Jungle Pocket (, 7 May 1998 – 2 March 2021) was a Japanese

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse and

sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" an ...

. In a racing career which lasted from 2000 until 2002 he won five of his thirteen races and ¥704,258,000 in prize money. As a two-year-old he showed promising form by winning two races including the Grade III Sapporo Nisai Stakes in record time. In the following year he won the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and defeated an international field to win the

Japan Cup The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions with ...

. His achievements saw him voted Japanese Champion 3-Year-Old Colt and

Japanese Horse of the Year The Japanese Horse of the Year is the highest honor given to the most outstanding horse in Japanese thoroughbred horse racing. It is awarded annually by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). Since 1987 the honor has been part of the JRA Awards. This ...

for 2001. After failing to win in 2002 he was retired to stud and has had considerable success as a breeding stallion.

Background

Jungle Pocket was a bay horse standing 16

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high with a narrow white blaze bred in Japan by Northern Farm. He was sired by the Irish-bred, Italian-trained Tony Bin who won the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe () is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris over a distance ...

in 1988 before being exported to stand as a breeding stallion in Japan. Tony Bin's other progeny included Air Groove ( Yushun Himba, Tenno Sho), Lady Pastel (Yushun Himba), North Flight (

Yasuda Kinen The Yasuda Kinen (English: Yasuda Memorial, Japanese and Chinese language: 安田記念) is a Japanese Graded stakes race, International Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at the Tokyo Racecourse in Tokyo. Raced annually each June, the Yasuda Ki ...

, Mile Championship), Telegnosis ( NHK Mile Cup) and Sakura Chitose O (Tenno Sho). His dam Dance Charmer was an unraced daughter of Nureyev. The colt raced in the ownership of Yomoji Saito and was trained during his racing career by Sadao Watanabe. The horse was reportedly named after an episode of the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

'' Okaasan to Issho''.

Racing career

2000: two-year-old season

Jungle Pocket began his racing career by winning a

maiden race In horse racing, a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the s ...

over 1800 metres at Sapporo Racecourse on 2 September, beating Tagano Teio and six others. Three weeks later he was moved up in class and faced twelve opponents in the Grade III Sapporo Sansai Stakes over the same course and won from Tagano Teio in a record time of 1:49.6. In the Grade III Radio Tampa Hai Sansai Stakes over 2000 metres at

Hanshin Racecourse is located in Takarazuka, Hyogo, Japan. It has a capacity of 139,000 and is used for horse racing. The land was originally owned by Kawanishi Aircraft Company, which manufactured combat planes during World War II. After World War II, GHQ orde ...

on 23 December he finished second of the twelve runners behind Agnes Tachyon.

2001: three-year-old season

On his three-year-old debut, Jungle Pocket contested the Kyodo Tsushin Hai over 1800 metres at Tokyo Racecourse on 4 February and won from Pregio and ten others. He was then moved up to Grade I class for the Satsuki Sho over 2000 metres at

Nakayama Racecourse was built in 1990 in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan, for horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for c ...

on 15 April and finished third behind Agnes Tachyon and Dantsu Flame. On 27 May at Tokyo, Jungle Pocket was one of eighteen colts to contest the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) over 2400 metres. Agnes Tachyon had sustained a career-ending injury, but Dantsu Flame was in the field along with the American-bred Kurofune, winner of the NHK Mile Cup. Ridden by Koichi Tsunoda, Jungle Pocket won by one and a half lengths from Dantsu Flame, with a gap of two and a half lengths back to Dancing Color in third. After a break of eight weeks, Jungle Pocket returned for the Grade II Sapporo Kinen in August and finished third behind Air Eminem and Fight Commander. Another lengthy absence was followed by a return to Grade I level for the Kikuka Sho over 3000 metres at Kyoto on 21 October and a fourth-place finish behind Manhattan Cafe, Meiner Despot and Air Eminem. On 25 November in front of a 115,196 spectators at Tokyo Jungle Pocket was one of fifteen horses to contest 21st running of the Japan Cup. Ridden by the French jockey

Olivier Peslier Olivier Peslier (born 12 January 1973 in Château-Gontier) is a French thoroughbred horse racing jockey. Peslier competes in flat racing mainly in France but travels often around the world for the big international races. From 2003 to 2014, he wa ...

