Wakataka (horse)
| Wakataka ワカタカ | |
|---|---|
 Wakataka at Meguro Racecourse on April 24, 1932 | |
| Breed | Thoroughbred-type |
| Sire | Tournesol |
| Grandsire | Gainsborough |
| Dam | Taneshin |
| Damsire | Ebor |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 17 March 1929 |
| Died | 10 March 1945 (aged 15) Shinhidaka, Hokkaido, Japan |
| Country | Japan |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Shimosa Imperial Stock Farm |
| Owner | Kenichi Inui |
| Trainer | Tamazo Higashihara |
| Jockey | Magsaku Hakodate |
| Record | 21: 12-5-2 |
| Earnings | ¥73,698 |
| Major wins | |
| Tokyo Yushun (1932) | |
Wakataka (Japanese: ワカタカ, Hepburn: Wakataka; 17 March 1929 – 10 March 1945) was a Japanese Thoroughbred-type racehorse. He competed from 1932 to 1933, recording twelve wins in twenty-one starts.[1] He won the inaugural running of the Tokyo Yushun Dai Kyoso (Japanese Derby) on April 24, 1932, becoming the first horse to win the race.[2] He was a grandson of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough.[2]
Background
Wakataka was a chestnut horse bred at the Shimosa Imperial Stock Farm (下総御料牧場) in Inba District, Chiba Prefecture.[1] His birth name (幼名) was "Asashin" (朝信).[3] He was sired by Tournesol, a British-bred son of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough who had been imported to Japan; Wakataka was from his first crop.[2] His dam was Taneshin (種信), a Thoroughbred-type mare by the imported stallion Ebor, whose granddam was Mira (ミラ), a foundational broodmare of early Japanese racing.[1] His racing name combines "Waka" (young) with "Taka" (hawk).[1] He was owned by Kenichi Inui, one of the founders of Nakayama Racecourse, and sent into training with Tamazo Higashihara at Nakayama.[2] His regular jockey was Magsaku Hakodate, who rode him in all twenty-one of his races.[1]
Racing career
1932: Three-year-old season
Wakataka debuted on March 26, 1932, at Nakayama Racecourse, finishing fifth.[2] Three weeks later, he won a maiden race at the Meguro Racecourse in Tokyo by ten lengths on a muddy track.[2]
On April 24, he contested the inaugural Tokyo Yushun Dai Kyoso at the Meguro Racecourse, the predecessor of the modern Tōkyō Yūshun.[1] The race was broadcast nationally by NHK Radio 1.[2] Ridden by Magosaku Hakodate, he was the 1.95-to-1 favourite in a field of nineteen.[2] He took the lead from the start and won by four lengths over Otsukayama in a time of 2:45.4 on a heavy track, becoming the first Japanese Derby winner.[2][1]
He went on to win six more races in 1932, including the Teishitsu Goshoten (Imperial Prize) at Tokyo, the Yokohama Tokubetsu (Yokohama Special) at Yokohama Racecourse, and the Norinsho Shoten Kyoso (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Prize) at Tokyo, setting course records in the latter two.[1]
1933: Four-year-old season
Wakataka won five races in 1933.[1] In his final three starts on December 1, 2, and 3, he carried weights of 71 to 73 kilograms and recorded two wins and one second place over three consecutive days.[2]
Statistics
The following table details all 21 starts of Wakataka's racing career based on historical records from the Nihon Derby 50-nen Shi and Imai 1987.
| Date | Distance (Condition) | Race | Course | Odds (Favourite) |
Field | Finish | Time | Jockey | Winning (Losing) Margin |
Winner (2nd Place) |
Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 – three-year-old season | |||||||||||
| Mar 26 | Turf 1800 m (Firm) | Shin Ko | Nakayama | (1st) | 11 | 5th | – | Magosaku Hakodate | – | Thunder Clap | [1] |
| Apr 16 | Turf 2000 m (Muddy) | Shin Ko | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 11 | 1st | 2:11.0 | Magosaku Hakodate | –10.0 | (Hakusetsu) | [1] |
| Apr 24 | Turf 2400 m (Heavy) | Tokyo Yushun Dai Kyoso | Tokyo (Meguro) | 1.95 (1st) | 19 | 1st | 2:45.4 | Magosaku Hakodate | –4.0 | (Otsukayama) | [1] |
| Oct 1 | Turf 2000 m (Muddy) | All Comer Handicap | Yokohama | (1st) | 8 | 3rd | 2:11.4 | Magosaku Hakodate | – | Yamayasu | [1] |
| Oct 3 | Turf 2000 m (Muddy) | Ko Ba | Yokohama | (2nd) | 4 | 1st | 2:09.2 | Magosaku Hakodate | –8.0 | (Otsukayama) | [1] |
