanese dirt horse of the year Cafe Pharaoh in the US$20million Saudi Cup. #モレイラ #カフェファラオ
#SaudiCup
When champion French jockey Christophe Lemaire left his home country behind for a life in Japan he could never have imagined the adventures – and champion racehorses – that awaited him.
#C·ルメール | #ルメール |
@christo68914587
| #アーモンドアイ
Taiki Shuttle, the revered sprinter-miler who helped put Japanese racing on the world map, has died at the age of 28.
Japan's 1998 Horse of the Year won 11 of his 13 starts, including the Yasuda Kinen and, famously, the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois in France. #タイキシャトル
Massive parade ring crowd still here 30mins after last to see Yutaka Take lift the World All-Star Jockeys series trophy 🏆
#WASJ
#ワールドオールスタージョッキーズ #札幌競馬場
The newly opened Deep Impact Gate pays tribute to Japanese racing’s greatest horse of all time.
But the memorial at Northern Horse Park also symbolises just how much Deep Impact meant to Japan. #ディープインパクト
🧵 A thread on the 'deep impact' felt by a legend’s passing 👇
Asian Racing Report's Michael Cox spent Arima Kinen weekend finding out what makes Japanese fans tick as they endured a freezing night for a front row chance to see their heroes. #オジュウチョウサン #有馬記念
📸:
@kabosu7222
“Between the farm and the stables, Gold Ship put six handlers in hospital. But that was his natural wildness and character, so rather than inhibiting it, it was my job for him to be able to best focus it on the racetrack. That (behaviour) was his individuality." #ゴールドシップ
On the date when, fable has it, Father Christmas’s antlered coursers spring magically into flight, it is fitting that Japan’s greatest jumps horse will leap the Nakayama fences one last time.
@themorganline
bids farewell to a legend. #オジュウチョウサン
Equinox was foaled on March 23, 2019 at Northern Farm, Hokkaido.
A first crop son of two-time Japanese Horse of the Year Kitasan Black and Silk Racing’s G3-winning mare Chateau Blanche, Equinox was offered for syndication by Silk in 2020.
‘Hero is coming’, but only if you let them race.
@themorganline
on why the world would do well to follow Japan's example in letting their horses race to maturity. #イクイノックス
Remarkably at
@FlemingtonVRC
on Saturday, three full brothers are set to contest the same race. Irish-bred geldings Serpentine, Team Captain and King Of The Castle are all by Galileo out of Remember When, and are slated to clash over 2500m in R6.
Hospitalised jockey
@joefujii1
continues to inspire in his brave recovery from spinal injuries and has been buoyed by a visit from one of his all-time heroes
@CWilliamsJockey
.
The suspension of Belgian jockey Christophe Soumillon has opened up a spot for
@LaneDamian
during a lucrative few weeks of the JRA schedule, that could include rides in the G1 Mile Championship and G1 Japan Cup. #ジャパンカップ #レーン #ダミアン・レーン
On Sunday,
@joefujii1
returned to the races for the first time since an accident in April changed his life forever.
Current and former jockeys like
@christo68914587
,
@HugeBowman
& Darren Beadman continue to send messages of support.
#藤井勘一郎
📝
“There are many Northern Farm-bred runners in the Derby, so you don’t want to be against each other because Northern Farm want to make stallions as well.” Mitsumasa Nakauchida tells Asian Racing Report what's next for his star filly. #リバティアイランド
“I want to change the image of racing.”
@christo68914587
's passion for his adopted country, fashion and racing intersect with a new brand he hopes can shift perception of the sport he loves. Japan's five-time champion spoke with Michael Cox in Tokyo.
It is normal for Japanese horses, including champions, to race for multiple seasons. The rest of the world would do well to follow suit to both improve competition and build fan connections, writes
@themorganline
. #イクイノックス
BREAKING: After ten weeks on the sidelines, superstar jockey Joao Moreira plans to make a shock return to the saddle and ride two Japanese raiders at next month’s Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin.
#HKIR
#レシステンシア #レイパパレ
#J
・モレイラ
Nice moment after the last as Alexis Badel walks home from Sha Tin a Hong Kong Derby winner.
Outside the gate to home, Voyage Bubble happened to be walking past.
Selfie time 🤳
#HKderby
@AlexisBadel
The long-haul flight could loom as the biggest challenge to Arc heroine Alpinista winning the Japan Cup, according to trainer Sir Mark Prescott. #ジャパンカップ
#JRA
🎙Introducing the Asian Racing Report Podcast.
In Episode 1, champion jockey
@christo68914587
opens up to Michael Cox about the emotional roller coaster he rode on his way to becoming a full-time jockey in the JRA. #競馬 #ルメール #クリストフ・ルメール
Multiple sources confirming that Singapore Turf Club to cease racing as soon as October, 2024. Turf club employees, then trainers, informed by STC Irene Lim at a meeting at Kranji.
As Liberty Island has evolved from talented filly to superstar, so too have the pompoms adorning her race-day braid undergone seasonal change: cherry blossom pink for spring's Oka Sho, red for the Yushun Himba, autumnal yellow and orange for the Shuka Sho. #リバティアイランド
Asian Racing Report's Cantonese language section 競馬論 reporting that Golden Sixty will not contest Dubai Turf ... owner Stanley Chan says Yasuda Kinen more likely #ゴールデンシックスティ #安田記念
Pakistan Star, fresh off the float (took him 45 minutes to agree to get on it) and enjoying his new home
@LivingLegendsAU
on Wednesday morning. Life about to get interesting for the other retirees! 🇵🇰💫
📸:
@paomaphotos
“Jake, you are mad and you are going to go broke.”
