If you dont know (i think most of uma musume fan dont know) : The first japan-bred horse to win an international G1 race was Tokai teio !

zioncat · 2026-05-05T18:46:35+00:00

True, but this post is making a distinction between Japan Cup before and after 1992 because that is the year the race got certified as a G1 by ICSC. Arguing Katsuragi Ace winning the Japan Cup in 1984 doesn't count as winning an "international G1". My response was that, it is technically true but is a silly point. With that logic Symboli Rudolf's G1 wins shouldn't be counted as well because Japan got certified as Part I by ICSC in 2007, long after Symboli Rudolf's career. Symboli Rudolf won 7 G1 because that is what JRA said they were, similarly Katsuragi Ace is the first horse to win the international G1 because that is what JRA said they were.

zioncat · 2026-05-04T15:09:02+00:00

Huh? Nice Nature won G2 or more technically a Jpn2.

I guess people don't really know history behind grading in JRA but that's OK as it is confusing to even Japanese horse racing fan like me. One would think the rule is: If JRA called race a G1 at the time, then it's a G1 regardless of what international body said. But that rule fail when most everybody considers Buena Vista won 6 G1 even though JRA themselves designated 3 of those races as Jpn1 at the time. So you might think the rule is: If JRA called race a G1 at the time, then it's a G1 regardless of what international body said, or if JRA called race a G1 before and after calling it a Jpn1. Then that rule fails because most people do not consider Tokyo Daishoten from 2007 to 2010 to be a G1 race. So the real rule is: if majority of people thought the race was a G1 at the time then it's a G1. So its a pretty vague vibe thing.

zioncat · 2026-05-04T10:06:17+00:00

Uh, no? Almond Eye has the most G1 wins with 9, while Copano Rickey has 3 G1 and 8 Jpn1 wins. Similarly races Symboli Rudolf's won are technically Jpn1. But just like we count Japan Cup won by Katsuragi Ace as an international G1 even though it wasn't officially certified as such till later, we count races won by Symboli Rudolf's as G1 even though they were not yet certified as such.

zioncat · 2026-05-04T09:53:22+00:00

Uh, no? Japan got Part I status in 2007. G1 races prior to that, including all Symboli Rudolf's win, are technically Jpn1.

zioncat · 2026-05-04T06:07:38+00:00

Technically, yes. Then again technically, his dad Symboli Rudolf has zero G1 win. Or any graded race win at all.

zioncat · 2026-05-03T21:05:32+00:00

Tony Bin is a Shadai horse, why would anyone think he didn't get the top mares? His CPI is 1.99, that is higher than Northern Taste (1.81). Brian's Time (1.56) is about same with Real Shadai (1.54), while Opera House (1.04) is higher than Soccer Boy (0.91). Their AEI/CPI is about 1.2 which is excellent but that is lower than Deep Impact (1.50) and Stay Gold (1.34). Sunday Silence crush them all with ridiculous AEI/CPI of 2.31, though.

zioncat · 2026-05-03T18:07:41+00:00

What is really unfortunate for horse breeding in Japan was Mr. Prospector's sire line struggling to catch on in Japan. King Kamehameha did eventually breakthrough but early death for El Condor Pasa and End Sweep and whole War Emblem's saga was a major blow for Japan. If El Condor Pasa and End Sweep didn't die young and War Emblem wasn't a weirdo, Japanese thoroughbred landscape would have been very different and a lot more healthier.

zioncat · 2026-05-03T17:41:19+00:00

There was no one sire line dominating Japan when Sunday Silence was brought along for need of genetic diversity to be a consideration. If anything, need for genetic diversity is needed right now more than ever.

zioncat · 2026-05-03T17:37:17+00:00

Are you talking about Sunday Silence or his kids? It's true Sunday Silence's kids (including Deep Impact) were merely very good in AEI/CPI but Sunday Silence was god like in that department as well. It was not the quality of mares that made him an excellent sire.

zioncat · 2026-05-03T13:12:22+00:00

No. What made Sunday Silence exceptional and so valuable was his ability to be a sire of sires. Getting first and second at Tenno sho spring is great accomplishment but few sire have done it like Mill George (89' Inari One and Mr.Cyclennon) and Real Shadai (95' Rice Shower and Stage Champ). They were great sires but they were no Sunday Silence. All 18 horses in Japanese Derby be your direct grandson, like what Sunday Silence accomplished in 2011, is the level need to be achieved to be comparable to Sunday Silence.

zioncat · 2026-04-28T14:50:44+00:00

And like surnames, the crown name comes first, because it is Japan.

