IRL:Gran Alegria

Main

Gallery

IRL

Game

Spoilers ahead! This page contains real life information that may spoil any story or events related to the character. Read at your own discretion!

Gran Alegria
グランアレグリア
Main
Gran Alegria at the 2021 Victoria Mile
Silks
Romaji	Guran Areguria
Foaled	January 24, 2016
Sire	Deep Impact
Dam	Tapitsfly
Sex	Mare
Color	Bay
Trainer	Kazuo Fujisawa
Race Record	15: 9-2-2
Earnings	1,073,810,000 JPY
Major wins
Saudi Arabia Royal Cup (2018) Oka Sho (2019) Hanshin Cup (2019) Yasuda Kinen (2020) Sprinters' Stakes (2020) Mile Championship (2020, 2021) Victoria Mile (2021)

Beauty and Speed

Beauty and Speed

She has the honor of becoming the first horse in history to conquer every mile Grade 1 race for older horses.
Her name, meaning "big cheer" in Spanish, will be remembered alongside her breathtaking beauty.
JRA Hero Legend #89

Gran Alegria is a Japanese racehorse that was active from 2018 to 2021. She is best known for being the first Japanese horse in history to win all JRA mile G1 mile races for older horses, which includes the Yasuda Kinen in 2020, the Victoria Mile in 2021, and the Mile Championship in both 2020 and 2021.

Name Origin

"Gran Alegria" means big cheers in Spanish.

Racing career

Two-year-old season (2018)

Gran Alegria made her debut on June 3rd, 2018, in a 1,600-meter turf race on Tokyo Racecourse. She won her maiden by two lengths, and a few months later she entered the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup (G3) on October 6th. Despite suffering from a late start, she eventually caught up to the horses in front and overtook them, winning by three lengths.

Instead of entering the filly-only G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, she participated in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes on December 16th instead. This was because her main jockey, Christophe Lemaire, was scheduled to race in the Hong Kong International Races the same week. Because of her victories so far, she was the most popular as she was expected to be the first filly in 38 years since Tenmon in 1980 to win the race. Though she was in second throughout the middle of the race, Admire Mars overtook her in the end, and she placed third.

Three-year-old season (2019)

Avoiding the trial race, she immediately entered the Oka Sho on April 7th, 2019. During the race, Gran Alegria ran in the middle of the pack. At the third corner, she began to accelerate, and in the final stretch, she overtook the horses ahead of her and was in the lead. She won by two lengths and a half, and her time of 1:32.7 beat the record set by the previous year's Triple Tiara winner Almond Eye, her record later beaten by Sodashi in 2021. Not only that, but her 111-day break before the Oka Sho also beat Almond Eye's record break of 89 days.

After that, she entered the NHK Mile Cup on May 5th. She couldn't chase as well as she did in the Oka Sho, and she lost to Admire Mars and finished fourth. However, it was discovered that she interfered with Danon Chaser's path, so her placement was demoted to fifth.

As she rested in the summer, it was initially planned for her to compete in the Sprinters' Stakes, but due to pus accumulation in her left front leg, her break continued. Because of this, she also had to miss out on the Mile Championship. She did not race until December 21st, where she entered the Hanshin Cup (G2). She won by five lengths, and she was the first three-year-old filly to win the race.

At the end of the year, she was awarded the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly.

Four-year-old season (2020)

Shunsuke Yoshida, the representative for Sunday Racing, announced that Gran Alegria would be entering the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, the Victoria Mile, and the Yasuda Kinen in the spring. On March 29th, 2020, she entered the Takamatsunomiya Kinen with the jockey Kenichi Ikezoe instead, because Lemaire was scheduled to race in Dubai that month. At the final stretch, she surged forth, but could not reach Mozu Superflare and finished a close third place. However, due to Kurino Gaudi's disqualification for obstruction, she was then promoted to second place.

Though she was going to enter the Victoria Mile, it was avoided due to heat issues, so she didn't race until the Yasuda Kinen on June 7th. Ikezoe was her jockey once again for the final time, as Lemaire was going to be Almond Eye's jockey during the race. Racing in the midfield, she began to accelerate through and won by two lengths and a half, holding off the chasing horses Almond Eye and Indy Champ.

Resting in the summer, she returned on October 4th to compete in the Sprinters' Stakes. Racing from the back, she overtook the other horses in the final straight, and won the race by two lengths. Her final race of the year was the Mile Championship, where she won the race despite being blocked for a brief period. This victory made her the eighth Japanese horse in history to win both Spring and Autumn G1 mile races in the same year.

Gran Alegria was awarded the JRA Award for Best Sprinter or Miler at the end of the year.

Five-year-old season (2021)

On April 4th, 2021, Gran Alegria entered the 2,000-meter Osaka Hai. This was the first time she would participate in a medium-distanced race, and though she fought hard to chase, she lost to the mare Lei Papale and placed fourth. After the race, Lemaire stated that had the race conditions been good, Gran Alegria's results would've been different, since her condition was fine. A month later, on May 16th, she entered the Victoria Mile. Running in the middle of the pack, she surged forth and won by fourth lengths. This victory made Gran Alegria the first Japanese horse to win all G1 mile races for older horses.