On a quest to change the path of Australian bookmaking, Combet's
@JakeHoward81
has built a betting product unlike anything the wagering industry has seen.
Maurice colt out of multiple Australian G1-winner Mosheen lights up the first day of the JRHA Select Sale in Hokkaido, selling for 450 million yen (AU$4.8 million).
Joao Moreira will ride Japanese dirt star Cafe Pharoah in the US$20 million Saudi Cup on February 25.
Here the son of American Pharoah goes back-to-back in the 1600m G1 February Stakes at Tokyo. #モレイラ #カフェファラオ
#TheSaudiCup
“It is a good ride to have and I’m looking forward to doing my best for Mr Hori and the owner.” Joao Moreira has received a call-up to ride Danon Beluga in the Dubai Turf, replacing Japan’s champion jockey Yuga Kawada. #ダノンベルーガ #川田将雅 #モレイラ
The specimen Jack d'Or after today's gallop at Sha Tin. 💪😤
The son of Maurice is seeking to emulate his sire in winning the G1 Hong Kong Cup.
#ジャックドール #モーリス 🇯🇵
#HKIR
🇭🇰
“Before Almond Eye I never had that feeling on a horse, that feeling of power, speed and velocity.” 🇯🇵
Christophe Lemaire recalls Almond Eye’s extraordinary turf 2400m world record '2:20.6.' ⏱ #ルメール #クリストフ・ルメール #アーモンドアイ
Listen:
Throwback to when Deep Impact said goodbye the only way he knew how, leading home both the fan vote and his overmatched rivals in this his farewell race, the 2006 Arima Kinen. 😤🇯🇵
#ディープインパクト #有馬記念
“It’s great to go there, the other day I could have a chat with Yutaka Take. I appreciate so much the help I’ve received from so many people in horse racing.”
@joefujii1
is enjoying regular visits to Ritto Training Centre as he readjusts to life at home.
Bringing horse racing to the streets... Christophe Lemaire's latest collection - in collaboration with artist Ryuichi Obana - launched in a pop-up store in Daikanyama, Tokyo. #ルメール #尾花龍一 #アーモンドアイ
@christo68914587
During his recent sit down interview with our Chief Journalist David Morgan, Japan’s legendary jockey Yutaka Take spoke of the key moments that have helped shape a transcendent, decades-long career in the saddle. #武豊 #ステイゴールド
🧵‘In Take’s Words’, a thread 👇
“The big race just after Christmas on the NAR, I’d happily go and ride on a big day like that.”
@TomMarquand
is seeking another JRA winter licence, and tells Asian Racing Report he is also open to riding in the NAR's G1 Tokyo Daishoten. #東京大賞典
When
@joefujii1
left hospital to return home for the first time since suffering catastrophic injuries in a race fall, he challenged himself: to test his independence, Joe would make the five-hour cross-country trip to Kyoto alone, using public transport.
“I’ve had a lot of success in Japan and I’ve always enjoyed my time there... Japanese horses are dominating all around the world so it makes sense to be aligned with them.”
@zpurton
is making arrangements to ride a summer spell in Japan. #プログノーシス
On this day in 2016, Pakistan Star’s stunning racetrack debut broke the internet.
But few could have predicted that the drama of that first start would be surpassed by what was to follow.
🇵🇰🌟 The story of Pakistan Star, Hong Kong racing icon. 👇👇👇
“Equinox is doing very well. I heard from the trainer he was in very good shape after his win in the Takarazuka Kinen and was not as tired as he was after the Sheema Classic, so that’s a very good sign." Lemaire looks forward to Equinox. #イクイノックス
The mind games have begun before Sunday's Hong Kong Cup as Jack D’Or’s jockey Yutaka Take – who in significant breaking news now owns a smartphone – suggests Panthalassa may not get his own way in front.
#ジャックドール #武豊 #パンサラッサ
#HKIR
🇭🇰
Godolphin’s man in Japan Harry Sweeney has paid tribute to his veterinary staff and pinch-hitting hoop Ryusei Sakai after Lemon Pop’s breakthrough at the top level. The Dubai Golden Shaheen is now an option for the G1 February Stakes winner. #レモンポップ
Full list of international jockeys invited to ride during the JRA's autumn-winter season: Christophe Soumillon, Ryan Moore, Cristian Demuro, Mickael Barzalona, Hollie Doyle, Tom Marquand, David Egan and Bauyrzhan Murzabayev. #競馬
While no decision has yet been made about the Japan Cup, Liberty Island's trainer Mitsu Nakauchida tells Asian Racing Report a showdown with Equinox "would be good for the sport". #リバティアイランド #ジャパンカップ,
“Being a white horse is the big drawcard and what makes her so special but it is a number of rare traits that have piled on top of each other to make her ever more special." Sugai on his adored 'pop princess', Sodashi. #ソダシ
The first release of Asian Racing Report's 2023 Tokyo Yushun Rankings, as voted by our expert panel last week. Stay tuned for our updated rankings in the coming days as Japan's best three-year-olds chase Derby glory. #東京優駿 #日本ダービー #ダービー