Tag: Equinox

Scintillating Equinox Smashes Sheema Classic Record

Japan's Horse of the Year Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) took a huge step towards global recognition with a dominant victory in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic, routing his nine rivals under a motionless Christophe Lemaire.

Despite being eased down towards the line, the Tetsuya Kimura-trained 4-year-old lowered the course record previously held by Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) by exactly a second to stop the clock at 2:26.65.

G1 Irish Derby winner Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) gave chase in vain, running home best of the rest to reduce the winning margin to 3 1/2 lengths, with French-trained Zagrey (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) taking third.

Equinox had the race at his mercy almost from the off, charging to the front from gate six to bowl along with ease. As jockeys on runners in behind started to ask serious questions of their mounts, Lemaire had merely to ease his rein out an inch for the leader to increase his stride–and his lead–with no further effort required from the rider who had partnered another Japanese Horse of the Year, Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), to victory in the Dubai Turf of 2019.

“I knew he was the best horse and so I was happy to make the pace,” Lemaire said of Equinox. “I'm really happy for all of the connections. It's been a long time since I won the Sheema; the last time was with Heart's Cry, and he passed away two weeks ago. So I am very grateful for this horse; he has allowed me to pay tribute to Heart's Cry.”

He continued, “Race after race, he's going up the rankings of the horses I have ridden. It was a great, great performance against these kind of horses at the top level. I couldn't be happier.”

Tetsuya Kimura had already saddled his stable star to win the G1 Tenno Sho and G1 Arima Kinen in the last six months but even he appeared staggered by Equinox's bloodless victory. He said, “It was a tough field with some very strong horses but he's a champion and he was just the best. He got the job done and made it all look so simple.”

Ryan Moore had already secured two wins on the Dubai World Cup card but he had to settle for second on Juddmonte's Westover. The 4-year-old's trainer Ralph Beckett expressed relief after a testing time in the build-up to Saturday.

“It hasn't been easy this week–he did two laps of the training track on Tuesday when he was only meant to do one,” said Beckett. “Although he's keen you have to leave him alone. He's been beaten by a very good horse, to finish second to him is fantastic. I wouldn't rule out dropping back to 10 furlongs for an Eclipse or a Tatts Gold Cup.”

Long-shot Zagrey, who was runner-up in the G3 Dubai Millennium S. on his last start, has his trainer Yann Barberot dreaming of major targets closer to home after his third-place finish. He said, “It's fantastic. He's a proper Group 1 horse and I'm delighted. He wasn't precocious, as is the case with quite a lot of Zarak's progeny. Then he got injured at three after he was second in the Prix Eugene Adam but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He loves soft ground so he might be a horse for something like the Champion S. at Ascot. He's been beaten by a phenomenon.”

 

Pedigree Notes

A son of the young Shadai stallion Kitasan Black, whose sire Black Tide (Jpn) is a full-brother to Deep Impact (Jpn), Equinox is the third foal of his Group 3-winning dam Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (King Halo {Jpn}). His year-older half-brother Weiss Meteor (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) won the G3 Nikkei Sho, and the mare has a 3-year-old colt whose sire Just A Way (Jpn) won the Dubai Turf of 2014. Chateau Blanche's current 2-year-old filly is a daughter of Kizuna (Jpn), and she is due to foal a full-sibling to Equinox this season.

 

Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
LONGINES DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC-G1, $6,000,000, Meydan, 3-25, NH 4yo/up & SH 3yo/up, 2410mT, 2:25.65 (NCR), gd.
1–EQUINOX (JPN), 125, c, 4, by Kitasan Black (Jpn)
                1st Dam: Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (GSW-Jpn,
                                   $1,096,970), by King Halo (Jpn)
                2nd Dam: Blancherie (Jpn), by Tony Bin (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Maison Blanche (Jpn), by Alleged
O-Silk Racing Co Ltd; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); T-Tetsuya
Kimura; J-Christophe-Patrice Lemaire. $3,480,000. Lifetime
Record: Horse of the Year & Ch. 3yo Colt-Jpn, MG1SW-
Jpn, 7-5-2-0, $9,516,220. *Half to Weiss Meteor (Jpn) (King
Kamehameha {Jpn}), GSW-Jpn, $820,531. Werk Nick Rating:
   A+++. *Triple Plus*.  Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
   pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style
   pedigree.
2–Westover (GB), 125, c, 4, Frankel (GB)–Mirabilis, by Lear Fan.
O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-Ralph Beckett.
$1,200,000.
3–Zagrey (Fr), 125, c, 4, Zarak (Fr)–Grey Anatomy (GB), by
Slickly (Fr). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (€32,000 RNA Ylg '20
ARQSEP). O-Ecurie Altima & Gerard Augustin-Normand; B-
Ecurie Euroling (Fr); T-Yann Barberot. $600,000.
Margins: 3HF, 2 1/4, 1 1/4.
Also Ran: Mostahdaf (Ire), Shahryar (Jpn), Win Marilyn (Jpn), Rebel's Romance (Ire), Russian Emperor (Ire), Botanik (Ire), Senor Toba (Aus). VIDEO.

 

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Equinox Overpowers Rivals in Arima Kinen

Five years after his sire clinched a second consecutive Horse of the Year title in Japan with a victory in the G1 Arima Kinen, Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) stated his case for top year-end honours for 2022 with a dominating display in front of a pandemic-restricted, but boisterous crowd of roughly 47,000 fans Christmas Day at Nakayama Racecourse.

The firming 13-10 favourite in the fan-voted affair, Equinox left without incident from gate nine and landed in midfield on the back of defending champion and reigning Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) as Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn})–returning off an 11th in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe–showed the way at an even tempo. Content with his position through the middle furlongs, Christophe Lemaire eased Equinox out for a four-wide sweep around the turn and it was all academic from there, as the flashy dark bay struck the front with a furlong and a half to travel and kicked on smartly. Boldog Hos (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), this year's G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) runner-up, also made a bold move on the bend from far back and was a brave second ahead of G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup heroine Geraldina (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}), who closed off well after missing the kick. Efforia was a meritorious fifth first off a six-month absence.

“What happens twice will happen thrice,” said the winning jockey who was recording a 43rd Group 1 on the JRA circuit. “I won the Arima Kinen with Heart's Cry and Satono Diamond both on Christmas Day, and I'm really happy to be able to win the race on Christmas Day again. We were able to make a good start and the horse was keen to go so I held him and responded strongly when I brought him to the outside. Though he was not mature yet during his spring campaign, he became really strong from this fall and I look forward to his performance next year.”

Winning trainer Tetsuya Kimura indicated that Equinox is likely to travel in early 2023, with the Saudi Cup program a potential starting point.

“But first I need to watch his condition after the race,” the conditioner said.

Pedigree Notes:

Kitasan Black, who was narrowly second to Satono Diamond in 2016 before closing his career in this race, is the sire of 64 winners from his first two crops to the races and is also responsible for group winners Gaia Force (Jpn) from his first crop as well as the 2-year-old filly Ravel (Jpn), who took out this year's G2 Artemis S. Equinox's year-older half-brother Weiss Meteor (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) also carried the Silk Racing colours to victory in last year's G3 Radio Nikkei Sho. Shadai Farm acquired Equinox's fourth dam Blanche Reine (Fr) (Nureyev) carrying Maison Blanche for $410,000 at the 1988 Keeneland November Sale. Chateau Blanche is the dam of a 2-year-old colt by Just a Way (Jpn) and a yearling filly by Kizuna (Jpn). She was blank for 2022 and is due for a full-sibling to Equinox in 2023.

Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
ARIMA KINEN-G1, ¥764,800,000, Nakayama, 12-26, 3yo/up, 2500mT, 2:32.40, fm.
1–EQUINOX (JPN), 121, c, 3, by Kitasan Black (Jpn)
1st Dam: Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (GSW-Jpn, $1,096,970), by King Halo (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Blancherie (Jpn), by Tony Bin (Ire)
3rd Dam: Maison Blanche (Jpn), by Alleged
O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm; T-Tetsuya Kimura; J-Christophe Lemaire; ¥403,360,000. Lifetime: 6-4-2-0, ¥806,602,000. *1/2 to Weiss Meteor (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), GSW-Jpn, $820,531. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Boldog Hos (Jpn), 121, c, 3, Screen Hero (Jpn)–Boldogsag (Fr), by Layman (Fr). O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shadai Farm; ¥160,960,000.
3–Geraldina (Jpn), 121, f, 4, Maurice (Jpn)–Gentildonna (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn). O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm; ¥100,480,000.
Margins: 2HF, 1HF, 3/4. Odds: 1.30, 13.10, 6.40.
Also Ran: Izu Jo no Kiseki (Jpn), Efforia (Jpn), Win Mighty (Jpn), Justin Palace (Jpn), Deep Bond (Jpn), Titleholder (Jpn), Vela Azul (Jpn), Boccherini (Jpn), Potager (Jpn), Last Draft (Jpn), Aristoteles (Jpn), Akai Ito (Jpn), Breakup (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart.

 

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Fan-Voted Arima Kinen Lures Japan’s Star Gallopers

Sunday's G1 Arima Kinen offers fans of international racing the ultimate Christmas gift, as a field of 16–largely selected by the public–will face the starter in one of the world's most valuable Group 1 races not held in a desert environment.

Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) was the leading votegetter and looks to atone for his speed-and-fade 11th-place effort in that boggy-ground renewal of the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp Oct. 2. He'd earned the right to contest Europe's weight-for-age championship, having defeated fellow Arc runner Deep Bond (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) in the G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) over the metric two miles in May followed by a two-length score in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen the next month. Fifth in this race last season, Titleholder looms the controlling speed and could prove tough to peg back.

“Last week, jockey Kazuo Yokoyama, who knows him best of all, rode to check his balance and how well he was communicating with the rider. Everything was fine,” said trainer Toru Kurita. “He carried himself well, with good balance, and raced solidly to the end. He is improving slowly, but surely. His muscle tone and coat are looking good and his wind was better than it had been the week before. He is also more eager to run. There are no particular points of concern.”

The flashy Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) was second in this year's G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and most recently returned from a five-month break to post an improbable victory over loose leader Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo Oct. 30.

“At the bottom of the slope, he was so far behind the front-runner I was worried he wasn't going to make it,” admitted assistant trainer Yu Ota. “In the end, however, he moved on his own, gave it his all and was able to overtake the front-runner.”

Equinox will be looking to complete the same Tenno Sho/Arima Kinen double this year as did Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) did 12 months ago with a 3/4-length defeat of Deep Bond. But it hasn't been plain sailing since for the reigning Horse of the Year, who resumed with a slow-starting ninth in the G1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin Apr. 3 and his lone appearance since was a moderate sixth to Titleholder in the Takarazuka Kinen.

Vela Azul (Jpn) (Eishin Flash {Jpn}) was given a masterful steer from Ryan Moore to be up in the final couple of jumps in the G1 Longines Japan Cup Nov. 27 and shoots for a fourth straight victory, while Geraldina (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) will try to follow-up on her win over recent G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase heroine Win Marilyn (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup last month. Geraldina's dam, the great Gentildonna (Jpn), swansonged victoriously in the 2014 Arima Kinen, as did the latter's legendary sire–Deep Impact (Jpn)–in 2006.

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Equinox Bridges The Gap In Thrilling Tenno Sho

Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who bravely dead-heated for the victory with defending champion Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in this year's G1 Dubai Turf after making all the running, put on an even bolder show in Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo Racecourse. But after turning into the long straight with a double-digit advantage, he could not quite stave off favoured Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), who whistled home down the centre of the course to lead in the dying strides.

It was a third Tenno Sho in four years for the Silk Racing partnership, whose Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) won it in 2019 and 2020.

Off at a generous 21-1, Panthalassa bounced well from his low gate, but had some surprising early company in the form of North Bridge (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}), and that may have had a material impact on the race, as a keyed-up Panthalassa rumbled right along through early fractions of :23.5 and :46 for the opening 800 metres. Equinox, making his first start since just missing in the G1 Tokyo Yushun at this track in late May, settled kindly behind midfield and was content to allow the front-runner to do his thing, with no apparent panic from Christophe Lemaire.

