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IRL:Ines Fujin

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Ines Fujin
アイネスフウジン

Ines Fujin winning the 1990 Japanese Derby
Silks
Romaji Ainesu Fuujin
Foaled April 10, 1987
Died April 05, 2004
Sire Sea Hawk
Dam Tesco Pearl
Sex Stallion
Color Dark bay
Trainer Shuho Kato
Race Record 8: 4-3-0
Earnings 236,000,000 JPY
Major wins
Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes (1989)
Japanese Derby (1990)
This is horse racing.
This is horse racing.

The jockey, with all his technique
Took fine pace control
And airtight pathing

The horse, with abundant speed
And all of his competitive spirit
Shut out all that came for him.

This, now this, is horse racing.

So the 190 thousand strong audience
Shall give you unstinting applause
To the battle with all body and soul.
JRA Portraits of the Bucephalus


Ines Fujin was a Japanese racehorse that was active from 1989 to 1990. He is one of 4 horses to win the Japanese Derby by frontrunning, and holds the Derby race record prior to Tokyo Racecourse's remodel. Additionally, by holding the Japanese race attendance record at 196,517 spectators, he is seen as one of the contributors for turning the perception of horse racing from gambling to a sport in Japan.

Name Origin

"Ines" is the crown name of owner Eimei Kobayashi. "Fujin" was a suggestion by his daughters, meaning God of Wind. [1]

Racing career

Two year old season (1989)

Ines Fujin debuted on the 10th of September in a 1600 turf maiden race in the Nakayama Racecourse. He took two 2nd places, and while jockey Eiji Nakano thinks Ines Fujin can attempt a tokubetsu class race[2], the team nonetheless entered them into a third maiden race. Ines Fujin ran in front and won with a 1 3/4 length margin in his third maiden race. They rested him afterwards due to fatigue in his back[3]. While their next race was scheduled to be the conditional race Habotan Sho, jockey Nakano suggested that they should instead run in the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes (G1) (1600m). While Ines Fujin's trainer, Shobo Kato, wanted to extend his running distance and planned on entering the 2000 meter Hopeful Stakes (OP)[Note 1], he decided his should test their strength and accepted Nakano's suggestion. Out of the gate, the 2nd favorite Sakura Saezuri decided to take an early lead, and Ines Fujin chased after following a mediocre start. The two broke away from the pack and had a 5 length lead at the 3rd corner, with a blistering pace of 56.9s at the 1000m mark. The two entered the straight side by side, and jockey Nakano took time to check behind him. While he didn't accelerate in the mean time, Sakura Saezuri wasn't able to pull a lead, and the pack was unable to catch up to them. Ines Fujin passed Sakura Saezuri at around the 150m mark and extended his lead into a 2.5 length finishing margin. The winning time of 1:34:4 tied the record set by Maruzensky in 1976, which was called "Unbreakable" at the time[4]. Jockey Nakano referred to the G1 victory as "easy"[3]. With this victory, well known racing analyst and commentator Keijiro Okawa, said Ines Fujin was "a great talent" and "the number one horse to pay attention to in Kanto"[5]. He was awarded the Best Two-Year-Old Colt with a 112/172 vote at the end of the year.

Three year old season (1990)

Ines Fujin started his three year old season with the Kyodo News Hai (G3) on the 11th of February. He entered at the 1st favorite of 8 in the rainy race. Starting at the front, he held his lead comfortably and finished with a 3 length margin. Jockey Nakano said, he wanted to let Ines Fujin experience a race where he's reigned in, so he intentionally started late, but the horse's speed was a different level to other horses in the field so he still ended up frontrunning[6]. Ines Fujin entered the Yayoi Sho (G2) on the 4th of March, again as the 1st favorite. As the turf condition on the day was soft, jockey Nakano determined that the inside of the course would be too muddy for Ines Fujin's usual running style, and he would run on the firmer ground on the outside[7]. They was frontrunning as usual, but was unable to extend a lead and lost speed. They were passed by Mejiro Ryan at the 200m mark and subsequently Tsurumaru Mr. O and White Stone, with Ines Fujin finishing in 4th. Despite the 4th place finish Nakano saw Ines Fujin's ability in this race to win the Satsuki Sho, as when he was being passed by Mejiro Ryan, Ines Fujin didn't slow down but rather tried to re-overtake[7].

