Maruzensky

Maruzensky (Japanese: マルゼンスキー; May 19, 1974 - August 21, 1997)^[1] was an undefeated Japanese thoroughbred racehorse.

His racing career was extremely successful, winning all of the races he entered, including the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes which he had won with a massive gap, earning the nickname "Supercar" in the process.^[2] However, as horses brought over from abroad at the time were barred from entering any of the Triple Crown races, the horse was unable to enter in such races.

As a stallion, he was also successful, producing Derby winner Sakura Chiyono O, as well as 3 other Grade I winners, among others.

Maruzensky's dam, Shill, by Buckpasser, was bought at the Keeneland Sales in the Autumn of 1973 by Zenkichi Hashimoto, father of future Olympiad and Diet member Seiko Hashimoto.^[3] Hashimoto, while having owned cows in his ranch, was relatively new to the world of owning racehorses, when he was on a business trip from Japan. There, he also met the horse's future trainer, Shigehiko Hongo.^[4][5]

At the auction, Hashimoto was told by his interpreter that, given her mare line, as well as the fact the horse was pregnant with a foal of Nijinsky, it was expected that the horse would bid at a high price. Feeling both insulted by the interpreter for his career involving and a desire to buy Shill for himself, he wound up buying the horse for 30 million US dollars, which would have amounted to about 90 million Japanese yen at the time.^[6]

After being shipped to Japan, Shill foaled a colt on May 19, 1974. Hashimoto planned to give the Maruzen yagō to the horse, and went with "Maruzensky" as the foal was a colt, rather than "Miss Maruzen" had the foal had been a filly.^[4]

Two years later, the horse entered Hongo's stable in July 1976.^[7]

Maruzensky's maiden race was on October 9, with Seiichi Nakanowatari [ja] as his jockey. There, the horse handily beat the other horses, finishing the race with more than 2 seconds of gap against the 2nd place.^[8] Maruzensky also won his next race, an allowance race, where he finished the race with a 9 length gap between him and the 2nd place.^[8]

The horse was then entered to the Fuchu Sansai Stakes, an open race, on November 21. The race was contested by only 5 runners, including Hokkaido Sansai Stakes winner Hishi Speed [ja], who had almost caught up to Maruzensky in the race due to Nakanowatari not anticipating any other horse to catch up to him, and had let the horse run slowly. Maruzensky and Hishi Speed ran neck and neck, resulting in a photo finish which concluded that Maruzensky beat the latter by a nose.^[8][9]

On December 12, the horse was entered in to the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes. There, the horse took the lead early on, and ran the front of the pack, finishing the race with a 13 length lead. His time, 1:34.4, was a course record that would not be broken for 14 years until Lindo Shaver [ja] broke it in 1990.^[9][10] After the race, Nakanowatari commented that "he couldn't even hear the footsteps of the other horses" past the 3rd corner.^[11] Hishi Speed's jockey, Futoshi Kojima [ja], commented "That thing is a monster... To be honest, I'm glad I won't have to deal with [Maruzensky] for a while" regarding the winner of the race.^[7][12]

For his performances, he was awarded the Yushun Sho Saiyushu Sansai Boba that year.^[13]

Maruzensky started off the season with an open race held at Chukyo Racecourse with the intention of running in the Kisaragi Sho. However, other trainers feared losing to the undefeated horse, and avoided entering the race.^[12] The open race was almost canceled were it not for Masatoshi Hattori [ja] entering two of his horses under his training.^[8] Maruzensky ultimately won the race by a 2 and a half length lead. After this win, however, Maruzensky fractured his shin, and was forced to take a three months long break.^[14]

Maruzensky returned to racing that May, and won another open race with a 7 length lead, but the horse was unable to enter the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) as horses brought over from abroad, including as fetuses at the time, were barred from running in a Triple Crown race.^[12] Nakanowatari reportedly begged to have the horse enter the race, pleading "Let [Maruzensky] enter the Japanese Derby. I don't care if the horse starts from the furthest outside. We won't interfere the other horses. We don't need the prize money. We just want to see how the horse would do".^[6][9][12] Hashimoto planned to go to court over this, but ultimately the decision was unchanged.^[5] Maruzensky being barred from entering the Derby caused controversy within the horse racing circle of Japan, with the official JRA magazine, Yushun, even holding a discussion panel on its September 1977 issue.^[15]

On June 26, Maruzensky was entered in to the Nihon Tampa Sho, where nearly 80,000 people attended to see the horse run.^[12] Maruzensky faced off the NHK Hai [ja] and future Kikka Sho winner Press Toko [ja], but by far the most favored to win was Maruzensky, whose parimutuel odds was consistently at 1.0.^[16] At the race, Maruzensky quickly took the lead and had already gained a 6 to 7 length lead by the first corner. However, after passing the third corner the horse suddenly lost momentum and was almost passed by Inter Spencer. Maruzensky however, quickly regained the lead and ultimately finished the race with a 7 lengths lead.^[16] Nakanowatari later commented that "the track was bad that day, so I tried to run on the outside to keep the horse safe. Then Inter Spencer came up and the horse became aloof".^[8]

After this race, Maruzenski is moved to Hokkaido to run in a couple of races at Sapporo and Hakodate before running a race in Autumn before the Arima Kinen.^[8] He was subsequently entered in to the Tankyori Stakes at Sapporo. Initially, there were plans of Tosho Boy [ja] running in that race alongside Maruzensky. However, that plan never materialized, and ultimately that race was run with only 5 runners.^[8] In the race, a filly named Yoshio Kazan took the lead and made Maruzensky run from the 2nd of the pack, which was a first for the horse. However, the horse gradually took over the lead and ultimately won the race at a record of 1:10.1.^[8]

The horse was then moved to Hakodate. However, during training, Maruzensky had developed tendonitis, partly due to hitting the railings there. The horse spent all Autumn trying to cure the symptom, but had symptoms showing again when the horse was training for Arima in December.^[7] While the tendonitis itself was relatively light, both Hashimoto and Hongo agreed to retire the horse at that point as the only major races the horse could have entered by that point was either the Arima and Takarazuka.^[17]

A retirement ceremony was held at Tokyo Racecourse on January 15, 1978.^[17]

The following racing form is based on information available on JBIS and netkeiba.^[18][19]

• "R" in the chart and the time written in red indicates the horse finished in record time.

Upon retirement, Maruzensky was sent to the Toyosato Stallion Center in Monbetsu, Hokkaido to stand stud there.^[12] As a stallion, Maruzensky was a successful sire, producing Kikka Sho winner Horisky [ja] as one of his first crops, as well as Derby winner Sakura Chiyono O [ja], Takarazuka winner Suzuka Koban [ja], and Kikka Sho winner Leo Durban [ja].^[6]

Maruzensky was also successful as a broodmare sire, giving birth to dams of two Derby winners, Winning Ticket [ja] and Special Week, as well as Rice Shower, Mejiro Bright [ja], and Primo Ordine [ja] among other Grade I winners.^[21]

Maruzensky passed away on August 21, 1997, after sufering a heart attack.^[22] A funeral was held three days later on August 24, attended by many people as well as his dam, who was still alive at the time, before being buried inside the Hashimoto Bokujou property.^[22]

Below data is based on JBIS Stallion Reports.^[23] c = colt, f = filly

bold = grade 1 stakes

• Maruzensky was inbred 4x4 to Menow, and 5x5 to both Bull Dog and Blue Larkspur, meaning that these horses will appear in the 4th or 5th generations reslectively.

• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses