r/HorseRacingJP

I'm sorry for the lower quality of some of these photos, but said low quality was present even from the official sites from which these pics originate. 

All credits should go the respective posters of each pics. The following sources in order:

1. https://xcancel.com/Shark_Tehm1975/status/2031351630726312236#m (specific date unknown, but was shot during Creek's "later years" according to the poster)
2. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXxb8OgEpNR/ (date unknown)
3. https://xcancel.com/Shark_Tehm1975/status/2042204357807210789#m (date unknown)
4. https://db.sp.netkeiba.com/horse/horse_photo_list.html?id=1985104409 (1993, 8 year old)
5. https://prekrasnie.exblog.jp/iv/detail/?s=680476&i=200410%2F24%2F86%2Fb0015386_18193494.jpg (October 24th 2004, 19 year old)
6. https://uma-furusato.com/column/33556.html (before October 2006, age early 20s)

7-8-9. https://uma-furusato.com/search_horse/0000179892.html (before or during November 2008, 23? year old)

10-11-12. https://db.sp.netkeiba.com/horse/horse_photo_list.html?id=1985104409 (October 2009, 24 year old)

Super Creek passed away at the age of 25 in August 2010.

Ash Gold joined the Somes Saddle family in 2019, and the farm's site describes him as follows:

>His father is Stay Gold, his mother is Oriental Art, and his maternal grandsire is Mejiro McQueen.
He is a well-bred horse, with older brothers from the same parents including Orfevre, who has achieved the Triple Crown and two second-place finishes in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and Dream Journey, who has won three G1 races including the Arima Kinen.

>Although he himself hasn't won any major titles, he's a fine 10-year-old male [TN - this description was written in 2022, so now Ash Gold is 14] with a diverse racing record ranging from two-year-old graded stakes races to steeplechase races, and also has experience at a riding club. [...]

>Ash is usually friendly and adorable, but at times he can be mischievous and willful due to his wild lineage, which gives him a charm that keeps everyone who watches him entertained.

Link to the pics:

• https://www.somes.co.jp/blog/37059/?srsltid=AfmBOoq9pvOYbbw85mDyQmsgafiN2IHNFdUBd6pY9jgwKFSUtbdwkN9m
• https://www.instagram.com/p/CBM376VjhxZ/?img_index=2
• https://www.instagram.com/p/DPLjvSwD8d7/?img_index=1
• https://x.com/minakuchirc/status/1113080295408824320

Context: the Mejiro and Symboli farms were already having financial troubles and when SS was brought to Japan and his children were winning hard, it pretty much sealed the faiths of the two farms. Which is pretty funnily ironic that Sunday became great friends with McQueen and kinda enemies with Teio on the farm they were staying at

https://news.sp.netkeiba.com/?pid=news_view&no=330955 AND https://news.sp.netkeiba.com/?pid=news_view&no=330956

Equinox x Uberleben (by Gold ship) yearling

Hopefully he doesn't inherit any temperament from his damsire.

Katsumi Ando is a retired jockey: among the many horses he rode across his 47-year long career, he was the main jockey of Daiwa Scarlet, riding her across all her 12 races. He obviously watched the most recent edition of the Tenno Sho Spring, and commented that "the long photo finish reminded me of the Autumn Tenno Sho".

What he refers to is the 2008 Akiten to which he directly partecipated as the rider of Daiwa Scarlet, queen of two legs of the Tiara and one of the top contenders of the race, 2th favourite: the top favourite was her rival, Derby and Yasuda Kinen winner, Vodka, ridden at the time by Yutaka Take.

The race entered keiba history because of the performance of these two powerhouse fillies (without also forgetting Deep Sky and Company's merits), who crossed the finish line side by side: the margin between the two was so small that it could not be judged by naked eye alone. After crossing the goal, instead of performing a victory lap as it was usual, both Katsumi Ando and Yutaka Take returned with their horse to the weighing room in order to hear the final result.

According to the newspaper Yushun, Ando actually thought to have lost from the start, but was surprised when Daiwa Scarlet's officials intimated him to take the first-place gate, believing that Scarlet was the one having the advantage; Ando was kinda surprised of it, while Take dismounted from Vodka with a stern expression on his face. The waiting for the final result was so long that the final race of that day, the 12th, originally set right after the Tenno Sho, was postponed. Only 13 minutes later* the result appeared on the scoreboard, proving that Vodka was the ultimate winner of the match: the margin of the "century's dead heat" was none other than 2cm**.

*At the 2026 Tenno Sho, the photo finish was consulted for 11 minutes
**The margin between Croix du Nord and Wurttemberg was the same, exactly 2cm

Almost a year after the race, in June 2009, Ando remembered his experience at the Akiten and Daiwa Scarlet's performance through these words:

>"When she [Vodka] was caught up to me, I thought she wouldn't even get third place. But she still managed to extend her lead from there, so she's a really great horse."

>"People say it was a great race, but to me it was the worst race I've ever seen, it wasn't the kind of race an ordinary horse could endure, and when I think about that, I feel she's considerably better than Vodka."

All the following sources come from the dedicated JP Wikipedia page for the 2008 Akiten, while Ando's Twitter comment for the 2026 Akiten can be found here.

Source: https://x.com/yosukei77/status/2052652296690192882

5月10日に府中で撮った写真です。

1.ウォッカとエイシンフラッシュ

分かり難いですが、木の下にエイシンフラッシュがいて、ウォッカと同じポーズをしています。

2.バラとエイシンフラッシュ

黒い馬体と赤いバラは映えますね。

3.福永祐一騎手(今は調教師)とエイシンフラッシュ

現役時代にエイシンフラッシュに騎乗した福永祐一も登場しました。残念ながら彼の馬(ダイヤモンドノット)は負けてしまいましたが・・・

とにかく凄い人出で中々近付けませんでしたが、何とか横から撮影出来ました。エイシンフラッシュは落ち着いていて、一人でゆっくり歩き回りながら、時々立ち止まって観客の方をじっと見つめていました。もしかしたら、現役時代を思い出していたのかもしれません。

From this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DPz4VmDkcE

This gives a lot of Special Week/Do Deuce type comparisons if you look deeper… She truly would try to steal Croix away from Kita and Chrono as her own daughter if it happens lel

From this article dedicated to Wurttemberg:

>He [Wurttemberg] hasn't won a graded stakes race yet, but his strengths are his long stride and stamina, and he has always ended up in slow-paced races that come down to a burst of speed, which is not his strong suit. "He's not a horse that can accelerate in an instant, so it's tough if he's not in a forward position at the fourth corner," assistant trainer Yoshida recalls. However, he had the fastest closing speed and continued to accelerate even after passing the finish line, showing that his stamina is inexhaustible.

>Assistant trainer Teppei Ueno, who is currently in charge of training, also says, "He could probably even run 4000m." He catches his breath quickly during workouts, and even in the Diamond Stakes, he was already fine when it was time to wash his eyes. "There aren't many horses like that," assistant trainers Yoshida and Ueno agree.

>Apparently, when he's in good form, he'll show mischievous behavior like standing up. "This horse stands up when he's putting his full strength into his hindquarters, and sometimes even in the middle of a canter," says Assistant Ueno, describing a rather frightening sight to imagine. "He doesn't do that in races, and it's a parameter of when Wurttemberg is in good form. I just make sure he doesn't fall," he says casually.