Details
| Name / Japanese | Takeshiba O / タケシバオー |
| Birth Year | 1965 |
| Sex | horse |
| Earnings | 111,120,000 yen (only Japan) |
| Races-Wins | 29-16 |
| Sire | China Rock |
| Dam (Sire) | Takatsunami (Yashima Manna) |
| Other site link | JBIS / en.netkeiba |
| Awards | Keishusha Award for Best Two-Year-Old Colt (1967) Keishusha Award for Best Older Male Horse (1969) Keishusha Award for Horse of the Year (1969) |
| Honours | Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame (2004) |
His Races to Be Noted (★ broke the record time)
| Y D/M |
Track | Race | Track Condition |
Handicap (kg) |
No. | Pl. | Difference (Lengths) |
 |
| 1967 23/07 |
Hakodate T1000 |
3yo (2yo) | Firm | 51 | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 1967 09/09 |
Sapporo D1200 |
3yo (2yo) | Standard | 51 | 7 | 3 | -(3+head) | |
| 1967 17/12 |
Nakayama T1600 |
Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes (OP) | Good | 51 | 4 | 1 | 7 | |
| 1968 18/02 |
Nakayama D1700 |
Tokyo Yonsai Stakes (OP) | Sloppy | 55 | 2 | 1★ | 8 | |
| 1968 17/03 |
Nakayama T1600 |
Yayoi Sho (OP) | Firm | 56 | 4 | 2 | -1.1/4 | ★/G |
| 1968 28/04 |
Nakayama T1800 |
Spring Stakes (OP) | Yielding | 56 | 1 | 2 | -1.1/4 | |
| 1968 19/05 |
Nakayama T2000 |
Satsuki Sho (OP) | Yielding | 57 | 8 | 2 | -3/4 | ★/G |
| 1968 16/06 |
Tokyo T2000 |
NHK Hai (OP) | Yielding | 55 | 2 | 2 | -1.1/2 | |
| 1968 07/07 |
Tokyo T2400 |
Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (OP) | Good | 57 | 15 | 2 | -5 | ★/G |
| 1968 11/11 |
Laurel T12F |
Washington, D.C. International | Yielding | 54.5 | 8 | about -24 | G | |
| 1969 02/02 |
Tokyo D2100 |
Tokyo Shimbun Hai (OP) | Good | 58 | 5 | 1★ | 6 | |
| 1969 01/03 |
Tokyo D1700 |
Over 5yo (Over 4yo) | Muddy | 60 | 1 | 1★ | over 10 | |
| 1969 16/03 |
Kyoto T2400 |
Kyoto Kinen (OP) | Yielding | 62 | 2 | 1 | 1.3/4 | |
| 1969 13/04 |
Hanshin T1600 |
Over 5yo (Over 4yo) | Firm | 60 | 2 | 1★ | 9 | |
| 1969 29/04 |
Kyoto T3200 |
Tenno Sho (Spring) (OP) | Fir, | 58 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ★/G |
| 1969 06/07 |
Nakayama T1800 |
July Stakes (OP) | Soft | 65 | 6 | 1 | head | ★/G |
| 1969 14/09 |
Tokyo D2100 |
Mainichi Okan | Standard | 62 | 2 | 1 | 3.1/2 | |
| 1969 28/09 |
Nakayama T1200 |
Eikoku Fair Kaisai Kinen (the 3rd Sprinters Stakes) |
Firm | 62 | 2 | 1★ | 1.3/4 | |
| 1969 11/11 |
Laurel T12F |
Washington, D.C. International | Firm | 54.5 | 7 | about -34 | G |
- He won for the first time in his third race, a turf 1000 meter race in Hakodate.
- His fourth race, a 1200 meter dirt race in Sapporo, was the only Japanese race in which he finished worse than third.
- In the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes, he was the 3rd favorite.
He won by 7 lengths over the 2nd place finisher to become the Kanto 2-year-old champion. - With his dominant run to win the Asahi Hai, he became the leading candidate for the classic races.
However, he struggled.
He was beaten by Asaka O and Marchs in the Yayoi Sho and Spring Stakes, the pre-races for the Satsuki Sho.
Takeshiba O, Asaka O and Marchs were considered to be the top three in the classic races. - In the Satsuki Sho, he was the 1st favorite.
He took the lead early, but was overtaken by Marchs and Asaka O in the home stretch.
He then overtook Asaka O, but was beaten by Marchs and finished 2nd. - This year, due to the reconstruction of the Tokyo Racecourse, the Derby schedule was irregular.
He had a rematch with Marches in the NHK Hai, a trial race for the Derby, but lost again. - In the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), he was the 2nd favorite.
