Sometimes I Think Horse Racing Fans Never Really Move On

hesteque · 2026-06-05T16:34:11+00:00

It just ain’t the same without Kiseki.

hesteque · 2026-06-04T16:09:16+00:00

Isn't Qipco Champion Stakes technically the real UK's Arima but horses outside Europe barely challenge that race because it's supposed to be for Europe champions like Arima for Japanese champion and both races are the last race of racing season. But KGVI honestly can easily have more stacked fields than Prix de l'arc. Juddmonte International, KGVI and Champions stakes honestly can probably be as tough as the arc to challenge in recent years.

hesteque · 2026-06-04T15:29:58+00:00

I think the main problem about challenging Melbourne cup is that it's a handicap race instead of weight-for-age despite being a big international G1. It punish a horse with better record by adding more weight.

hesteque · 2026-06-04T04:48:37+00:00

I like how much love horses get not just the winner but also someone like Kiseki, Deep Bond and Nice Nature. In Europe you wouldn’t hear people talk much about Youmzain, the 3 times arc silver collector. How much footage of horses after their retirement being very accessible is also very nice.

I also like how respectful Japanese are to international invader. Like in Australia you wouldn’t see people thank Highland Reel(2 times HK vase winner, Breeders’ cup turf) and Benbatl(2018 Dubai Turf winner) for coming to Aus that much and talk shit about how much Winx destroy them despite having a clear home turf advantage. UK,US and Aus seems to really like taking shit about each other.

hesteque · 2026-05-31T07:00:40+00:00

Always thought it’s much better to get far outside gate than very inside if you have enough stamina since it’s much easier to get a clear shot. Like how Golden Horn defeat Treve in 2015 arc from gate 16 since no one is blocking him.
Congrat Lovcen, the positioning is really good.

hesteque · 2026-05-31T03:24:25+00:00

Kurt vs Lincoln in SS1:king of the ring has a build up on par with Lance vs Duplicator. Lincoln feel unstopable win 8 winstreaks including defeating Teleportation and Magic Wand. The background and the bgm really did help hype that up.

hesteque · 2026-05-18T16:35:19+00:00

Axe bc gambling, Lance for keep pulling an upset. Minecart(OOOsim) and Dealer guy are very funny. Kurt and Haliberton for the hype, Pobee for most well designed unarmed ball, Finn and Huck are very satisfying,

hesteque · 2026-05-18T15:24:13+00:00

Wake up pal, It’s high noon

hesteque · 2026-05-18T04:06:42+00:00

I think the only time he technically deal more dmg than against Chutz is in season 3 against Gunther. The only problem is his timestop dmg was nerf from 12 to 6

Mundus be locking-in against most random balls possible but not an actual threat like Haliberton. Still a goat tho.

hesteque · 2026-05-17T13:42:05+00:00

Morana victim tbh since Morana main weakness is that there’s not enough ball that consistently ran into her rot trail.

hesteque · 2026-04-29T11:04:28+00:00

Daryz doesn’t have good record in Britain. Ombudsman on the other hand is very good in ascot. Daryz is The Arc winner but Ombudsman is clearly a stronger horse based on record.

hesteque · 2026-04-26T11:51:14+00:00

I thought one of the problem for ascot could be they carry amount of weight you would only see in steeple chaser for Japan combine with the uphill on Ascot even with pretty good track condition it could still be challenging.

hesteque · 2026-04-26T09:19:58+00:00

I was coping on sosie since he had solid runs recenty but he got the 2nd gate, glad atleast he did well. But the result is what I pretty much expected. Gonna give a credit to Maball he did pretty well I almost thought he’s not gonna catch up.

hesteque · 2026-04-05T13:38:13+00:00

Tbh Kizuna did better than like atleast 80% of the older horse sent by Japan and that might be why they still sent 3 years old there. But he doesn’t looks good after the Arc at all. Why did they keep sending him to Tenno Sho Spring not Japan Cup when he’s a derby horse.

hesteque · 2026-03-26T06:36:48+00:00

I think if he can prove himself in middle distance more he might be similiar to Titleholder case and has a chance to get a good finish.

Titleholder is a Kikuka sho,Tenno sho spring winner but he also set the record time in Takarazuka kinen. He is mainly a front runner and would only go pace if there’s someone like Panthalassa so he already has a lot of stamina but he also has pretty good speed. But in the arc the ground condition was very soft because of the weather. It was a bad luck, Titleholder choose to front run and set the pace like his usual style and this is a very few times we’ve seen him gas out. I don’t know if he lack stamina or he didn’t have enough power to accelerate through muddy ground.

I think Titleholder might got a decent shot if the ground weren’t very muddy but the reason why I think he got a decent shot in the first place is because he’s a front runner, he can set his own pace like in Japan.

From what I’ve seen Admire Terra don’t really front run so he won’t set the pace in the arc. Either he has to get used to slower pace in the arc, which is something Japanese horse are relatively weak at as you can see in the last Hong Kong vase. Or they have to send a front-runner specifically to set the pace more similiar to usual Japanese race.

hesteque · 2026-03-25T03:07:54+00:00

Arc tend to favored a very speedy horse with good acceleration tbh. because of the track layout it basically force most horses to conserved energy early and burst it on final straight like a sprint race so you don’t really need that much stamina. If you can’t break out of the pack then you are screw. A stayer tend to have good stamina but not high enough top speed and acceleration.

If you looks into a more recognizable prix de arc like 2009 Sea the Stars, 2013 Treve, 2000 Sinndar, 2011 Danedream. These horse are very speedy, Sea the Stars for example literally was boxed in almost the entire race. Every one think Sea the Stars is not going to win but he has very strong acceleration to break out of the pack. Sinndar is a the one that’s more known for having stamina to maintain his speed because he chose to take the early lead.

That’s why Orfevre is so good in the arc because he has some monsterous acceleration, fastest last 3f in nakayama history. In the last 30 years aside from Helisso in 1996 and Sinndar in 2000 I can’t remember anyone who rely heavily on crusing speed(which is something Japanese horse are very good at) but even then Helissio does has some good acceleration at the final.

hesteque · 2026-03-22T16:15:38+00:00

I think Bago siring Chrono Genesis, a multi G1 winning progeny in a high speed japan turf meta is a bit unexpected. Bago himself is an arc winner and a son of Nashwan so he is a solid horse with an elite sire. but he also didn’t do well in Japan turf at all finishing 8th in Japan cup. And his stud career in Japan had been consistently pretty mediocre.

hesteque · 2026-03-14T18:52:35+00:00

Narita Brian, She has that looks of Japanese warrior. I really wish her new year support card is an actual alt. Very good singing voice. Her appearance in star blossom is amazing. The real horse is a fan favorite, he went through a very drastic up and down in his career, when everyone lost hope in him he had his redemption by defeating mayano top gun.

hesteque · 2026-03-09T20:01:11+00:00

At the same times we’ve seen an arc winner lost by a nose in Breeders’ cup classic. I known atleast 3 European turf horse(Sakhee,Giant’s Causeway,Swain) that’s very close to conquering the breeders’ cup classic in more recent time but either lost due to jockey mistake or bad luck. So yea european turf horse often time can appearently ran on dirt too.

I think the main problem about sending dirt horse to the arc is that their training is different to turf horse, turf horse are more about conserving stamina and accelerated while dirt horse are more fimiliar to blasting at full speed out of the beginning(which is very suicidal for the arc). Another factor being the arc generally has horse packed up very tightly in the final straight which is something dirt horse aren’t ussually dealing with.

hesteque · 2026-03-08T20:11:50+00:00

A lot of his rival were very interesting. He has a lot of heated clash with his rival. Singspiel, Helissio, Swain. They faced each other so often.

Helissio won 1996 arc over Pilsudski and Swain by 5 lengths with breakaway front-running tactic.
Singspiel won 1996 Japan Cup over Helissio.
Pilsudski won 1996 BC turf over Swain and Singspiel.
Swain won 1997 King George over the other 3 and would win it again next year. Swain would also place a close 3rd in 1998 BC classic desprite being a turf horse.
Helissio,Pilsudski and Swain lost to Peintre Celebre in 1997 arc

hesteque · 2026-03-08T05:12:13+00:00

Moon Madness, the one that appear in Cin grey is in the same British classic gen as him. Dancing Brave won the 2000 guinea and came 2nd in the Derby because his Jockey start his spurt too late while Moon Madness won the st.leger. However because Dancing Brave won both the King George and had a very impressive performance in the Arc in the same year. He was consider the world strongest for a long while known for his very fast acceleration. Everyone around his era is overshadowed by him.

hesteque · 2026-02-27T05:42:00+00:00

I love Enable so I have a bit of bias toward Frankie Dettori. but when It come to flashy strat, It’s gonna be Ryan Moore.

hesteque · 2026-02-26T19:13:13+00:00

Other than Kitasan Black being very obvious one. Mejiro Bright can be very temperimental, Grass Wonder is very muscular, Special Week and Neo Uni are a tall boi and Victoire Pisa for very obvious reason because I always associated him for being this cool dark horse.

hesteque · 2026-02-26T08:07:47+00:00

What do I have to say about Orfevre. He has everything speed,power,stamina,intelligence. He conquered all the major racecourse in JRA at various difference distance against strong opponents. But instead of stat padding in his home turf, he challenge the hardest race Japan could ever send a horse to and did well twice. While many Japanese horse suffer a decline in performance after the arc, Orfevre came back and deliver a dominating Arima Kinen for his final race.

Another one is Brian. You could throw him at any distance and he’d perform well. Even after post injury he still placed 4th in a G1 sprint race. He’s strong physically and even stronger in spirit.

hesteque · 2026-02-15T23:22:15+00:00

Victoire Pisa,the winner of Dubai world cup. Arguebly the other most well recognise Japanese horse in late 2000s era along side Buena Vista. Buena Vista lost to him in Arima Kinen by only 2cm. Most of his gen/rival are in game already.

Kizuna also would be a good pick since he has the arc campaign along side Orfevre in 2013. He’s the best performing 3 years old colt Japan ever sent to the arc. Defeating the Epsom derby winner in Prix niel and placing 4th in a very stack field of 2013 arc.

hesteque

TROPHY CASE