Details
| Name / Japanese | Tokei Nisei / トウケイニセイ |
| Birth Year | 1987 |
| Sex | male |
| Earnings | 315,770,000 yen |
| Races-Wins / G1-Wins | 43-39 / 0-0 |
| Sire | Tokei Hope |
| Dam (Sire) | Ace Tsubaki (Reform) |
| Other site link | JBIS / |
His bloodline
- His sire, Tokei Hope, had 22 wins in 53 races.
However, because of his second-class pedigree and the fact that he had only raced in NAR, it was difficult for him to get broodmares when he became a stallion.
His owner had finally managed to get five broodmares together for him.
After the first year of breeding, Tokei Hope died of heart attack.
Tokei Nisei is one of only four offspring of Tokei Hope. - His dam, Ace Tsubaki, also produced horses that were active in NAR, Tokei Fleet and Iioka Swallow.
As a racehorse
- He made his debut at the age of two years and nine months as a horse belonging to Iwate Keiba of NAR.
(Iwate Keiba is run by Iwate Prefecture.)
He won his debut race, but rested for a year and seven months due to bowed tendon.
His tendon never fully healed, so after this he was unable to train hard and had to ice his legs after every little run. - He has won 18 straight races since his debut.
This was a Japanese record.
(Tokei Nissei achieves 18 consecutive victories since debut) - In the Michinoku Daishoten (1993), he was 2nd favorite.
He was six years old at the time.
Moriyu Prince was 1st favorite, Swift Say Die was 3rd favorite and Grate Hope was 4th favorite.
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///Swift Say Die & Grate Hope///
Swift Say Die, who had run quite well in the South Kanto and JRA races, was the star of the Iwate Keiba at that time.
(Swift Say Die was called the Iwate Monster.)
Grate Hope was a rival of Swift Say Die’s.
These two horses had been active in Iwate Racing for several years and were called the “SG Period” by their initials, but they were indeed showing signs of decline.
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At that time, it was Tokei Nisei and his future rival, Moriyu Prince, who were trying to replace Swift Say Die and Grate Hope.
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Tokei Nisei did a great run, even though it was said that he was only racing against horses he could easily beat.
He won by 2+1/2 lengths and broke the race record.
Michinoku Daishoten (1993) - After that, the main stars of Iwate Keiba were Tokei Nisei and his rival, Moriyu Prince.
Some people call it the TM Period.
He was called the Demon King of Iwate. - Tokei Nisei rarely ran outside of Iwate due to concerns about the effects of a change in environment due to his sensitive nature and the condition of his legs on an unfamiliar track.
As a result, not many horse racing fans knew about him except for those in Iwate Prefecture.
(At that time, the Internet network was hardly widespread, and information on NAR racehorses was not available at all.
Nowadays, horse racing fans can buy tickets on the Internet based on information provided by the Internet.
Also, at the time, attention to dirt racing was pretty low.) - The year 1995 is called the first year of interaction between JRA and NAR.
Lively Mount, a JRA horse, came in for the Nanbu Hai hosted by Iwate Keiba of NAR.
Tokei Nisei faced them as a local hero, but finished 3rd, losing to Lively Mount and Saruno King of Ohi Keiba.
The many fans of Tokei Nisei who had gathered at the racetrack were met with silence.
(Nambu Hai 1995)
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Mamoru Ishibashi, the winning jockey, said, “I feel like a villain today.
Tokei Nisei’s jockey, Isao Sugawara, said, “If only we had this race at least one more year earlier.”
Tokei Nisei was eight years old at the time. - He retired with 39 wins in 43 starts, 3 second place finishes and 1 third place finish.
After his retirement
- In 1999, Meisei Opera, who was called the second coming of the Iwate Monster, won the February Stakes which is a G1 race hosted by JRA.
(As of March 2021, he is the only horse belonging to NAR to have won a G1 race at JRA.)
Isao Sugawara, the jockey of Meisei Opera and the main jockey of Tokei Nisei, said, “Meisei has become stronger, but he is still not as strong as Nisei.” , “I think that if Nisei at his best had gone to the Dubai World Cup, he would have won.”
Horse racing fans who only knew JRA’s horses were shocked to learn of Meisei Opera’s strength for the first time, but many of them also learned for the first time about the existence of Tokei Nisei, who was even stronger than Meisei Opera. - He became a stallion, but produced only 35 offspring.
- The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 made it difficult to keep him for life.
A fundraising campaign was held to raise money for his lifelong care, with donations coming not only from Iwate Prefecture but from all over Japan.
He died in 2012 at the age of 25. - He is a great local hero who made the heyday of Iwate Keiba with his great performance despite suffering from bowed tendon.