Panthalassa led by the better part of 15 lengths as the Tenno Sho field hit the turn and carried that sort of advantage off the final corner, daring the market leaders to catch him if they could. Equinox was steered off the heels of Potager (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) at the 450m and began to progress, but still had around eight lengths to find entering the final furlong. Despite racing on his incorrect leg, Equinox gathered up Panthalassa late on, who gamely held for second ahead of Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}). Equinox covered his final 600 metres in :32.7, a tenth of a second quicker than Danon Beluga. Jack d'Or (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) was a further neck back in fourth, while 2021 Derby hero and this year's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was fifth in a useful prep for the G1 Longines Japan Cup Nov. 27.

“I'm happy that we were able to catch Panthalassa,” said Lemaire, winning his third Tenno Sho in four years and his 42nd Group 1 on the JRA circuit. “I saw him way in front of us after turning into the straight, the huge gap did worry me a bit, but my colt gave his best and displayed an incredible turn of foot. If he comes out of this race safe and well, he has every chance to do well in the Japan Cup or the Arima Kinen. This was his first Group 1 win but definitely not his last.”

Pedigree Notes:

Equinox is one of 54 winners to date for his second-crop sire and is his first top-level scorer. Kitasan Black, now responsible for three group winners following the victory of Ravel (Jpn) in Saturday's G3 Artemis S., is a son of Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide (Jpn) and put together one of the great careers in recent memory.

Third to the late Duramente (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) in the 2015 G1 Satsuki Sho, Kitasan Black won that year's G1 Kikuka Sho (3000m) before adding his first G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) over two miles the following May. Named Horse of the Year after closing his 4-year-old season with a score in the G1 Japan Cup (2400m), he added the G1 Osaka Hai (2000m), a successful defence of his title in the Tenno Sho (Spring) in his next appearance and this race nearly five years to the day of Equinox's win. Run in heavy ground in 2017, Kitasan Black clocked 2:08.3. He retired as a dual Horse of the Year following success in the G1 Arima Kinen with 12 wins–seven at Group 1 level–from 20 starts for earnings of $16.5 million.

Out of Silk Racing colourbearer Chateau Blanche, Equinox is a half-brother to the operation's Group 3 winner Weiss Meteor, a 2-year-old colt by Just a Way (Jpn) and a yearling filly by Kizuna (Jpn). She did not produce a foal in 2022. Equinox is the second Group 1 winner out of a daughter of Dancing Brave son King Halo (Jpn), joining Sprinters' S. hero Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}).

 

WATCH: Equinox catches Panthalassa in the Tenno Sho

 

Sunday, Tokyo, Japan
TENNO SHO (AUTUMN)-G1, ¥384,500,000, Tokyo, 10-30, 3yo/up, 2000mT, 1:57.5, fm.
1–EQUINOX (JPN), 123, c, 3, by Kitasan Black (Jpn)
1st Dam: Chateau Blanche (Jpn) (GSW-Jpn, $1,096,970), by King Halo (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Blancherie (Jpn), by Tony Bin (Ire)
3rd Dam: Maison Blanche (Jpn), by Alleged
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Silk Racing; B-Northern Farm; T-Tetsuya Kimura; J-Christophe Lemaire; ¥203,150,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-2-0, ¥403,242,000. *1/2 to Weiss Meteor (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), GSW-Jpn, $820,531. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
2–Panthalassa (Jpn), 128, h, 5, Lord Kanaloa (Jpn)–Miss Pemberley (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire). O-Hiroo Race; B-Hidenori Kimura; ¥80,900,000.
3–Danon Beluga (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Heart's Cry (Jpn)–Coasted, by Tizway. (¥160,000,000 wnlg '19 JRHAJUL). O-Danox Inc; B-Northern Farm; ¥50,450,000.
Margins: 1, NK, HF. Odds: 1.60, 21.80, 6.30.
Also Ran: Jack d'Or (Jpn), Shahryar (Jpn), Karate (Jpn), Maria Elena (Jpn), Uberleben (Jpn), Geoglyph (Jpn), Ablaze (Jpn), North Bridge (Jpn), Cadenas (Jpn), Potager (Jpn), Red Galant (Jpn), Babbitt (Jpn). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Click for the JRA chart.

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