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I figured the retirement of the richest jumps horse in history, the “undisputed king” of the Japanese hurdlers, Oju Chosan was worth its own thread. This coming Saturday is the Nakayama Daishogai, one of two G1 hurdle races on the Japanese calendar. It is set to be the final race for the now 11yo Oju Chosan who has won it 3 times including last year’s edition. Overall Oju Chosan has won 20 races and earned over $7.1 million/£5.8 million. He is the even-money favorite here but his trainer and jockey both say that their main goal is to get him home safely.
Nakayama Daishogai info – Google translate does a decent job although it can’t decide whether Daishogai means “Great Obstacle”, “Great Disorder”, “Great Disturbance” or “Major Disability” lol. https://race.netkeiba.com/special/index.html?id=0131 I don’t know if UK TV will show it?The main event of the day though will be Oju Chosan’s retirement ceremony at 4:30pm Japan time/7:30am GMT. The ceremony will be live-streamed on Youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZGCbGS1pns This horse has an enormous fanbase in Japan (just search for Oju Chosan on Twitter and you’ll see) so they are pulling out all the stops for him.
There was a nice article about him in the Japan Forward today as well https://featured.japan-forward.com/sportslook/oju-chosan-awaits-final-run-how-a-problem-colt-who-hated-practice-became-an-absolute-champion/
And of course special merch https://keibafan.shop/Oju Chosan is, by the way, still a stallion. He is being sent to his breeder Bando Farm for stud next spring but this is apparently temporary while they find a proper stud farm for him. How on earth are National Hunt breeders not lining up to take this guy? I mean even discounting his competition, he’s by Stay Gold (sire of Gold Ship and Orfevre), his pedigree is an outcross for most European mares, has made it through 9 seasons of racing (on mostly firm ground, no less), he’s got a beautiful jump, he’s a big good-looking horse…breeders in Europe should take notice. Then again, none of them seem to be taking notice of the purse money on offer in these Japanese jumps races which are wide-open to international entries so perhaps a Japanese stallion is too far off their radar.
Any horse that starts it’s HURDLES races coming out of STARTING STALLS deserves it own thread.
Joking aside, what a brilliant topic – thanks for this, Miss Woodford – I, for one, wouldn’t have noticed otherwise!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Starting stalls, entire, Firm ground – all for a hurdle race.
Throw in unlimited free sushi and Chezza’s turning Japanese, he’s turning Japanese, he really thinks so, he really thinks so.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Really interesting post (as usual!) Miss Woodford. As, I’m sure you know, international Jumps racing gets very little attention in the UK compared to the Flat. I’m not sure why, though the lack of British competitors is likely one contributory factor.
Even the premier Irish meetings have tended to be somewhat neglected, though ITV are now doing a much better job at covering them than any of the “main” TV channels has for a very long time.
I’m delighted you’re interested in this hurdles race with STARTING STALLS, Marlingford!
“Just saying,” “my work here is done,” as today’s social media “yoof” might observe!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Chezza’s turning Japanese”
I’ve no doubt you’ve been doing that for several decades. 😉
Unmasked by Gladders AGAIN – how does he know these things?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Haha Ian, I’m showing worrying signs of coming round to the idea of Jumps starting stalls!
By the end of the next Cheltenham Festival I’ll most likely be a fervent supporter…
more on the horse and links to video:
https://japanracing.jp/_news2022/220416.html
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16 April 2022:
Race favorite Oju Chosan claimed his sixth Nakayama Grand Jump title following a five-year winning streak between 2016 and 2020. At the same time, the 11-year-old son of Stay Gold renewed his own record for most J-G1 wins to nine total—he also renewed the record for career grade-race wins over obstacles at 15. Oju Chosan is the first jumper, ten years and over, to claim the title since Karasi (2005-2007) after the race was established under the Nakayama Grand Jump name in 1999.…The Nakayama Grand Jump, the biggest steeplechase event in spring, was spun off from the biannual Nakayama Daishogai (J-G1, 4,100m) steeplechase races in 1999. The history of the Nakayama Daishogai dates back to 1934 when the two races, one each in spring and autumn, were created for the purpose of making them the most prestigious and attractive races in steeplechase racing….
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my understanding of 中山大障害 (Daishogai) is shougai = obstacle, dai= big.
The JRA’s youtube channel just uploaded several of Oju Chosan’s wins that weren’t previously on youtube so now there is a playlist with all of his 17 stakes wins, plus his best races in defeat. He’s easy to follow with the blue blinkers and cheekpieces https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhZFZK9xnQ3_v1mPV-_bkvK5wg6L0AGi0
The one race you must watch is his 2017 Nakayama Daishogai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4pt3eNr48I also found a career retrospective made by a fan, it’s narrated by a cartoon character (because Japan) and auto-translate struggles with horse racing lingo but I was able to get the gist of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PelDaQ4mw
It shows why many Japanese fans consider his 9th place in the 2018 Arima Kinen one of his most impressive performances: it’s how he kept pace against a star-studded Grade 1 field at 2500m, hurdlers aren’t supposed to have that kind of speed on the flat.Great thread!!
I saw this reported on Twitter during the weekend, and was seriously impressed. Look at the prize money he’s won, plus he’s an entire who will go to stud…..The French will also race entires over jumps, and send them to stud. And yet over here we’re stuck in tradition, and geld them as youngsters and use ex Flat horses for NH stallions.
Can’t find a stream of the race itself :(
The track looks completely packed though from what I can see on twitter, even by Japanese standards. Probably one of the biggest crowds assembled for a jumps race anywhere.
This is just the parade ring! https://twitter.com/LongBallToNoOne/status/1606518847984795649found stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euGclY5fxuA
Nishino Daisy wins, Oju Chosan comes home safely in 6th.
Retirement ceremony starting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZGCbGS1pns
I watched a bit of it where they showed replays. He’a a fine looking horse and what a super technique over an obstacle, low and fast. Emmett Mullins has bought a couple of horses in Japan so perhaps he will be watching out for offspring.
Magnificent stuff – if this doesn’t make the compelling case for starting stalls in British Jump racing I don’t know what will!
Just imagine – 40 stalls (maybe garlanded with spruce for that Aintree look) opening at the start of the Grand National.
The global audience might even briefly believe mad old Britain had entered the 21st century instead of continuing to have someone on a step ladder, dressed like a refugee from Downton Abbey, eventually start the race at dusk with a bit of elastic after 27 false starts.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"To be clear, Oju Chosan’s owner wants to send him to stud, but he has no facilities for a stallion at his own farm and is still looking for a farm with such facilities willing to stand him.
Japan's star steeplechaser Oju Chosan was reported to stand at Bando Farm after his retirement.
But, Bando Farm does not have a facility for breeding, and hence the horse cannot work as a sire unless his connection finds a proper stud to stand for him. https://t.co/iBzGaPjhkQ
— 青嶋坂学会 (@damehorse) December 24, 2022
His owner has gotten some flack for suggesting a stud fee of 1 million yen (£6250). This would normally be absurdly low for a horse with the pedigree and 91 G1 wins of Oju (Gold Ship with his 6 G1 wins started at 2 million yen which was considered “unprecedentedly cheap”) but nobody is breeding for jumps horses in Japan, not even by the greatest jumper of all time, so he will have difficulty getting mares at that fee. Even Oju’s owner only mentioned him as a potential stamina influence for flat mares. A breeding lease to a stud in Europe or New Zealand seems like the ideal situation for him, but it’s a question of who is willing to take the leap of faith on an unique stallion prospect.
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