Tokino Minoru

Details

Name / Japanese	Tokino Minoru / トキノミノル (Perfect / パーフエクト, パーフェクト)
Birth Year	1948
Sex	horse
Earnings	4,257,150 yen
Races-Wins	10-10
Sire	Theft
Dam (Sire)	Dai-2 Tyrant’s Queen (Soldennis)
Other site link	JBIS / en.netkeiba

Honours

Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame (1984)

All races

Y D/M	Track	Race	No.	Pl.
1950 23/07	Hakodate T800	New Comers		1
1950 23/08	Sapporo D1000	OP		1
1950 03/09	Sapporo D1200	Sapporo Stakes		1
1950 01/10	Nakayama T1000	OP		1
1950 15/10	Nakayama T1100	Yusho		1
1950 10/12	Nakayama T1100	Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes		1
1951 01/04	Nakayama T1800	Senbatsu Handicap		1
1951 28/04	Tokyo T1800	OP		1
1951 13/05	Nakayama T2000	Satsuki Sho		1
1951 03/06	Tokyo T2400	Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby)		1	G / ▲

• His owner was not very enthusiastic when purchasing him.
  Since he could not be named, the breeder and trainer consulted with each other, and the horse debuted under the name “Perfect”.
  Perfect won his debut race by 8 lengths in a Japanese record time.
  When the trainer reported to the owner that Perfect had won his debut race, he forgot that he had purchased him, but when the owner later learned of Perfect’s promise, he was in a good mood and changed Perfect’s name to Tokino Minoru.
  The name “Tokino” was a name that the owner expected to win the Derby.
  After his debut race, Tokino Minoru continued to be very successful.
• In the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes, he won by 4 lengths.
  He became the 2-year-old champion of the Kanto region.
• In the Satsuki Sho, he won by 2 lengths.
  He broke the race record by 6.1 seconds, a Japanese record for 2,000 meters on turf.
• He has always had a bad condition of his right front foot, and after the Satsuki Sho, his gait became strange.
  In addition, he also showed symptoms of lacerated hoof on his right front leg.
  His Derby run was very doubtful, but on the day of the Derby, he was in good condition.
• In the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), he won by 1+1/4 lengths.
  He broke the race record set by Kurifuji by 0.3 seconds.
  After the race, a photo was taken with many crowd of spectators destroying the fences and surrounding him.
• He seemed certain to become only the second horse in history since Saint Lite (St. Lite) to win the Triple Crown of classic races.
  His owner announced that if he won the Triple Crown, he would be the first horse in Japanese horse racing history to go to the United States.

His Death

• On June 8, five days after the Derby, the stable keeper reported that Tokino Minoru was not feeling well.
• He was treated but did not get better and was suspected of having tetanus on June 17.
  By June 18, he began to experience muscle stiffness and sensitivity to touch, light, and sound characteristic of tetanus.
• On the morning of June 20, he was diagnosed as being well enough to eat carrots and grass and would continue to recover.
  However, in the afternoon his condition suddenly changed, and that night he died of tetanus sepsis.

His Contributions

• His influence on the Japanese horse racing industry and Japanese society is significant.
• At the time, the national horse racing (later JRA) was less popular than the regional horse racing (later NAR), and even holding the Derby was uncertain.
  When news of Tokino Minoru’s success spread, many people went to the race courses to see him, and Tokino Minoru did not disappoint their expectations.
  As of 2022, the percentage of winning ticket for him in Satsuki Sho is still the highest of all time at 73.3%.
  (The second place all-time is Deep Impact’s 63.0%)
  It is generally agreed that the first horse racing boom was around the time of Haiseiko, but some claimed that it was Tokino Minoru that started the first horse racing boom.
• He was the only horse to run more than 10 races and win them all in Japanese national horse racing after World War II.
  (Other horses that ran more than 10 races and won all of them include horses that were active in the NAR and horses that were active in Anglo-Arab racing, as well as Kurifuji, who was active during World War II and won all of her races.)
  He is called “幻の馬 (The Phantom Horse)” to describe his excellent racing results and his sudden death.
  His owner is a well-known producer in the film industry, who mourned Tokino Minoru’s death and produced a film about him called “幻の馬 (Maboroshi no uma / The Phantom Horse)”.
  The film “Maboroshi no uma” is a rare color film of the Tokyo Racecourse in the 1950s, and was shown at the Cannes International Film Festival.
  (English Wikipedia The Phantom Horse / IMDb)
• The statue of Tokino Minoru was placed at the Tokyo Racecourse.
• In 1984, the Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame was started and he was elected.
• His documentation of his illness is credited with contributing to tetanus research.