IRL:Cesario

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Cesario
シーザリオ
Main
Cesario winning the 2005 American Oaks at Hollywood Park
Silks
Romaji	Shīzario
Foaled	March 31, 2002
Died	February 27, 2021
Sire	Special Week
Dam	Kirov Premiere
Sex	Mare
Color	Black
Trainer	Katsuhiko Sumii
Race Record	6: 5-1-0
Earnings	228,296,000 JPY 450,000 USD
Major wins
Flower Cup (2005) Japanese Oaks (2005) American Oaks (2005)

Trailblazing Domination

Trailblazing Domination

Mehlor Ainda is 8 lengths from the JAPANESE SUPERSTAR, Cesario!

...She's running them off their feet!
Vic Stauffer, track announcer for the 2005 American Oaks

Cesario was a Japanese racehorse that was active from 2004 to 2005. She is known as the "Japan-American Oaks Filly" being the only filly to win both the Japanese Oaks and American Oaks, and becoming the first Japanese horse to win a graded stakes race in America in 46 years. She is also one of the most renowned broodmares in Japanese history, having produced three Grade 1 winning children.

Name Origin

A name based on the play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare. The protagonist, Viola, gives herself the name "Cesario" when disguised as a man.

Racing career

Two-year-old season (2004)

Cesario made her debut race on December 25th, in a 2-year-old debut 1600 meter race at Hanshin racecourse. She won her debut race in convincing fashion winning by 1 1/2 lengths, with her next race planned for the new year.

Three-year-old season (2005)

Cesario ran again in the Kanchiku Sho on January 9th, where she won by a neck over Admire Fuji, raising expectations for the filly. Her next race was in March for the G3 Flower Cup, a popular trial race for the Oka Sho. She was an overwhelming favorite at 1.4 odds, and win the race convincingly by 2 1/2 lengths.

Cesario entered the Oka Sho as the slight favorite, with Fillies Revue winner Rhein Kraft and Elfin Stakes winner Air Messiah just behind her in odds. However, since her main jockey Yuichi Fukunaga was also Rhein Craft's main jockey, jockey Minoru Yoshida took the reins instead for the Oka Sho. In the race, Cesario chased from the back of the pack, to catch Rhein Kraft in the final stretch. Though she was the fastest horse in the final 3 furlongs, Cesario failed to catch Rhein Kraft, losing by a head.

While Rhein Kraft went to challenge the NHK Mile Cup, Cesario's next race was the Japanese Oaks. With the absence of Rhein Kraft, Cesario was the overwhelming favorite in the race, with odds of 1.5. However during the race, Cesario had a troubled trip and stayed near the back of the field for most of the race. By the final stretch, Cesario began to chase down her opponents, and ended up catching Air Messiah by a head to win the Japanese Oaks. This win gave Special Week's first G1 victory as a sire, and the first G1 victory for Cesario.

Cesario's trainer, Katsuhiko Sumii, wanted to run her internationally, after being an assistant trainer for Air Shakur in his expedition to Europe. He decided to make his first international expedition with Cesario, and registered for the G1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park. At this time in Japanese racing, very few horses had traveled to America, with the only recent examples being Taiki Blizzard in 1996 and 1997, and Symboli Rudolf in 1986. The last Japanese horse to win in the US was Hakuchikara in 1959. Sumii prepared vigorously for the race and took great care in learning the American racing and training standards.

Cesario faced a competitive international field in the American Oaks; the local favorite Mehlor Ainda was an undefeated "super filly" trained by the legendary Robert Frankel, with European challengers in Italian 1000 Guineas winner Silver Cup and Italian Oaks runner-up Hallowed Dream. In the race, Cesario was keen upfront and ran well, taking the lead by the 3rd corner. She began running away and lengthening her lead by a wide margin, winning the race by 4 lengths and setting a race record time that was not broken until 2024 at Santa Anita; Hollywood Park closed in 2013 and the race has been run there since. The race is remembered for race commentator Vic Stauffer's iconic call of Cesario as the "Japanese Superstar." This was the first time a Japanese-bred and trained horse had won a G1 race in the United States, and it became a trailblazing moment for Japanese horses; Cesario's victory inspired many other Japanese horses to enter American races.