he was made 3.2/1 second favourite behind T M Opera O, a five-year-old who had won seven previous Grade I races, six of which he won consecutively in the year 2000. The race attracted a strong North American contingent comprising With Anticipation ( Man o' War Stakes), Timboroa ( Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes), Cagney ( Carleton F. Burke Handicap) and White Heart ( Turf Classic Stakes). The other overseas runners were Indigenous from Hong Kong,

Golan Golan (; ) is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village eas ...

from Britain and Paolini (

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) from Germany. The most fancied of the other Japanese runners were Meisho Doto (

Takarazuka Kinen The Takarazuka Kinen (宝塚記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan for Thoroughbreds aged three and over a distance of 2,200 metres (approximately miles) at Hanshin Racecourse (阪神競馬場) in late June. It is one of the two "All-Sta ...

), Stay Gold and Narita Top Road. Peslier restrained the colt towards the rear of the field before switching to the outside to make his challenge in the straight. He caught T M Opera O in the final strides and won by a neck, with a gap of three and a half lengths back to Narita Top Road in third. After the race Peslier commented "I'm on top of the world – It is the most marvellous thrill for me to win the Japan Cup because I have ridden in Japan many times and so I'm really delighted. Jungle Pocket is the Derby winner and I am really proud of the way he has run today in this field. I was bumped a little at the start, and he then raced quite a long way back, but he settled well and I got a good run through". In January 2001 Jungle Pocket was voted Japanese Champion 3-Year-Old Colt and

in the JRA Awards for 2001.

2002: four-year-old season

Jungle Pocket remained in training as a four-year-old in 2002 but failed to win in four races. He made his first appearance in the

Hanshin Daishoten , derived from the second kanji from and the first kanji from (but in ''on''-reading instead of ''kun''-reading), refers generally to Osaka, Kobe, and the surrounding area in the Kansai region of Japan. In the context of a region of Hyōgo ...

in March and finished second to Narita Top Road. In the following month he produced his best performance of the year when he finished a neck second to Manhattan Cafe in the spring version of the Tenno Sho over 3200 metres with Narita Top Road in third place. Before his last two races the colt entered the ownership of Kazuko Yoshida. In the autumn he finished fifth to Falbrav in the Japan Cup (run that year over 2200 metres at Nakayama) and ended his career by finishing seventh of fourteen behind

Symboli Kris S Symboli Kris S (, foaled January 21, 1999 in the United States – December 8, 2020) was a Japanese Thoroughbred race horse and sire. He was voted Japanese Horse of the Year in 2002 and 2003. He was retired at the end of 2003 and was syndicat ...

in the

Arima Kinen The Arima Kinen (有馬記念) is a Conditions races, Grade I Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Japan open to Thoroughbreds three-years-old and above and the world's largest betting horserace. It is run in late December each year, over ...

on 22 December.

Stud record

Jungle Pocket was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion at the Yoshida family's

Shadai Stallion Station is a thoroughbred breeding facility located in Abira on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. The farm was begun in the late 1970s to early 1980s by the late Zenya Yoshida, and is now run jointly by his sons (Katsumi, Haruya, and Teruya Yoshida), know ...

. He later stood in New Zealand and Australia before being moved to the in Japan where he was based from 2013. He retired from stud duty in 2020, and passed away on 2 March 2021 after months of deteriorating health. One of the last crops of Jungle Pocket, a filly named ''Omataseshimashita'', is owned by Shinji Saito, a member of the comedy trio Jungle Pocket (named after the horse) and she has competed in NAR races.

Major winners

''c = colt, f =

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States ...

Pedigree

In popular culture

The Japanese comedy trio Jungle Pocket was named after the horse, with one of the members, Shinji Saito being a fan of the horse. An

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

version of the horse appears in '' Uma Musume Pretty Derby'', with a movie featuring the character titled ''Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Shinjidai no Tobira'' released in Japan on May 24, 2024.

References

{{Reflist, 2 1998 racehorse births 2021 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Japan Racehorses trained in Japan Thoroughbred family 11-g Japan Cup winners Japanese Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Tokyo Yūshun winners