Speed Symboli

2021-12-19 | By jpkeiba | Filed in: colt,stallion(male), Hall of Fame, Turf.

Details

Awards	Keishusha Award for Best Older Male Horse (1967, 1970) Keishusha Award for Horse of the Year (1967, 1970)
Honours	Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame (1990)

Major races

Y D/M	Track	Race	No.	Pl.
1966 17/04	Nakayama T2000	Satsuki Sho	10	21	▲ / G
1966 29/05	Tokyo T2400	Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby)	21	8	▲ / G
1966 13/11	Kyoto T3000	Kikuka Sho	8	2	▲ / G
1966 25/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	6	3	▲ / G
1967 29/04	Kyoto T3200	Tenno Sho (Spring)	10	1	▲ / G
1967 11/11	Laurel Park T12F	Washington, D.C. International		5	▲ / G
1967 24/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	5	4	▲ / G
1968 22/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	2	3	▲ / G
1969 26/07	Ascot T12F	King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes		5	▲ / G
1969 31/08	Deauville-La Touques T2600	Grand Prix de Deauville		10	▲ / G
1969 05/10	Longchamp T2400	Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe		-11	▲ / G
1969 21/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	9	1	◆ / G
1970 31/05	Hanshin T2200	Takarazuka Kinen	3	1	▲ / G
1970 20/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	5	1	▲ / G

In 1966 (age 3)

He did not do so well in the Classic races in the spring of his third year due to overcrowding and poor health.
In the Kikuka Sho, Speed Symboli and Nasuno Kotobuki finished side by side.
After a long photo judgment, it was determined that Speed Symboli had lost to Nasuno Kotobuki.
In the Arima Kinen, he had a good run to finish 3rd behind Korehide and Kabuto Ciro.

In 1967 (age 4)

In the Tenno Sho (Spring), he was the 1st favorite.
He passed Kabuto Ciro just before the finish line and finished in 1st place.
It was his first major race victory.
He has been invited to Washington, D.C. International.
His owner accepted the invitation because of his strong foreign orientation.
In the Washington, D.C. International, Fort Marcy, an American turf horse, won the race against Damascus, a Double Crown winner.
Speed Symboli finished 5th, 8+1/4 lengths behind the winner.
A total of nine Japanese horses had run in the Washington, D.C. International through 1980, including two by Takeshiba O, but Speed Symboli had the best records in terms of placing and margin of defeat.
He was tired from the overseas tour and was not in good shape after that.

In 1968 (age 5)

He didn’t get back in shape and didn’t do well in the first half of the year.
For a while, it was said that he was past his peak as a racehorse, but in the second half of the year, he got back in shape.

In 1969 (age 6)

He continued his good form and his owner now sent him to tour in Europe.
In the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, he took the lead at one point, but finished in 5th place.
It was a good performance for a Japanese horse at that time.
He then ran in the Grand Prix de Deauville in France, and finished 10th.
He also ran in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and finished 11th or lower.
In the Arima Kinen, he was the 6th favorite due to concerns about fatigue from the Europe tour.
He took the lead in the home stretch and won the race by a nose over Akane Tenryu.
He won the Arima Kinen for the first time in his fourth try.
There were predictions that he would retire at the Arima Kinen, but he will continue his career next year.
At the time, the Japanese horse racing associations was planning to host an international invitational race, and his owner was eager to have him run in it.
However, the race was not going to hold due to protests from domestic breeders against the liberalization of racehorse imports.
The international invitational race would not be held until the first Japan Cup in 1981.

In 1970 (age 7)

In the Takarazuka Kinen, he was the 1st favorite.
He won with a dominant run, setting a new record time.
In the autumn he began to show signs of decline, finishing 2nd in the Mainichi Okan and 7th in the Hollywood Turf Club Sho.
His connections set their sights only on the Arima Kinen.
In the Arima Kinen, he was the 3rd favorite.
He took the lead by running on the inside of the last corner.
In the final stretch he stumbled over bad track but was not passed by the following horses and finished in 1st place.
It was the first time in history that a horse won Arima Kinen in consecutive years and won eight major races at the age of seven.

As a sire

He did not do very well as a stallion.
However, he did produce Symboli Rudolf as a broodmare sire.
Yuji Nohira, who was Speed Symboli’s main jockey, trained Symboli Rudolf as a trainer.

Hall of Fame

He was elected to the Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame in 1990.
Although his racing record is not so outstanding as to make him a Hall of Fame Horse, his achievements will be appreciated by future generations.
He was an old hero who remained active until he was seven years old without being injured.
He was a pioneer in the internationalization of horse racing in Japan and the challenge of the Japanese horse racing community to the world.

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