Kizuna, a Japanese Derby Winner, to gate in the Prix Niel, and hopefully the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

As you know, the last year's champion-supposed-to-be, Orfevre has arrived in France and he is training to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. But, there is another horse from Japan going to the gate for the arc this year. His name is Kizuna.

 

Kizuna is getting beloved by Japanese racegoers for three reasons. First, he won the Japanese Derby this year by a stunning finish. In fact, he was the most favourite in the derby (2.9 or 29/10), but lots of fans were suspicious to his victory in the race, because he didn't participate in the first race of the Japanese triple crown, Satuki Sho. Yet, his performance in the previous race, the Kyoto Shimbun Hai, was outstanding like his father, Deep Impact, so the colt was chosen as the most favourite, and he won!

 

Second, Kizuna's jockey is TAKE Yutaka, a most well-known champion Jockey for a long time. There are lots of KEIBA fans who cheer the jockey including me, and probably he has been known by people who are not interested in horse racing. Besides, TAKE Yutaka was a jockey of Deep Impact, so Kizuna looks like his father.

 

Third, Kizuna is a timely name for Japanese racegoers. It literally means 'bonds' or 'ties.' We still vividly remember what happened on 11 March 2011, when the tremendously disastrous earthquake and tsunami assaulted Japan. We believe that we must cooperate together for everything.

 

For these three reasons, Kizuna may be highly expected in the Japanese racing society. His odds at William Hill currently for the arc is 15.0, or 14/1. But, personally, his way of racing will not be good to the turf condition at Longchamp. He likes going behind the other horses, and changed the gear to top at the final corner. It looks the horse is very strong because of the sensational finish, but I doubt he is as strong as he looks.

 

In any case, we can't miss the prep race of the Prix Niel, which is going to be held on Sunday 15 September 2013, at 9pm (JPN, +0900).

Load Kanaloa to Win at the Centraur Stakes?

Champion sprinter Lord Kanaloa starts his final season from Sunday's Centaur Stakes(G2) at Hanshin.

 

Even though this G2 race is a prep race for the champion, he is ready to win the race. His previous performances including HK are no need to make further comments.

 

Additionally, this race is very important for the jockey IWATA Yasunari. He will be the summer champion jockey if he wins the race with Load Kanaloa. Now IWATA Yasunari earns 48pt for his summer results, while our star jockey TAKE Yutaka earns the same. TAKE YUTAKA will ride on a young colt, Teehaff in the same race. They have the same point for the jockeys' competition, and Centaur Stakes is the last leg of the series. If one of the two jockeys wins the race, he also wins the summer jockey title, which leads the winner to the honourable World Super Jockey Series in December.

 

Now that IWATA Yasunari rides on the expected-to-win horse, he almost clinched the title, but is it true that he will surely win the title?

 

Hakusan Moon is a good front runner and his speed got faster during the summer race. There is a handicap between the two horses, and the track bias will follow the runner (normally the opening day is very friendly for the front runner and the horse who will run along the rail). Is this a good chance to upset Lord Kanaloa?

Historical to Run at Nishinomiya Stakes

Lots of racegoers are waiting earnestly for tomorrow, when Hanshin and Nakayama Race Course open and the autumn KEIBA season start.

 

Historical, one G3 winner, will show up at Tokai Teio Memorial, also known as Nishinomiya Stakes and he will be a promised winner. The 1800M race is not an open race, but it is an allowance race. Due to the non-victory for a certain period, Historical got the right to run an allowance, so he was nominated at the Hanshin 11 race. It seems that the Deep Impact horse will win the allowance very easily.

 

However, Historical will not win the race due to his position in the race. He tends to go behind the other horses and try to drive on the far outside. This tactics looks sensational but not suitable for the opening day, where the front runner won't stop so easily.

 

Historical will be favoured most (probably the win odds is 1.5), so why don't you bet the other horses and try your luck?

Tokai Teio: A Miracle Horse [Part 1]

Tokai Teio, sired by Symboli Rudolf, passed away on 30th August 2013 at the age of 25 years. He is one of the most well known horses in Japan, and most probably known to common people who are not so interested in KEIBA, because his racing performance is still vividly sensational after the 20 years from his retirement.

 

Actually, Tokai Teio has opened the door to horse racing for me, so I could not help writing how sensational he was.

 

One day, I happened to have an opportunity to start a horse racing forecast in the Christmas season, and I looked for the winner of the Arima Kinen, the grand prix race in Japan mostly held at the last fixture of the year. It was 1993, when I was a teenager.

 

I had not had any knowledge about horse racing but as other people did, I knew his name and his previous career as celebrity and struggle. Tokai Teio was a first crop of Symboli Rudolf, an undefeated triple crown horse, and he was also undefeated when he won the second crown, Japanese Derby. He was highly expected to win the last crown and follow his father, but unfortunately he broke his leg and had to take a rest for several months. At that time, his career was 6 wins out of 6 runs.

 

Tokai Teio came back to the turf and won one race with a new partner, OKABE Yukio, a highly respected Jockey in Japan. The bay 4yo horse aimed at Tenno Sho Spring, the most prestigious race in Japan. But he was denied by Mejiro Mcqueen, a great stayer, at the race. After the race, the trainer found that he had got injured in the race. Anyway, this was his first failure.

 

After 6 months, Tokai Teio tried at Tenno Sho Autumn, but he struggled at the crazily high pace and sank to the 7th. Every racegoers thought that Teio was over.

 

However, a miracle happened. He came back to his best performance and won the first international race in Japan, Japan Cup. In that race, there were a lot of worldwide famous horses to celebrate the new international graded 1 race, but every horse was defeated by Tokai Teio.

 

Yet, Tokai Teio did not have a good stamina to win another race. He burned out in the Japan Cup, and in the next race, Arima Kinen, he was placed 11th, and again fractured. That time again, everyone thought "Teio was over finally."

 

Tokai Teio managed to come back to the turf for the first time in 1 year and made an entry to Arima Kinen 1993, but the duration was good enough to make his fame sepia. Racegoers thought, if he were to win the graded 1 race(jpn1) after one year break, it would had been a miracle. I agreed with them totally.

 

You know what happened in the Arima Kinen? Well, this became a very long story, so "to be continued."

All about this blog.

Hi, my name is Kei, and I am an amateur horse player.

This blog aims at introducing Japanese horse racing, or KEIBA, from my own perspective.

Actually, there are lots of Japanese sites to talk about Japanese horse racing, but they are written in Japanese, which is not a good idea to welcome new horse players who cannot understand Japanese. I googled days and nights to find out Japanese horse racing sites in English but I could not make it. I reached some websites but they are official or seldom updated. Then I said to myself, “Why don’t I start my own?“

What I want to post on this website is:

1. My memory of a horse, a race, a jockey, a trainer, an owner, or whatever mainly in Japan.
2. My review of a certain race.
3. My own forcast of a certain race.

My effort to find out KEIBA sites in English has been useless so far, so if you happen to know one, please do let me know and share the opinion together!

Thank you very much for your visit and hope you a good luck in the next race!