Jungle Pocket ( ja, ジャングルポケット, link=no, 7 May 1998 – 2 March 2021) is a Japanese

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse and

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. 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 The Sapporo Nisai Stakes (Japanese 札幌2歳ステークス) is a Grade 3 horse race for two-year-old Thoroughbreds run in late August or early September over a distance of 1800 metres at Sapporo Racecourse. The race was first run in 1966 and w ...

in record time. In the following year he won the

Tokyo Yushun Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

(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 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 award originally started as p ...

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 is a bay horse standing 16

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

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

Tony Bin Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

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, France, 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 The , also known as the is a Japanese Grade 1 flat horse race for three-year-old thoroughbred fillies run over a distance of 2,400 metres (approximately 1 mile 4 furlongs) at the Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchū, Tokyo in May. History It was first run i ...

Tenno Sho The is a horse race held twice a year in Japan, once in the spring and once in the autumn. "Tenno" means "Emperor of Japan". The races are both International Grade I races. Prior to the 2007 races, both Tenno Sho races were Japanese domestic Gr ...

), 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 International Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at the Tokyo Racecourse in Tokyo. Raced annually each June, the Yasuda Kinen is run at a dis ...

Mile Championship The Mile Championship is an International Grade I flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 1 mile) on the turf at Kyoto Racecourse in November. It was first run in 1984 ...

), Telegnosis (

NHK Mile Cup The NHK Mile Cup () is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately one mile) on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May. The NHK Mile Cup is sponsored by ...

) 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 as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

Children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

Okaasan to Issho is a children's television program airing weekday mornings in Japan on NHK. The show consists of seasonal songs, the Galapico Pu segment, and animated shorts like Tomodachi Hachi Nin (previously also ''Deko Boko Friends''). , the program was ho ...

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 se ...

over 1800 metres at

Sapporo Racecourse is located in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It was built in 1907 for horse racing use. It has 12,000 seats, with a capacity of 30,000. Sapporo Racecourse hosts one GII (Grade 2) race, the Sapporo Kinen. Physical attributes Main turf cou ...

on 2 September, beating Tagano Teio and six others. Three weeks late 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 it is used for horse racing. The land was originally owned by Kawanishi Aircraft Company, which manufactured combat planes during World War II. After the World War II, GH ...

on 23 December he finished second of the twelve runners behind

Agnes Tachyon Agnes Tachyon (Japanese : アグネスタキオン, April 13, 1998 - June 22, 2009) was an undefeated Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and a Leading sire in Japan. He was by Sunday Silence, his dam, Agnes Flora (by Royal Ski) won the Oka Sho (Jap ...

2001: three-year-old season

On his three-year-old debut, Jungle Pocket contested the Kyodo News Service Hai over 1800 metres at

Tokyo Racecourse is located in Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. Built in 1933 for horse racing, it is considered the "racecourse of racecourses" in Japanese horseracing. It has a capacity of 223,000, with seating for 13,750. Tokyo Racecourse hosts numerous G1 (Grade 1) r ...

on 4 February and won from Pregio and ten others. He was then moved up to Grade I class for the

Satsuki Sho Satsuki is a traditional Japanese name for the month of . It is commonly used as a feminine given name and, more rarely, as a surname or a masculine name. Possible spellings Satsuki can be spelled using different ''kanji'' characters and can mean: ...

over 2000 metres at

Nakayama Racecourse is located in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan. It is used for horse racing. It has a capacity of 165,676. It was built in 1990. Physical attributes Nakayama Race Course has two grass courses, a dirt course, and a jump course. The turf's measures 1840 ...

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

. 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. He was a retained jockey ...

he was made 3.2/1 second favourite behind

T M Opera O T M Opera O ( ja, テイエムオペラオー, link=no, March 13, 1996 – May 2018) was a champion Japanese thoroughbred racehorse, and was the world's all-time leading money earner at the time of his retirement in 2001. In 1999, he was the ...

, a five-year-old who had won seven previous Grade I races. The race attracted a strong North American contingent comprising With Anticipation (

Man o' War Stakes The Man o' War Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for horses aged four-years-old and older. It is run over a distance of one and three-eighth miles on turf and is scheduled annually for early May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New Y ...

), Timboroa (

Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes is a Grade I American Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for three years old and older over a distance of miles on the turf track scheduled annually in late September or early October at Belmont Park in Elmo ...

), Cagney (

Carleton F. Burke Handicap The Carleton F. Burke Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Raced in late October as part of the Oak Tree Racing Association series, it is open to horses age three and older and is ...

) and White Heart (

Turf Classic Stakes The Turf Classic Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for open to horses aged four and older, over a distance of one and one-eighth miles, on the turf held annually in early May on the Kentucky Derby day meeting at Churchill Downs i ...

). The other overseas runners were

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

from Hong Kong,

Golan Golan ( he, גּוֹלָן ''Gōlān''; ar, جولان ' or ') 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 ci ...

from Britain and Paolini (

Dubai Duty Free Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is the company responsible for the duty-free operations at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport. Founded in December 1983, DDF recorded first-year sales of US$20 million and has grown into one ...

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

Takarazuka Kinen The Takarazuka Kinen (宝塚記念) is a Conditions races, Grade I Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds where they run over a distance of 2,200 metres (approximately miles) at Hanshin Race ...

), Stay Gold and Narita Top Road (1999 Kikuka Sho). 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 Award The is given annually since 1987 by the Japan Racing Association (JRA) to the outstanding horses and people in Japanese Thoroughbred horse racing. The awards originally started as the in 1954 and since 1972 the {{Nihongo, Yūshun Awards, 優駿賞 ...

s 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 Hyōg ...

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 Falbrav (foaled 28 February 1998) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire, bred in Ireland but trained in Italy and the United Kingdom during his racing career which ran from 2000 to 2004. He is notable for having won Group 1/Grade ...

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) is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred race horse. He was voted Japanese Horse of the Year in 2002 and 2003. He was retired at the end of 2003 and was syndicated ...

in the

Arima Kinen The Arima Kinen (有馬記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan open to Thoroughbreds which are three-years-old or above and the world's largest betting horserace.

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), known ...

. He later stood in New Zealand and Australia before being moved to the Breeders Stallion station in Japan where he was based in 2015. Died on 2 March 2021.

Major winners

''c =

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

, 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, t ...

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist, 2 1998 racehorse births 2021 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Japan Racehorses trained in Japan Thoroughbred family 11-g Japan Cup winners