After Cesario returned to Japan, it was discovered that she developed suspensory desmitis, and was be sidelined for the rest of 2005. For winning the Japanese and American Oaks, Cesario was awarded the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly and Best Horse by a Home-bred Sire.

Retirement

Cesario recovered from her injuries in the beginning of 2006, and was planned to enter the G1 Victoria Mile. While in training, Cesario ended up again developing suspensory desmitis. Her injuries were deemed chronic, so she was retired on April 5th, 2006.

Breeding career

While Cesario was great as a racehorse, her career as a broodmare was considered to be legendary. In 2009, Cesario was bred to Symboli Kris S, resulting in Epiphaneia, a double-G1 winning horse which include the 2013 Kikuka Sho and 2014 Japan Cup. Epiphaneia, in turn, became a champion sire, eventually siring the Triple Tiara winner Daring Tact.

Cesario was bred to Symboli Kris S again, foaling Rosalind, who while winless as a racehorse, was the broodmare of the multiple graded winner Authority. Cesario's sixth foal was Leontes, who won the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes in 2015, and went to become a sire of multiple graded winners. Her 9th foal, Saturnalia, won the G1 Hopeful Stakes in 2018 and the Satsuki Sho in 2019, and also became a sire, with his first crop debuting in 2024. Cesario became the third broodmare in Japanese history to produce 3 G1 winning foals, following Dancing Key and Halwa Sweet. All 3 of her G1 winning progeny would become sires, becoming the first broodmare to do so in Japanese history. All three have sired at least one G1 winner.

On February 27th, 2021, at 18 years old, Cesario suffered a fatal hemorrhagic shock caused by arterial rupture in the uterus during pregnancy. She is buried at Northern Farm located in Abira, Hokkaido.

Honors

• JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly (2005)
• JRA Award for Best Horse By Home-bred Sire (2005)

Relationships

Relatives

• Special Week - Father
• Epiphaneia - Son

Race Records

Race data sourced from netkeiba.

Date	Racecourse	Race	Grade	Distance	Gate	Odds	Fav.	Fin.	Time	Margin	Jockey	Winner (Runner-Up)	Other Umamusume
2004/12/25	Hanshin	Two-Year-Old Newcomer	Maiden	T 1600m	10	4.2	2	1	1:36.7	-0.2	Y.Fukunaga	(Dantsu Queen Bee)
2005/01/09	Nakayama	Kanchiku Sho	Pre-OP	T 2000m	11	10.3	4	1	2:01.6	0.0	Y.Fukunaga	(Admire Fuji)
2005/03/19	Nakayama	Flower Cup	G3	T 1800m	2	1.4	1	1	1:49.0	-0.4	Y.Fukunaga	(Slew Rate)
2005/04/10	Hanshin	Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas)	G1	T 1600m	7	3.9	1	2	1:33.5	0.0	M.Yoshida	Rhein Kraft	Rhein Kraft, Daring Heart, Air Messiah
2005/05/22	Tokyo	Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)	G1	T 2400m	4	1.5	1	1	2:28.8	0.0	Y.Fukunaga	(Air Messiah)	Air Messiah
2005/07/03	Hollywood Park	American Oaks	G1	T 2000m	13			1	1:59.0	0.0	Y.Fukunaga	(Melhor Ainda)

Pedigree

Horse pedigree of Cesario (JPN)

Sire Special Week (JPN)	Sunday Silence (USA)	Halo (USA)	Hail To Reason (USA)
			Cosmah (USA)
		Wishing Well (USA)	Understanding (USA)
			Mountain Flower (USA)
	Campaign Girl (JPN)	Maruzensky (JPN)	Nijinsky (CAN)
			Shill (USA)
		Lady Shiraoki (JPN)	Saint Crespin (GB)
			Miss Ashiyagawa (JPN)
Dam Kirov Premiere (GB)	Sadler's Wells (USA)	Northern Dancer (CAN)	Nearctic (CAN)
			Natalma (USA)
		Fairy Bridge (USA)	Bold Reason (USA)
			Special (USA)
	Querida (IRE)	Habitat (USA)	Sir Gaylord (USA)
			Little Hut (USA)
		Principia (FR)	Le Fabuleux (FR)
			Pia (GB), (Family: 16-a)

Trivia

• Like their dam, most of her foals are also named after references to Shakespeare plays.