Two weeks later on June 6th, she entered the Yasuda Kinen, but she did not utilize her strong last spurt and lost by a neck to Danon Kingly. Though not demoted, Lemaire was fined 30,000 yen for interfering with the path of Salios and Lauda Sion in the final straight of the race.

In the summer, it was discovered that Gran Alegria was sick with epiglottis entrapment, so she had to undergo surgery on August 12th. Later, it was then announced that she would compete in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), her second and final attempt at a medium-distance victory. On October 31st, despite accelerating early in the final stretch, Contrail caught up to her, but both of them lost to Efforia, placing Gran Alegria in third.

Her final race of the year was the Mile Championship on November 21st. Not only that, it was also suddenly announced four days before the race that she would retire shortly after. Racing from behind in the pack, she eventually began to surge past the horses in the final stretch and won the race by three-fourths of a length. This marked her sixth and final G1 victory, and on December 18th, a retirement ceremony was held for her on Nakayama Racecourse.

At the end of the year, she once again won the JRA Award for Best Sprinter or Miler.

Retirement

After retirement, she became a broodmare at Northern Farm. She had her first foal, a colt named Gran Maestro by the sire Epiphaneia, in 2023. She continues to work as a broodmare.

Honors

• JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly (2019)
• JRA Award for Best Sprinter or Miler (2020, 2021)

Race Records

Race data sourced from netkeiba.

Date	Racecourse	Race	Grade	Distance	Gate	Odds	Fav.	Fin.	Time	Margin	Jockey	Winner (Runner-Up)	Other Umamusume
2018/06/03	Tokyo	Two-Year-Old Newcomer	Maiden	T 1600m	14	1.8	1	1	1:33.6	-0.3	C.Lemaire	(Danon Fantasy)
2018/10/06	Tokyo	Saudi Arabia Royal Cup	G3	T 1600m	4	1.3	1	1	1:34.0	-0.6	C.Lemaire	(De Gaulle)
2018/12/16	Hanshin	Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes	G1	T 1600m	2	1.5	1	3	1:34.3	0.4	C.Lemaire	Admire Mars
2019/04/07	Hanshin	Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas)	G1	T 1600m	8	3.4	2	1	1:32.7	-0.4	C.Lemaire	(Shigeru Pink Dia)	Chrono Genesis
2019/05/05	Tokyo	NHK Mile Cup	G1	T 1600m	7	1.5	1	5	1:32.7	0.3	C.Lemaire	Admire Mars
2019/12/21	Hanshin	Hanshin Cup	G2	T 1400m	5	2.1	1	1	1:19.4	-0.8	C.Lemaire	(Fiano Romano)
2020/03/29	Chukyo	Takamatsunomiya Kinen	G1	T 1200m	8	4.1	2	2	1:08.7	0.0	K.Ikezoe	Mozu Superflare
2020/06/07	Tokyo	Yasuda Kinen	G1	T 1600m	11	12.0	3	1	1:31.6	-0.4	K.Ikezoe	(Almond Eye)	Almond Eye
2020/10/04	Nakayama	Sprinters' Stakes	G1	T 1200m	10	2.2	1	1	1:08.3	-0.3	C.Lemaire	(Danon Smash)
2020/11/22	Hanshin	Mile Championship	G1	T 1600m	4	1.6	1	1	1:32.0	-0.1	C.Lemaire	(Indy Champ)
2021/04/04	Hanshin	Osaka Hai	G1	T 2000m	12	2.8	2	4	2:02.5	0.9	C.Lemaire	Lei Papale
2021/05/16	Tokyo	Victoria Mile	G1	T 1600m	6	1.3	1	1	1:31.0	-0.7	C.Lemaire	(Rambling Alley)
2021/06/06	Tokyo	Yasuda Kinen	G1	T 1600m	5	1.5	1	2	1:31.7	0.0	C.Lemaire	Danon Kingly
2021/10/31	Tokyo	Tenno Sho (Autumn)	G1	T 2000m	9	2.8	2	3	1:58.1	0.2	C.Lemaire	Efforia	Curren Bouquetd'or
2021/11/21	Hanshin	Mile Championship	G1	T 1600m	12	1.7	1	1	1:32.6	-0.1	C.Lemaire	(Schnell Meister)

Pedigree

Horse pedigree of Gran Alegria (JPN)

Sire Deep Impact (JPN)	Sunday Silence (USA)	Halo (USA)	Hail to Reason (USA)
			Cosmah (USA)
		Wishing Well (USA)	Understanding (USA)
			Mountain Flower (USA)
	Wind in Her Hair (IRE)	Alzao (USA)	Lyphard (USA)
			Lady Rebecca (GB)
		Burghclere (GB)	Busted (GB)
			Highclere (GB)
Dam Tapitsfly (USA)	Tapit (USA)	Pulpit (USA)	A.P. Indy (USA)
			Preach (USA)
		Tap Your Heels (USA)	Unbridled (USA)
			Ruby Slippers (USA)
	Flying Marlin (USA)	Marlin (USA)	Sword Dance (IRE)
			Syrian Summer (USA)
		Morning Dove (USA)	Fortunate Prospect (USA)
			Pink Dove (USA), (Family: 3-o)