In the Satsuki Sho (G1), Ines Fujin was 1st favorite again but was closely followed by Mejiro Ryan and Haku Taisei who was in a 5 win streak. As he was in gate 2, an advantageous post for frontrunning, jockey Nakano claimed, "he's on a different level of speed, we will frontrun as we like"[8]. Unfortunately, out of the gate, White Stone who was in gate 3 moved inwards, causing Ines Fujin to bump into the horse in gate 1, Wild Fire, and Ines Fujin was unable to make a good break. Following the leader Futaba Asakaze in 2nd, they make a pace of 60.2 in the first 1000m, and slow down even more in the middle. In a slow pace unsuited to Ines Fujin, they pass Futaba Asakaze at the 600m mark, and did not extend at the straight. Haku Taisei, aiming for Ines Fujin from the mid pack, manages to reach them just in time and finish in front by a head[9]. People called for the jockey to be swapped out after the loss, but trainer Kato told Nakano, "let's win the derby", and kept him on[10]. A radiography on Ines Fujin revealed that he was quite worn from the race, and was given a two week break[11].

The Derby

The Japanese Derby was held on the 27th of May. The audience entrance count for the day of 196,517, approached the population of the entire Fuchu region (where the Tokyo Racecourse resides), and was a world record for attendance at a horse race[10]. With the top favorites at the Satsuki Sho gathered again, Ines Fujin's popularity dropped from the two consecutive losses and was third favorite behind Haku Taisei and Mejiro Ryan. Before the derby, jockey Nakano did much work to improve his chances. He ran a 2400m race the day before on the Tokyo Racecourse to "rehearse" his derby. As Ines Fujin was a horse that had a tendency to rush in the race, he wanted to reduce his stamina consumption as much as possible before the race. He measured how long it took to slowly walk (normally horses trot towards the gates) with a horse to the gates from the waiting area[12]. He was also able to inspect the course condition and noticed that turf condition near the inside rail of the third corner was bad and roughly determined how far away from the rail he should run, as well as poking holes into the jockey silk to improve its aerodynamics[12].

Starting at gate 12, Ines Fujin was able to make a move to stand at the front in the first corner. Setting a pace of 59.8s at 1000m, he kept a lead of 4 lengths running on the outside of the back straight and the third corner. At the final corner, Haku Taisei and Kamui Fuji came on the inside so Ines Fujin ramped up the pace again and navigated back to the inside rail into the home straight. With the pace chasers falling, the late surgers Mejiro Ryan and White Stone came but could not close the gap in time, and Ines Fujin finished in 1st with a 1 1/4 length lead. The finishing time of 2:25:4 broke the record for the derby (set by Sakura Chiyono O in 1988) by 1 second, and he was the second horse to ever win the derby by frontrunning since Kaburaya O in 1975.

After the finishing, Nakano went for the winning run, but the horse has used up all his stamina, and turned back from the far side to slowly walking back to the stands and stood waiting to exit[13]. As they were close to the stands, a few people started to chant "Nakano! Nakano!", and it naturally spread over the entire audience. This was the first time that a name has been chanted in the stands of a Japanese horse race, and is considered one of the turning points in horse racing culture being more widely enjoyed as a sport in Japan. Many people previously involved in horse racing responded well to the shift; among other people, Keijiro Okawa, who was commentating on site at the time, was moved to tears by the chant[14].

Retirement and Death

Ines Fujin was found to have a swelling left front leg after returning from the derby[7] (later diagnosed to be a bowed tendon) and was sent to rest and rehabilitate at Iwaki, Fukushima over the summer. After returning to Miho Training Center, as there they ran a time, Ines Fujin's legs again showed instability, they decided to retire him[15]. While the JRA suggested they do a retirement ceremony, the team decided against it as "he's retiring from leg risk, we can't let him go on the course again".