| Oct 9 | Turf 3200 m (Heavy) | Yokohama Tokubetsu | Yokohama | (1st) | 5 | 1st | R3:29.2 | Magosaku Hakodate | –8.0 | (Asaha) | [1] |
| Oct 23 | Turf 2000 m (Firm) | Teishitsu Goshoten | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 5 | 1st | 2:07.4 | Magosaku Hakodate | –2.5 | (Ascot) | [1] |
| Oct 30 | Turf 3200 m (Firm) | Norinsho Shoten Kyoso | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 5 | 1st | R3:26.4 | Magosaku Hakodate | –2.0 | (Hakusetsu) | [1] |
| Nov 26 | Turf 2000 m (Firm) | Ko Ko Ba Tokushu Handicap | Nakayama | (1st) | 8 | 1st | R2:07.4 | Magosaku Hakodate | –0.1 | (Ascot) | [1] |
| Nov 27 | Turf 2400 m (Heavy) | Nakayama 4-Y-O Tokubetsu | Nakayama | (1st) | 6 | 2nd | 2:39.6 | Magosaku Hakodate | 0.1 | Hakuko | [1] |
| Dec 4 | Turf 2600 m (Firm) | Yusho | Nakayama | (1st) | 8 | 3rd | – | Magosaku Hakodate | 6.0 | Zenso | [1] |
| 1933 – four-year-old season | |||||||||||
| Oct 7 | Turf 1800 m (Firm) | Ko Ba | Yokohama | (2nd) | 8 | 1st | 1:55.2 | Magosaku Hakodate | –3.5 | (King Doser) | [1] |
| Oct 22 | Turf 2400 m (Muddy) | Yusho | Yokohama | (2nd) | 5 | 2nd | – | Magosaku Hakodate | 6.0 | Hakuko | [1] |
| Oct 28 | Turf 2000 m (Firm) | Ko Ko Ba Tokushu Handicap | Nakayama | (5th) | 12 | 12th | – | Magosaku Hakodate | – | Hakusetsu | [1] |
| Nov 3 | Turf 1800 m (Muddy) | Ko Ba Handicap | Nakayama | (1st) | 11 | 1st | 1:56.6 | Magosaku Hakodate | –4.0 | (Iwaume) | [1] |
| Nov 5 | Turf 3200 m (Firm) | Nakayama Autumn 5-Y-O Tokubetsu | Nakayama | (2nd) | 4 | 2nd | – | Magosaku Hakodate | 2.5 | Hakuko | [1] |
| Nov 11 | Turf 2600 m (Heavy) | Yusho | Nakayama | (2nd) | 8 | 1st | 2:55.0 | Magosaku Hakodate | –2.5 | (Happy Land) | [1] |
| Nov 25 | Turf 2400 m (Firm) | 5-Y-O Tokubetsu | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 11 | 2nd | – | Magosaku Hakodate | 1.5 | Hakusetsu | [1] |
| Dec 1 | Turf 1800 m (Heavy) | Shin Ko Handicap | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 11 | 2nd | – | Magosaku Hakodate | 0.5 | Isahaya | [1] |
| Dec 2 | Turf 1800 m (Heavy) | Shin Ko | Tokyo (Meguro) | (1st) | 6 | 1st | 2:03.2 | Magosaku Hakodate | –2.0 | (Artful) | [1] |
| Dec 3 | Turf 2600 m (Muddy) | Yusho | Tokyo (Meguro) | (2nd) | 8 | 1st | 2:55.0 | Magosaku Hakodate | –5.0 | (Kikunohana) | [1] |
Post-racing career and death
Following his retirement, Wakataka became a national stallion at the Hidaka Stock Farm (日高種馬牧場).[2] However, as a Thoroughbred-type horse, demand was limited; most of his mares were intermediate breeds used as military horses, and his representative offspring competed in Arab horse races.[2] He was retired from stud duty in 1943 and subsequently used as a riding horse at the Shizunai Agricultural School (静内農学校, now Hokkaido Shizunai High School).[2] He died of chronic pulmonary emphysema on March 10, 1945.[2] His remains were buried beneath the animal memorial monument on the school grounds.[2]
Pedigree
| Sire Tournesol (GB) 1922 |
Gainsborough (GB) 1915 |
Bayardo | Bay Ronald |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galicia | |||
| Rosedrop | St. Frusquin | ||
| Rosaline | |||
| Soliste (GB) 1910 |
Prince William | Bill of Portland | |
| La Vierge | |||
| Sees | Chesterfield | ||
| La Goulue | |||
| Dam Taneshin (JPN) 1918 |
Ebor (GB) 1905 |
Hackler | Petrarch |
| Hackness | |||
| Lord Gough | Lady Gough | ||
| Clar Case | |||
| Daini Mira (JPN) 1911 |
Daini Spooner | Spooner | |
| Daini Wall Dancebury | |||
| Mira | Unknown | ||
| Unknown |
- Wakataka is inbred 5 × 5 to Hampton and 5 × 5 to St. Simon (both sire side).[1]
- His sire Tournesol was a son of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough.[2]
- His half-brother Happy Chapel (by an unknown sire) won the Teishitsu Goshoten (Tokyo).[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Nihon Derby 50-nen Shi (in Japanese). Japan Racing Association. 1983. pp. 48–49, 205.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Imai, Takeo (1987). Derby-ba no Rirekisho (in Japanese). Hoiku Shiryosha. pp. 22–24, 251. ISBN 978-4829302170.
- ↑ "Meiba Mira no Kioku". Suiyo Uma Spe! (in Japanese). 6 July 2016. Green Channel.