Equinox, rated the LONGINES World's Best Racehorse, has been retired to Japan's Shadai Stallion Station for the 2024 season, reports racingpost.com. The 4-year-old son of Kitasan Black is the first Japanese horse to exceed 2-billion yen in earnings (JPY 2,215,446,100, or US$14.9 million).
On Sunday, Equinox put in an impressive performance to win the Group 1 Japan Cup, his sixth top-level win in a row. Earlier this year in his first start outside his native Japan, Equinox won the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic over Westover, Zagrey, and Mostahdaf.
Trained by Tetsuya Kimura, Equinox was ridden throughout his career by jockey Christophe Lemaire.
Following his win in the Japan Cup, Lemaire said: “Many emotions came to my mind because it was an unbelievable race. Horseracing fans and lovers were able to see something very special. He is a top horse and can adapt to any kind of race or surface. When we came back in front of the huge happy crowd who witnessed the race, I became very emotional. As a professional jockey for many years, I work hard to ride to perfection, so today was very special. Equinox is easy to ride—he knows his job very well and he doesn't use too much energy—so riding a horse like him is a pleasure and I felt very privileged to be in the saddle of such a fantastic horse.”
No stud fee has yet been announced.
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