He entered stud duty but was not blessed with results, but continued just before he was retired as his progeny First Friend won the Teio Sho (JPN1) and Tokyo Daishoten (G1). He passed away on the 5th of April 2004 from Volvulus. King Kamehameha would break his record on the 30th of May the same year, on the newly renovated fast turf of Tokyo Racecourse, after it stood for 14 years.

Honors

  • JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Colt (1989)
  • JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Colt (1990)

Race Records

Race data sourced from netkeiba.
Date Racecourse Race Grade Distance Gate Odds Fav. Fin. Time Margin Jockey Winner (Runner-Up) Other Umamusume
1989/09/10 Nakayama Three-Year-Old Newcomer Maiden T 1600m 8 4.5 2 2 1:36.1 0.8 E.Nakano Fujimi Waimea
1989/09/23 Nakayama Three-Year-Old Newcomer Maiden T 1600m 4 1.3 1 2 1:35.5 0.0 E.Nakano Kanesho Knight
1989/10/22 Tokyo Three-Year-Old Maiden Maiden T 1600m 1 1.5 1 1 1:36.0 -0.3 E.Nakano (Taifu Oza)
1989/12/17 Nakayama Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes G1 T 1600m 8 11.5 5 1 1:34.4 -0.4 E.Nakano (Sakura Saezuri)
1990/02/11 Tokyo Kyodo News Hai G3 T 1800m 1 1.7 1 1 1:49.5 -0.5 E.Nakano (Wild Fire)
1990/03/04 Nakayama Yayoi Sho G2 T 2000m 8 1.9 1 4 2:05.8 0.4 E.Nakano Mejiro Ryan Mejiro Ryan
1990/04/15 Nakayama Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) G1 T 2000m 2 4.1 1 2 2:02.2 0.0 E.Nakano Haku Taisei Mejiro Ryan
1990/05/27 Tokyo Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) G1 T 2400m 12 5.3 3 1 2:25.3 -0.2 E.Nakano (Mejiro Ryan) Mejiro Ryan

Pedigree

Horse pedigree of Ines Fujin (JPN)
Sire
Sea Hawk (FR) 		Herbager (FR) Vandale (FR) Plassy (GB)
Vanille (FR)
Flagette (FR) Escamillo (FR)
Fidgette (FR)
Sea Nymph (FR) Free Man (FR) Norseman (FR)
Fantine (FR)
Sea Spray (FR) Ocean Swell (GB)
Pontoon (GB)
Dam
Tesco Pearl (JPN) 		Tesco Boy (GB) Princely Gift (GB) Nasrullah (GB)
Blue Gem (GB)
Suncourt (GB) Hyperion (GB)
Inquisition (GB)
Mutsumi Pearl (JPN) Montaval FR) Norseman (FR)
Ballynash (GB)
Masaryu (JPN) Tosa Midori (JPN)
Yukitsuki (JPN), (Family: 4-d)


Trivia

  • The reason Nakano was selected as Ines Fujin's Jockey:
    • Nakano caused a small traffic accident when staying at Kokura. He had drank the day before and so had leftover alcohol content in his breathalyzer test, so he was reported as drinking and driving. However, mass media also reported that he also had a woman with him. His wife took it as real, got very angry and summoned him back to Miho, where trainer Kato would ask him to ride Ines Fujin[16].

Notes

  1. ↑ Not to be confused with the G1 race of the same name, which went through various name changes and upgrades from the original name of Radio Tanpa Hai Sansai Stakes (G3) and was promoted to G1 in 2017.

References

  1. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF1990-7-5657-12
  2. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-tho01-13
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF1990-2-142143-15
  4. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-19
  5. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-22
  6. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF1990-4-136-10
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF2009-6-155161-7
  8. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF1990-5-6-28
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjtQtk1LVZA
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-nikkan-30
  11. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF1990-7-140141-31
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-tho02-62
  13. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-sanspo-derby-1990-32
  14. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC57%E5%9B%9E%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E5%84%AA%E9%A7%BF
  15. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3#cite_note-39
  16. ↑ https://uma36.com/?pid=column_view&id=400010..&no=434585
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