THIS time last year Maurice hadn’t even done enough to warrant being ranked in Japan’s top 50 three-year-olds. However, 12 months later, he has just being crowned Horse of the Year.

The Kazumi Yoshida-owned colt recorded a perfect six wins in six starts in 2016 culminating in a hat trick of Group 1 wins, enough to secure 215 of the 291 votes cast by racing journalists in the ballot for Japan’s top racing honour.

The attractive bay started last year in a conditions race in January and was guided to a facile victory by Fran Berry. He followed up again in a further conditions race before capturing the G2 Lord Derby Challenge Cup, his first career black-type win.

He then won the Yasuda Kinen and Mile Championship, both Japanese Group 1 races. However, it was his win in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in December that cemented his claims for Horse of the Year honours as the vanquished that day included such heavyweights as Able Friend, a four-time Group 1 winner in the ex-British colony. Maurice also received the champion sprinter/miler award.

Much of the credit for the transformation in the performance of the son of Screen Hero must go to Yukihiro Horii who took over the training of the horse a year ago. It has been a wonderful year for the 48-year-old Miho-based trainer as he was also honoured with the champion trainer award both in the wins and winning percentage categories.

Another of Hori’s charges, Duramente, was crowned champion three-year-old colt having received 285 of the 291 votes cast. Without question, Duramente was the best horse seen in Japan last year. He was memorable in the Group 1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and won the first colt’s classic of the year in the second fastest time in the race’s 75-year history. He followed up by winning the Derby in a new record time in what was simply a sensational performance.

training accident

However, a training accident in a spelling farm after the Derby has kept him off the track since.

Nevertheless, he is expected to make a full recovery and it is anticipated that he will be one of Japan’s main flag bearers in 2016. His main target will be the Arc.

Mikki Queen was the unanimous choice for the three-year-old filly honour. The daughter of Deep Impact, a €825,000 (¥105,000,000) yearling purchase, won two top tier races last year including the Oaks and Shuka Sho.

You might expect that a four-year-old horse (Maurice) who had just been crowned Horse of The Year in addition to champion sprinter/miler would also, almost by necessity, be champion older horse. Not so in Japan however as Lovely Day polled 174 votes in that division as compared to only 114 for Maurice.

This is difficult perhaps for occidentals to comprehend but many of the voting hacks, while clearly believing that Maurice was the better horse, felt that Lovely Day’s magnificent six group wins last year which included the Group 1 Takaruzka Kinen and the Group 1 Tenno Sho needed to be recognised and acknowledged in some way, reflecting the Japanese penchant for harmony and balance.

There is precedence for this and two years ago Lord Kanaloa was voted Horse of the Year while the champion older horse honour went to Orfevre.

Shonan Pandora claimed the older filly award with 213 votes. Fillies and mares have been dominating the Japan Cup in recent years and Shonan Pandora’s win last year continued what was already a pronounced trend. In the last seven runnings of what is Japans’ flagship international race, five fillies have prevailed.

Indeed, had Buena Vista, who crossed the line first with a comfortable two lengths to spare in the 2010 event, not been disqualified the record would now read six out of seven for the fairer sex.

The juvenile awards were very clear cut. Leontes, a son of King Kamehameha won both of his two starts including the only JRA Group 1 race for two-year-old colts and received all but two of the votes cast.

It was a similar story in the juvenile filly division with the award going to Major Emblem. The daughter of Daiwa Major won the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and was the unanimous choice.

Five different horses received votes in the dirt category but it was Copano Rickey, winner of the February Stakes and JBC Classic, who won the honour having secured just over 50% of the vote.

Japanese success for Berry

IRISH jockey Fran Berry rode Savannah Road to success in a maiden at Nakayama last Sunday, taking his tally of winners to four already in the new year, during his short term permit to ride in Japan. Berry’s permit runs until March 2nd, until when he will ride mainly from the JRA Miho Training Centre.