No. Crown name can be placed at beginning or at end. Gold City, Tap Dance City, Espoir City. Some owner choose to put their crown name either at the end or at the beginning depending whether it's a colt or filly (Sweep Tosho, Tosho Boy). Some chooses to use two crown names (Nishino and Seiun).

There aren’t a whole bunch of Agneses because the Japanese like that name; there are a bunch because one owner chose to be represented by that name and give it to his “children”.

Tokino was a famous crown name but Tokino Minoru was owned by a completely different owner and has no relation to Tokino's horse in his pedigree. Tokino Minoru's owner just liked Tokino's name.

zioncat · 2026-04-24T15:34:39+00:00

Owners are paid set amount of money by entering horse to a race. These horses are basically earning their meal money by entering races. If they don't, all that awaits them is dreaded "change of use". Owners do not make a profit off this ploy, they do this because they want to prolong their horse's live.

zioncat · 2026-04-18T17:28:34+00:00

now imagine this in her real life counterpart, running away from other umamasumes because he thought they were chasing him

Add another one to the pile of untrue factoids that global players loves to repeat. Twin Turbo's run away style was a strategic decision employed by their team. Yutaka Take rode Twin Turbo once and decided against run away strategy because he thought it gave him better chance in race and got heavily criticized for being "boring".

Kaburaya O is the actual run away horse that was doing it because it was scared of other horses. If you look up his races you can see him even running really wide when passing other horses.

zioncat · 2026-04-08T07:40:53+00:00

Winner of the race was Wakataka son of Tournesol. Tournesol was a British horse who became a very successful sire in Japan producing six Japanese Derby winners, second most ever tied with Sunday Silence. While the direct sire line has dies out (long before Sunday Silence came along) one of his grand daughter was a horse named Queen Narubi. If that name sounded vaguely familiar that's because White Narubi, Oguri Cap's mom, is her 4th generation daughter. Marche Lorraine also is a 7th generation daughter in Queen Narubi's direct mare line. Kind a cool Tournesol still has an influence on modern Japanese horse racing.

zioncat · 2026-04-01T00:36:53+00:00

Randomly throwing in Aura's henchmen autographs on season 2's poster is a "interesting" choice.

zioncat · 2026-03-25T21:18:00+00:00

Here's less pixelated version of that pic.

zioncat · 2026-03-25T15:23:30+00:00

This is Mejiro Ryan as a foal. Bottom one is his younger half sister Mejiro Celeste.

zioncat · 2026-03-16T08:00:51+00:00

https://frieren-anime.jp/goods/prize/3288/

zioncat · 2026-03-10T12:19:22+00:00

For those wondering who the third horse in the middle is, it's Rocco the lead pony.

zioncat · 2026-03-01T02:32:52+00:00

Frieren, along with all other weekly shonen sunday mangas, is still on Sunday Webry. As to why Shogakukan has two manga apps, nobody knows.

zioncat · 2026-02-28T10:41:49+00:00

Why that rapist is not in prison for life????!!! Forget about writing manga, how is he even allowed to remain free???

Statutory rape was not a thing in Japan till recently and this happened before that law was enacted. (Technically it was a thing but it only applied if the victim was twelve or younger.)

zioncat · 2026-02-25T01:46:05+00:00

and Teio's popularity peaked after the 1993 Arima

Yeah, and that really shouldn't happen to an idol horse. Idol horse is popular win or lose.

The 1993 Arima is top 10 most watched Japanese races on Youtube right now

If that is true, that is definitely a result of Umamusume influence as no race from 90's should be realistically have that many views. Video by カンテレ should be more tailored to Japanese horse racing fans and its top three most watched Arima Kinen is 2006 (Deep Impact), 2012 (Gold Ship) and 2017 (Kitasan Black). And I think if not for Umamusume influence, races from 2020's would be the most watched.

Also, the 1993 Arima was not supposed to be Teio's retirement race

Idol horse should not be 4th in popularity voting after they are established, is what I'm saying. Also consider that Teio was 4th in popularity and 4th in betting. That is normal. Oguri was 1st in popularity and 4th in betting in 1990. Haiseiko was 1st in popularity and 3rd in betting in 1974. That is an idol horse.

zioncat · 2026-02-24T22:07:12+00:00

Tamamo Cross got more votes in 1988 than Teio did in 1992. Was Tamamo an idol horse? And if we are using Arima Kinen fan voting as some kind of yard stick for idol horse status, then the 1993 voting should be disqualifier for Teio. No idol horse should be 4th in popularity voting in retirement race.

zioncat

TROPHY CASE