Special Week

2020-06-25 | By jpkeiba | Filed in: (Turf G1 wins)4, colt,stallion(male), Derby Horse, Turf.

Details

Awards

JRA Special Award (1999)

Special Week’s dam, Campaign Girl, had been suffering from colic for 5 months before his birth.
She died five days after giving birth to him.
He was one of the four leading horses of the same age.
(Special Week, Seiun Sky, Grass Wonder and El Condor Pasa)
Because Glass Wonder and El Condor Pasa were foreign-born horses, they were not allowed to run in the Classic races and the Tenno Sho under the rules of the time.

All grade-races in 1998 (age 3)

Y D/M	Track	Race	No.	Pl.		remarks
1998 08/02	Kyoto T1800	Kisaragi Sho (G3)	1	1	G
1998 04/03	Nakayama T2000	Hochi Hai Yayoi Sho (G2)	13	1	G	2nd: Seiun Sky
1998 19/04	Nakayama T2000	Satsuki Sho (G1)	18	3	◆	1st: Seiun Sky
1998 07/06	Tokyo T2400	Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (G1)	5	1	◆	4th: Seiun Sky
1998 18/10	Kyoto T2200	Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2)	10	1	G
1998 08/11	Kyoto T3000	Kikuka Sho (G1)	17	2	◆	1st: Seiun Sky
1998 29/11	Tokyo T2400	Japan Cup (G1)	9	3	◆	1st: El Condor Pasa

Special Week, Seiun Sky and King Halo were considered the leading contenders for the classic races.
Special Week was the 1st favorite in all three classic races, due in part to the popularity of his jockey, Yutaka Take.
In the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), the second classic race, he won by 5 lengths.
It was his first G1 win.
He was the first horse to make Yutaka Take a Derby jockey.
Seiun Sky became a Double Crown horse by winning the Satsuki Sho and the Kikuka Sho.
Seiun Sky broke the turf-3000m world record in the Kikuka Sho.
The Japan Cup was the first and last race that he would run with El Condor Pasa.
Special Week was defeated by El Condor Pasa and finished 3rd.
After winning the NHK Mile Cup and Japan Cup, El Condor Pasa won the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Colt.
El Condor Pasa was highly praised for defeating older horses and foreign horses in the Japan Cup.

All grade-races in 1999 (age 4)

Y D/M	Track	Race	No.	Pl.		remarks
1999 24/01	Nakayama T2200	American Jockeys Club Cup (G2)	4	1	G
1999 21/03	Hanshin T3000	Hanshin Daishoten (G2)	5	1	G
1999 02/05	Kyoto T3200	Tenno Sho (spring) (G1)	3	1	◆	3rd: Seiun Sky
1999 11/07	Hanshin T2200	Takarazuka Kinen (G1)	9	2	◆	1st: Grass Wonder
1999 10/10	Kyoto T2400	Kyoto Daishoten (G2)	7	7	G
1999 31/10	Tokyo T2000	Tenno Sho (autumn) (G1)	9	1	◆	5th: Seiun Sky
1999 28/11	Tokyo T2400	Japan Cup (G1)	13	1	◆
1999 26/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen (G1)	3	2	◆	1st: Grass Wonder

In the Tenno Sho(spring), he was the 1st favorite.
He won by 1/2 lengths.
In the Takarazuka Kinen, he was the 1st favorite.
It was the first race in which he faced Grass Wonder.
Grass Wonder won the showdown.
In the Tenno Sho (autumn), he broke the record time.
In the Arima Kinen, he and Grass Wonder finished side by side.
His jockey, Yutaka Take, was confident of victory and made a winning run.
However, as a result of the photo judgement, he lost to Grass Wonder by 4cm.
He had a stable results in 1999, but lost twice to Grass Wonder.
After all, he never defeated El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder.
In this Year, Special Week and Grass Wonder were selected JRA Special Award.
However, the JRA Award for Horse of the Year and the JRA Award for Best Older Male Horse were El Condol Pasa.
El Condol Pasa was in France that year and didn’t run in the Japanese race.
(2nd: the Prix d’Ispahan, 1st: the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, 1st: the Prix Foy, 2nd: the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe)
Special Week’s trainer, Toshiaki Shirai, said
“I can convince if Grass Wonder, not Special Week, is the Japanese Horse of the Year, but I can not convince if El Condol Pasa.”
“Because of he is not running in Japan, shouldn’t El Condor Passer be given the JRA Special Award?”
“In short, it’s like declaring that “”Horse racing in other countries is better than horse racing in Japan”” .

The Selection Process of JRA Award for Horse of the Year (1999)

As a sire

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