Tomei

Details

Name / Japanese	Tomei / トウメイ
Birth Year	1966
Sex	mare
Earnings	148,930,000 yen
Races-Wins	31-16
Sire	Cipriani
Dam (Sire)	Toshi Manna (Meiji Hikari)
Other site link	JBIS / en.netkeiba

Awards

Keishusha Award for Best Older Filly or Mare (1971) Keishusha Award for Horse of the Year (1971)

• For a long time, the breeding farm could not sell her because of her poor appearance.
  Finally, the Ohi horse racing trainer Kiyoshi Takagi sold her at a low bid and introduced her to Katsuo Kondo, who became her owner.
  Katsuo Kondo applied to name her Meito (名刀、銘刀 / Famous Sword, Named Sword, Good Sword), but it was not approved.
  Therefore, he registered her as a racehorse under the name Tomei, replacing the name Meito, and she was approved.
• Later, when Kiyoshi Takagi died suddenly, trainer Shigeji Shimizu of Hanshin Racecourse took her in for the time being.
  Shigeji Shimizu decided that she was not capable of being a racehorse and tried to transfer Tomei to NAR, but no trainer came forward to take her in.
  Since the Shimizu Stable could not even find a stable keeper to take care of Tomei, Shigeji Shimizu’s younger brother took care of her with his spare time.

Major races

Y D/M	Track	Race	No.	Pl.
1969 15/01	Kyoto T1600	Shinzan Kinen	8	2
1969 09/03	Kyoto T1600	Kyoto Yonsai Tokubetsu	1	1
1969 13/04	Hanshin T1600	Oka Sho	6	2
1969 18/05	Tokyo T2400	Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)	7	3
1969 23/11	Kyoto T1600	Kyoto Himba Tokubetsu	9	3
1969 21/12	Hanshin T2000	Hanshin Himba Tokubetsu	2	2
1970 12/04	Hanshin T1600	Milers Cup	2	1
1970 10/05	Hanshin T1900	Hankyu Hai	3	2
1971 11/04	Hanshin T1600	Milers Cup	3	1
1971 06/06	Hanshin T1900	Hankyu Hai	11	1
1971 31/10	Tokyo T1600	Himba Tokyo Times Hai	13	1	G
1971 28/11	Tokyo T3200	Tenno Sho (Autumn)	12	1	▲ / G
1971 19/12	Nakayama T2500	Arima Kinen	6	1	▲ / G

• Tomei made her debut as a racehorse without anyone’s expectations.
  She finished 2nd in her debut race and 1st in the next race.
  Shimizu Stable’s evaluation of her improved and they decided on a stable keeper to take charge of her.
• She finished 2nd in the Shinzan Kinen and 1st in the Kyoto Yonsai Tokubetsu, making her a strong contender for the classic races.
• In the Oka Sho, she took the lead once in the homestretch but was slightly beaten by Hide Kotobuki
• In the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), she was the 1st favorite but finished 3rd.
• After the sudden death of trainer Shigeji Shimizu, Tomei was taken over by trainer Isamu Sato and then managed by trainer Masayuki Sakata.
• In 1970, she finished 1st in the Milers Cup and 2nd in the Hankyu Hai.
  It turned out that she was injured in the Hankyu Hai, and it would be more than six months before she returned to racing.
  Her team chose not to retire her, but to return her to racing.
  Some blamed her team, saying that she was purchased on the cheap and yet she had done so well that she should be allowed to retire now.
• In 1971, she won the Milers Cup and the Hankyu Hai.
  She also toured to Kanto and won the Himba Tokyo Times Hai.
• In the Tenno Sho (Autumn), she was the 3rd favorite.
  She was called the Mile Queen at the time, and people were interested to see how she would do over a distance of 3,200 meters.
  The slow pace was good for her.
  She finally broke away from the pack of horses to take the lead and cross the finish line.
  Her jockey, Eiji Shimizu (also Shigeji Shimizu’s nephew), said he ran the race thinking, “Think of it as running 1600 meters twice.
• Before the Arima Kinen, the horse flu epidemic in the Kanto region forced the withdrawal of Mejiro Asama, Akane Tenryu, and others from racing.
  (Mejiro Asama’s career would later change dramatically due to the treatment of his illness.
  Akane Tenryu had been the 1st favorite until the day before.)
  In the race, she was the 1st favorite.
  She was lucky that the strong horses were suspended and that the race was held with a smaller number of horses as a result.
  She won the race by 1+1/2 lengths.
  She became the first mare to win Arima Kinen in 11 years since Star Roch.
• She won the Horse of the Year by winning the Tenno Sho and Arima Kinen.
  It was the first time in history that a mare became Horse of the Year.
  There was a plan to hold her retirement race in the Kansai region, but she eventually retired after the Arima Kinen.
  When she retired, the total amount of money she had earned was a record for a mare at the time.

Evaluation of her

• She continued to perform consistently well for more than three years.
  In a time when there were no drugs to suppress mare’s estrus, she is highly regarded for having such a long and consistently good performance, even over long distances, heavy handicaps and bad track conditions.
  Not much is said about her now, but for a long time afterwards, there were those who referred to her as the greatest mare of all time.

As a broodmare

• Her most famous foal is Temmei.
  Temmei finished 2nd in the 1977 Kikuka Sho and won the 1978 Tenno Sho (Autumn).
  video 1978 Tenno Sho (Autumn)
  An unusual event occurred at the 1978 Tenno Sho (Autumn).
  A race that had once started had to be redone because one horse’s gate did not open.
  (It was later determined that the reason the gate did not open was due to the horse’s bite on the gate.
  This was not a gate malfunction, but a failure of horse and jockey, so it was not a matter that would normally cause a race to be stopped and redone.)
  The redo of the race caused a stir, with Press Toko becoming agitated and running out of control.
  Temmei won the race.
  It was the first time in history that a dam and foal won the Tenno Sho.
  It was also won by the same owner, trainer, and jockey as Tomei.
• Tomei produced many mares and many of their offspring have run the race.
  There are some successful horses, such as Nick Banyan, who won the 2008 Haneda Hai, but there are few horses from the Tomei family that are active these days.