Verxina (born on March 5, 2009) is a Japanese retired race horse sired by Deep Impact, and out of . She is owned by a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player,

Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro Sasaki (佐々木主浩 ''Sasaki Kazuhiro'', born February 22, 1968) is a Japanese former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played his entire Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) career with the Yokohama Taiyō Whales / Yokohama ...

Early life

Verxina, a

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

, was

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...

ed on March 5, 2009, by Deep Impact out of Halwa Sweet. She was bred by Northern Farm in

Abira, Hokkaido is a town located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 30 September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 8,323. Geography Located in the north-east of Iburi Subprefecture, and is a hilly area extending from the Yufutsu Plain ...

, Japan. Verxina's dam, Halwa Sweet, who was famous for being born without a tail, went on to birth two other successful racehorses, Cheval Grand and Vivlos, both of which are also owned by Sasaki. Her sire, Deep Impact, was a champion racehorse known for winning the Japanese Triple Crown and earning a title in the Japanese Racing Association Hall of Fame.

Racing career

She began her racing career as a 2-year-old, but debuted as a 3-year-old at the Daily Hai Queen Cup. Her major wins were at the Queen Cup, and twice at the Victoria Mile. During her time as a racer, Verxina represented the stables she resided in,

Yasuo Tomomichi Yasuo Tomomichi (; born August 11, 1963) is a Japanese horse trainer of the Japan Racing Association. Career Tomomichi was born in the district of Akō, Hyōgo. After graduating from in 1982, he enrolled in the Osaka Prefecture University's S ...

, twice. Verxina was ridden by Hiroyuki Uchida for most of her races.

3 year old

At age 3, Verxina won the Daily Hai Queen Cup in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. She placed second at the

Yushun Himba The , also known as the is a Japanese Conditions races, Grade 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race for three-year-old thoroughbred Filly, fillies run over a distance of 2,400 metres (approximately 1 mile 4 furlongs) at the Tokyo Racecours ...

Oka Sho The is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan. The race is restricted to three-year-old Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbre ...

Shuka Sho Shuka ( , also Shukadeva ) is a rishi (sage) in Hinduism. He is the son of the sage Vyasa and the main narrator of the scripture ''Bhagavata Purana''. Most of the ''Bhagavata Purana'' consists of Shuka reciting the story to the king Parikshit ...

Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup The Queen Elizabeth II Cup (''Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup'' until 2012) is an International Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbred fillies and mares run over a distance of 2,200 metres (approximate ...

, and Kansai Telecasting Corporation Sho Rose Stakes.

4-5 years old

Verxina won the

Victoria Mile The Victoria Mile () is a Graded stakes race, Grade 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbred Filly, fillies and mare (horse), mares. Organized by Japan Racing Association, it is run over a dista ...

twice, once as a 4-year-old and again a year later. She was favored both times. Both the Tokyo Shimbun Hai and the

Hanshin Himba Stakes The Hanshin Himba Stakes (Japanese 阪神牝馬ステークス) is a Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for Thoroughbreds fillies and mares of at least four years of age. It is run over a distance of 1600 metres at Hanshin Racecourse in April. Th ...

had a major defeat with 11 landings, and although Victoria Mile was welcomed as the 11th most popular despite becoming champion the previous year. After the Victoria Mile, she went to

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 ...

. Her rating was 8th most popular. However, in the race that

Yuichi Fukunaga is a Japanese horse trainer and former jockey who has won 29 Grade 1 races in Japan and abroad. He is affiliated with the Japan Racing Association (JRA) in Rittō. His father is former jockey who was said to be a "genius" during his active care ...

switched to, she ran away in the same way as before, dropping to a super slow pace of 1000 minutes passing 62 seconds. Although replaced by the

Gold Ship Gold Ship (, foaled 6 March 2009) is 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 br ...

and Karen Milotick at the last line, Verxina showed a good fight, entering 3rd. In autumn Verxina went to the Queen Elizabeth II Cup and

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 ...

, but lost both races. Verxina retired at age 5 to become a breeding mare at the Northern Farm in

Breeding career

As of 2023, Verxina has foaled 5 offsprings. Of these, her most successful progeny is , by King Kamehameha, who won the

Niigata Kinen The Niigata Kinen (Japanese 新潟記念) is a Japanese Grade 3 horse race for Thoroughbreds aged three and over, run in late August or early September over a distance of 2000 metres on turf at Niigata Racecourse. The Niigata Kinen was first run ...

in 2020, and , by

Maurice Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

, who won the 2023

Fuchu Himba Stakes The Fuchu Himba Stakes (Japanese 府中牝馬ステークス) is a Japanese Grade 3 horse race for Thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three and over run in June over a distance of 1,800 meters at Tokyo Racecourse. It was first run in 1953 and w ...

In popular culture

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 ...

character based on the horse appears in ''

Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a Japanese media franchise created by Cygames. A mobile game for iOS and Android was scheduled to debut in late 2018 and then delayed to February 2021. A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by P.A. Works aired ...

''.

Pedigree

References

2009 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Japan Racehorses trained in Japan Thoroughbred family 12-c {{Racehorse-stub