Details
| Name / Japanese | Mejiro McQueen / メジロマックイーン |
| Birth Year | 1987 |
| Sex | horse |
| Earnings | 1,014,657,700 yen |
| Races-Wins / G1-Wins | 21-12 / 9-4 |
| Sire | Mejiro Titan |
| Dam (Sire) | Mejiro Aurola (Remand) |
| Other site link | JBIS / Umanity / en.netkeiba |
| Awards | JRA Award for Best Older Male Horse (1991) |
| Honours | Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame (1994) |
- Mejiro Durren is his brother.
- His dam, Mejiro Aurola, was left in the Yoshida Katashi’s Farm.
After being weaned, Mejiro McQueen was moved to Mejiro Farm. - The origin of the name “Mejiro McQueen” is the actor Steve McQueen.
(Wikipedia) - Mejiro McQueen was rated 2nd or 3rd in the “Mejiro ’87 Group”.
(Other horses: Mejiro Ryan, Mejiro Palmer, etc.)
All G1 Races + G2 races he won
| Y D/M | Track | Race | No. | Pl. |  |
| 1990 04/11 |
Kyoto T3000 |
Kikuka Sho (G1) | 2 | 1 | ◆ |
| 1991 10/03 |
Chukyo T3000 |
Hanshin Daishoten (G2) | 4 | 1 | G |
| 1991 28/04 | Kyoto T3200 | Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) | 15 | 1 | ◆ |
| 1991 09/06 | Kyoto T2200 | Takarazuka Kinen (G1) | 10 | 2 | ◆ |
| 1991 06/10 |
Kyoto T2400 |
Kyoto Daishoten (G2) | 4 | 1 | G |
| 1991 27/10 | Tokyo T2000 | Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1) | 13 | 18 (D) |
◆ |
| 1991 24/11 | Tokyo T2400 | Japan Cup (G1) | 5 | 4 | ◆ |
| 1991 22/12 | Nakayama T2500 | Arima Kinen (G1) | 1 | 2 | ◆ |
| 1992 15/03 |
Hanshin T3000 |
Hanshin Daishoten (G2) | 4 | 1 | G |
| 1992 26/04 | Kyoto T3200 | Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) | 5 | 1 | ◆ |
| 1993 04/04 |
Hanshin T2000 |
Sankei Osaka Hai (G2) | 13 | 1 | G |
| 1993 25/04 | Kyoto T3200 | Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) | 14 | 2 | ◆ |
| 1993 13/06 | Hanshin T2200 | Takarazuka Kinen (G1) | 6 | 1 | ◆ |
| 1993 10/10 |
Kyoto T2400 |
Kyoto Daishoten (G2) | 1 | 1 | G |
- His debut was delayed because he was weak and had periostitis.
His connections set their sights on the third classic race, the Kikuka Sho. - In the Kikuka Sho, he was the 4th favorite.
He took the lead at the beginning of the home stretch.
He won by 1+1/4 lengths.
It was his first G1 win.
Despite the Yielding track conditions, the time was the third fastest in the history of Kikuka Sho at that time.
- In the Tenno Sho (Spring1991), he was the 1st favorite.
He won by 2+1/2 lengths.
It was a victory in the Tenno Sho by three generations of sire lines.
(Mejiro Asama, Mejiro Titan, and Mejiro McQueen)
Since both Mejiro Asama and Mejiro Titan had fertility problems, this feat was called an “執念” (Obsession, Determination, Tenacity). - In the Tenno Sho (Autumn,1991), he crossed the finish line in 1st place.
However, he was demoted from 1st to 18th.
(Patrol Video)
The judgement was controversial.
///Some of the opinions on the judgement are as follows///
Mejiro McQueen ran a normal path, but the course shape is bad.
Isn’t No.10 Prekrasnie, who replaced Mejiro McQueen in 1st place, also an accomplice?
It is certain that Mejiro McQueen ran a forced path, and nearly killed horses and jockey.
- Before the Tenno Sho (Spring 1992), he was expected to competed with Tokai Teio.
As a matter of fact, he wasn’t a very popular horse.
It might be because he lost his popularity to Oguri Cap and Mejiro Ryan.
(Oguri Cap was a gray-haired horse as him.
Mejiro Ryan was a horse to born the same farm as him.)
Tokai Teio, on the other hand, became very popular for his dynamic running and neat face.
At the time, Tokai Teio was on a winning streak of seven consecutive victories since his debut.
Tokai Teio’s jockey, Yukio Okabe, said, “He seems to run to the end of the horizon.”
Mejiro McQueen’s jockey, Yutaka Take, said, “If that one is the end of the horizon, this one will ascend to the heavens.”
It was so exciting before the race.
/////
In the race, he was the 2nd favorite and Tokai Teio was the 1st favorite.
Mejiro McQueen showed a great performance.
And the showdown was not very satisfying and ended very quickly.
Mejiro McQueen won by 2+1/2 lengths.
It was his second consecutive win in the same G1 race.
(Tokai Teio was injured during the race and finished in 5th place.) - He then took an long break due to a broken bone.
He won his return race, the Osaka Hai, in a course record time.
He was now very much expected to win the next race, Tenno Sho, for the third time in a row. - In the Tenno Sho (Spring 1993), he was the 1st favorite and Rice Shower was the 2nd favorite.
Rice Shower kept Mejiro McQueen on his mark.
Mejiro McQueen made a move to overtake Mejiro Palmer in the lead, and Rice Shower followed Mejiro McQueen.
Mejiro McQueen failed to win his third straight Tenno Sho title, losing to Rice Shower by 2+1/2 lengths.
Three consecutive wins of the same turf-G1 races in JRA have not been achieved yet as of 2020.
- In the Takarazuka Kinen (1993), he won by 1+3/4 lengths over the 2nd place finisher, Ikuno Dictus.
He achieved G1 victory four years in a row.
- In the Kyoto Daishoten, he won the race, setting a new course record.
With this victory, he became the first horse in history to earn more than one billion yen in prize money.
Episode
- He was next room to Sunday Silence when he was a stallion.
Sunday Silence had a very rough temper, and was very threatening to other horses including Mejiro McQueen.
But Mejiro McQueen kept ignoring Sunday Silence.
Then, for some reason, Sunday Silence took a liking to Mejiro McQueen and became friends with him.
When the staff saw Sunday Silence and Mejiro McQueen staring at each other and not moving, they thought their relationship was like being lovers.
Apparently Sunday Silence has become a little more quiet and less threatening when Mejiro McQueen was nearby him.
As a sire
- He was expected to connect sire lines.
But his crops could not win a G1 race. - It can be said that he did not meet expectations as a sire.
However he succeeded as a broodmare-sire.
The breeding of Stay Gold with daughters of Mejiro McQueen produced a great horse.
He is a broodmare-sire of Dream Journey, Orfevre and Gold Ship.
Tags: Turf