Details
| Name / Japanese | Dai Yusaku / ダイユウサク |
| Birth Year | 1985 |
| Sex | male |
| Earnings | 376,823,600 yen |
| Races-Win / G1-Win | 38-11 / 6-1 |
| Sire | Nonoalco |
| Dam (Sire) | Kunino Kiyoko (Dai Koter) |
| Other site link | JBIS / Umanity / en.netkeiba |
All G1 races + grade-races he won + Hanshin Keibajo Shinso Kinen
| Y D/M |
Track | Race | No. | Pl. |  |
| 1990 28/10 |
Tokyo T2000 |
Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1) | 4 | 7 | ◆ |
| 1991 05/01 |
Kyoto T2000 |
Sports Nippon Sho Kim Pai (G3) | 16 | 1 | G |
| 1991 17/11 |
Kyoto T1600 |
Mile Championship (G1) | 10 | 5 | ◆ |
| 1991 07/12 |
Hanshin T1600 |
Hanshin Keibajo Shinso Kinen (OP) (Hanshin Rasecourse Renewal Memorial) |
13 | 1 | |
| 1991 22/12 |
Nakayama T2500 |
Arima Kinen (G1) | 8 | 1 | ◆ |
| 1992 26/04 |
Kyoto T3200 |
Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) | 2 | 9 | ◆ |
| 1992 17/05 |
Tokyo T1600 |
Yasuda Kinen (G1) | 11 | 8 | ◆ |
| 1992 14/06 |
Hanshin T2200 |
Takarazuka Kinen (G1) | 11 | 8 | ◆ |
- In 1988 (age3), he was debuted.
He was 13 seconds behind the first place horse in his debut race, and 7.3 seconds behind in his second race.
In JRA, there is a system, named “Time Over (Rule)”, to suspend horses from running for a certain period of time in order to “prevent horses with inadequate training from running” and “give them time to adjust”.
The rule was applied from the second race, he was suspended for one month. - In 1989-1990 (age 4-5), he ran 23 races and won 8 races.
He could not win a grade-race. - In the Sports Nippon Sho Kim Pai, he was 1st favorite.
He won by 1 lengths.
It was his first grade-race win.
The name of the race, Kim Pai, in English is the Gold Cup, and it is also the first grade-race of the year, so it is considered a race of good fortune and omen. - In the Mile Championship, he finished 5th.
After the race, his trainer and his stabler thought he should go for the Sprinters Stakes.
But his trainer thought that if he could win the Hanshin Keibajo Shinso Kinen, he could be recommended by JRA to run in the Arima Kinen, the biggest race at the end of the year. - In the Hanshin Keibajo Shinso Kinen, he won by 3/4 lengths.
He was recommended by JRA to run in the Arima Kinen.
(But apparently there were some negative opinions about this decision at the time.) - In the Arima Kinen, he was 14th favorite.
Mejiro McQueen was by far the most favorite.
Almost all horse racing fans were not expecting Dai Yusaku to win.
Even his owner didn’t think he would win, so his owner didn’t go to the racecourse, he watched the race on TV at home.
But his trainer thought his conditioning was perfect.
On the day of the race, his trainer showed up at the racecourse in a splendid formal attire, so he was teased by the others.
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Dai Yusaku passed Mejiro McQueen in the home stretch and won.
He broke the race record by a whopping 1.1 seconds.
The TV reporter said, “これはビックリ、ダイユウサク！(This is amazing, Dai Yusaku!)”, a famous phrase.
He won the first and last grade-races in 1991.
Episode
- He was named after the grandson of his owner.
The grandson’s name is
“コウサク”(Kôsaku), not
“ユウサク” (Yûsaku).
Probably because someone’s handwriting was messy and not checked well enough, this name was given by mistake.
In those days, JRA allowed changing horse name for a while after the horse debut.
But because he was a very weak horse, his owner did not want to change his name to that of his grandson. - On the day of Arima Kinen, his jockey, Shigefumi Kumazawa, got lost because it was his first time to race at Nakayama Racecourse.
When Kumazawa won the Oaks with Cosmo Dream in 1988, it was the first time for him to race at Tokyo Racecourse and he got lost.
These gave birth to the legend that Kumazawa wins a G1 race when he gets lost.
It’s probably not because of this legend, but he hasn’t won a G1 race in a long time after this.
The next time he won a G1 race would be with T.M. Precure in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (2005).