Copano Rickey

Copano Rickey (, foaled March 24, 2010) is a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse.

His major wins include the February Stakes (2014, 2015), the JBC Classic (2014, 2015), the Kashiwa Kinen (2014, 2016, 2017), the 2016 Teio Sho, the Mile Championship Nambu Hai (2016, 2017), and the 2017 Tokyo Daishoten. With 11 GI/JpnI wins, this makes Copano Rickey the Japanese-trained horse with the most wins. He was nicknamed the "great actor of the dirt ().

Racing career

2012-13: Two-and-three year old seasons

Copano Rickey made his debut on December 2012 at a debut race for 2-year olds but finished at 8th place. After winning a maiden race on January 2013, he won his second race in a row; which was an allowance race. Following a 3rd place finish at the Hyacinth Stakes and a victory at the Fukuryu Stakes, Copano Rickey won his first graded race by winning the . After this win, he was planned to be entered in to the Tōkyō Yūshun, but was forced out of the races after a fracture was discovered in the radius of the right forearm.

2014: Four-year old season

Copano Rickey started the season with his first Grade I race, the February Stakes. As the horse was selected for the final open slot of the gate in a 50/50 draw against , the horse was the least favored to win in a field of 16 horses. During the race, the horse was placed in second of the pack, and after taking the lead in the final stretch managed to stave off , who was making a push to take the lead. This was the first Grade I victory for both the horse, and jockey . The win payout for that race, 27,210 yen, was the second highest return in JRA GI history since won the 1989 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.

Later, the horse was entered in to the Kashiwa Kinen held on May 5, and won. In that race, Copano Rickey did not start out well, but moved in to the outside of the pack and started to push up at around the 3rd corner and caught up to the front of the pack by the 4th corner, surpassing the pack on the final stretch and winning the race. The crop was only used twice. The race had coincided with the birthday of the owner, Sachiaki Kobayashi, and Tanabe commented that he was relieved that despite the pressure from that fact he was able to win the race. Osamu Saito, who wrote an article of the race on web Furlong 2014, noted that those who saw the victory at the February Stakes as a mere fluke would have had to change their minds. Saito also wrote that he believed that the horse would be a central figure of the Dirt GI/JpnI races in the coming years.

On November 3, Copano Rickey entered the Japan Breeding Farms' Cup Classic and won. After the race, Tanabe commented "I always thought the horse was strong, so whenever I'm told 'your horse is strong', I can only agree to that", showing trust towards the horse. The horse's trainer, Murayama, also expressed hope in the horse becoming stronger, stating that "his potential is high, and I believe we can go to a level further."

2015: Five-year old season

Copano Rickey started the year off with the Tokai Stakes, with Yutaka Take as his jockey. After taking the lead at the 4th corner he finished the race with a 4-length lead. After this race, Copano Rickey was entered in to the February Stakes once again, where the horse once again ran in second, trailing front-runner for most of the race before taking the lead and keeping the lead even as closed in, winning the race by a half-length lead. A few days later, it was announced that the horse had suffered a left distal radius fracture and reported that it would take six months to recover.

2016-17: Six-to-seven-year old seasons

In 2016, Copano Rickey won three JpnI races; the Kashiwa Kinen, the Teio Sho, and the Mile Championship Nambu Hai.

In 2017, Copano Rickey ran his final race, the Tokyo Daishōten. There, the horse took the lead early on and became the front-runner and ran the race in his own pace, before lengthening his lead in the final stretch, and not let take over the lead; winning the race and achieving his 11th GI/JpnI race, the most wins for any Japanese horse at the time. A retirement ceremony was held at Kyoto Racecourse on January 6, 2018, and his racehorse registration was withdrawn on January 10. Following his retirement, the horse was sent to the to stand stud there.

File:Copano-Rickey_Hyacinth-Stakes_2014.jpg, 2014 Hyacinth Stakes
File:第14回JBCクラシックの優勝レイと馬着を装着した勝利馬コパノリッキー.JPG, 2014 JBC Classic
File:Copano Rickey February Stakes 2015(IMG1).jpg, 2015 February Stakes
File:Copano Rickey February Stakes 2015(IMG2).jpg

Racing statistics

The following form is based on information available at netkeiba.com.

Stud career

Copano Rickey became a breeding stallion at the Breeders Stallion Station in 2018, with a service fee of 800,000JPY (on the condition of conception) or 1,200,000JPY (on the condition of birth), and covered 194 mares that season.

His first crops debuted in 2021, with 138 horses being registered in the studbook, which was the most for any new stallions that year. Love Me Doll became the first winner for that season's race for two-year old, which was the JRA Fresh Challenge held at Monbetsu Racecourse on April 14, which also marked the first victory of the stallion's progeny. Copano Nicholson became the first progeny to win a JRA race when the horse won a maiden race at Chukyo Racecourse on September 26 that same year.

Pedigree

References

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2010 racehorse births
Thoroughbred racehorses
Racehorses bred in Japan
Racehorses trained in Japan
Thoroughbred family 1-o