His jockey was too wary of the Marchs and Asaka O in the back and could not catch up with Tanino Harromore in the lead. - He did not win any of the spring classic races, but was still a strong contender for the final classic race, Kikuka Sho.
His owner, however, made a surprising decision.
His owner accepted an invitation from Washington, D.C. International.
In the Washington, D.C. International, he was kicked in the hind leg by Sir Ivor during the race, causing him to stall.
He finished in last place. - In 1969, he was very successful.
- He had a tremendous run in the race on March 1.
He crossed the finish line in a time of 1:41.9, well ahead of the 2nd place finisher.
Many people said that this time was as good as the American time.
His record time could not be broken by anyone until 2003, when the 1,700 meter dirt track at Tokyo Racecourse was eliminated.
For reference, the JRA’s records for 1,700 meters on dirt as of February 2022 are shown below.Date Track
(Condition)Handicap
(kg)Time Horse Name March 1, 1969 Tokyo (old)
(Muddy)60 1:41.9 Takeshiba O May 31, 2003 Chukyo
(Muddy)58 1:42.9 Lord Prevail July 11, 2021 Kokura
(Muddy)56 1:40.9 Meisho Kazusa Jun 11, 2011 Niigata
(Standard)57 1:46.6 Makarios Jun 30, 2019 Fukushima
(Sloppy)54 1:43.1 Bilge Keel Jun 25, 2016 Hakodate
(Sloppy)57 1:41.7 Monde Classe August 24, 2017 Sapporo
(Muddy)57 1:40.9 London Town He had a handicap of 60 kg, and yet he was able to set times that were comparable to modern records.
- In the Tenno Sho (Spring), he was the 1st favorite.
He won with a great finishing kick, beating the 2nd place finisher Asaka O by 2 lengths.
At that time, winning the Tenno Sho was the highest honor for an old horse. - In the July Stakes, he won by a head even though he had a handicap of 65kg.
The second place horse’s handicap was 53kg, more than 10kg lighter than his. - In the Mainichi Okan, he won by 3+1/2 lengths.
He became the first horse in Japanese history to win over 100 million yen in prize money. - The third Sprinter’s Stakes was held under the name of the Eikoku Fair Kaisai Kinen (Memorial of the British Fair).
He won the race with a 62kg handicap, breaking the record time. - He ran in the Washington, D.C. International again in 1969, but was not in good shape and finished last.
(By the way, from about 5:45 into this video, you can see him being transported by airplane in 1968.
His health would naturally deteriorate after a long time of transportation with such poor equipment.) - After returning to Japan, he was still unsteady on his feet and sometimes fell, and retired without running in the Arima Kinen.
Evaluation of him as a racehorse
- He is probably the horse with the strangest racing result in Japanese history.
A horse that could win the 1200 meter Sprinters Stakes on turf with a new record, win the 3200 meter Tenno Sho on turf, and set new records for 1700 meters and 2100 meters on dirt was unique even at the time, and would never be born again.
It makes him seem out of the ordinary and otherworldly.
He is an all-rounder regardless of turf, dirt, distance, track condition, handicap, etc. - Even when he is compared to other horses, he is in some ways on another level.
For example, when Narita Brian ran in the 1,200 meter Takamatsunomiya Hai, people said, “Narita Brian is not Takeshiba O, so he won’t win. When Agnes Digital won turf and dirt G1 races and was called an all-rounder, people said, “Takeshiba O is more awesome than Agnes Digital.
As a sire
- Imported stallions were popular at the time and he was not very popular as a stallion at first.
However, he became a popular stallion thanks to the good performance of his crops and the high birth rate. - In the end, he did not produce a horse that won a G1 race or a race that would later become a G1 race.
- Dokan Yashima, who won the grade race six years in a row, and Hatsushiba O, who won the South Kanto Triple Crown at NAR, are his representative horses.
Hall of Fame
- He had not been inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame since it began, partly because he had won only one of the eight major races, Tenno Sho.
- The controversy arose after the 2003 JRA Hall of Fame voting.
T.M. Opera O, who became eligible to vote from that year, was not inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Many protests were sent to the JRA, saying it was wrong that a horse with such a great competitive record as T.M. Opera O should not be elected to the Hall of Fame on the first vote. - The reason for this was that there was no age limit for the horses in the voting rules.
In order to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, a horse must receive more than three-fourths of the votes in the press poll, but some press members voted for older horses such as Takeshiba O, so the votes were scattered. - Starting with the 2004 press poll, horses within 20 years of being struck off the racehorse register were eligible for voting.
However, in 2004, in celebration of JRA’s 50th anniversary, a separate poll was held for horses that had been off the racehorse register for more than 20 years.
As a result, T.M. Opera O and Takeshiba O were inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame at the same time in 2004.