Tosen Ra

Tosen Ra (in Japanese: トーセンラー) (foaled April 21, 2008) is a Japanese retired Thoroughbred racehorse and breeding stallion who won the 2013 Mile Championship.

The horse's name comes from the combination of the brand name, Tosen, and Ra, the sun god in Egyptian mythology. ^[2]

Racing career

Tosen's first race was on November 7, 2010, in Kyoto in which he came in 1st place. He then won the Kisaragi Sho on February 6, 2011, which was the first graded race win in his career.^[1] He was trained in preparation for the classic races that year. A few weeks before the Satsuki Sho, he was at the Yamamoto training centre in Miyagi prefecture when it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami, which he survived; the race was relocated to Tokyo that year.^[3] He finished in seventh at the Satsuki Sho, eleventh at the Tokyo Yushun and snatched the third place at the Kikuka Sho.^[4]

His start for the 2012 season was not excellent when he only got fourth-place in the Kyōto Kinen.^[4] He improved in the autumn campaign when he managed to placed second in two Group 3 races, the Tanabata Sho and Kokura Kinen.^[5][6] He ended the mediocre season with a seventh-place finish at the Niigata Kinen.^[7]

The bad season start flipped in the new calendar year as on the February 10, 2013, he won the Kyōto Kinen.^[1][8] He made a good stretch along the earlier part of the race, moved outside and surpassed Shonan Mighty at the straight to bring it home.^[8] His biggest feat of this season would happen on the November 17. On this day, Yutaka Take put his absolute best when he rode him from near the back of the 18-horse field in upper stretch and urged a sweeping outside rally to catch Daiwa Maggiore and Danon Shark to grab his 100th Group 1 win in the Mile Championship.^[9] This first G1 win gained by Tosen Ra eventually proved to be the last win of his career.^[10][1]

In 2014, he only placed in second and failed to defend his win in the Kyoto Kinen.^[11] On December 28, 2014, he came in 8th on his last race in the 2014 Arima Kinen.^[1] Shortly after the Arima Kinen race, he was being retired as a racehorse, assigned to be a stud at Rex Stud in Shizunai, Shinhidaka Town and removed from the race registration list.^[12] A look back on his career had shown that all his career win came on the Kyoto Racecourse. This consistency on that particular racecourse earned him the nickname of Kyoto Expert or Kyoto Demon when he was active.^[13][14] He was also known as a horse that have powerful late kicks when he gained momentum on the uphill phase of the third corner at that racecourse, which was clearly shown in his Mile Championship win.^[14] His main jockey, Take described him as the one who had the footwork of Deep Impact, can ran on good tracks but really bad with the muddy tracks.^[15]

Racing form

Tosen Ra won four races out of 25 starts. This data is available on JBIS and netkeiba.^[16][4]

Legend:

Stud record

He was put to stud at Rex Stud and moved to the Breeders' Stallion Station on 2016. Since then, he acted as shuttling stud between those two breeding farm.^[17] He moved out from Rex Stud to S. T. Farm in 2024 and continues his job as shuttling stud from there.^[18]

Major winners

c = colt, f = filly

References

1. ^ "Tosen Ra". www.equibase.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
2. ^ "【マイルCS】トーセンラー悲願の初G1制覇！武豊はG1・100勝目 | 競馬ニュース | 競馬ラボ" (in Japanese). www.keibalab.jp. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
3. ^ "ja:【皐月賞】"被災"トーセンラー影響なし！" [[Satsuki Sho] Disaster-hit Tosen Ra unaffected!] (in Japanese). Sports Nippon. 19 April 2011. Archived 19 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
4. ^ "Tosen Ra Race Record and Form | Horse Profile". netkeiba. Net Dreamers. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
5. ^ "Tanabata Sho (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 8 July 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
6. ^ "Kokura Kinen (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. Net Dreamers. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
7. ^ "Niigata Kinen (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. Net Dreamers. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
8. ^ "ja:トーセンラー、武豊騎手を背に復活の差し切りV/京都記念 | 競馬ニュース" [Tosen Ra, ridden by jockey Yutaka Take, makes a comeback and wins the Kyoto Kinen] (in Japanese). netkeiba. Net Dreamers. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
9. ^ "Take Reaches 100th Group I Win on Tosen Ra". Bloodhorse. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
10. ^ "Japanese rider Yutaka Take wins 100th G1". Punters. 2013-11-17. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
11. ^ "Kyoto Kinen (G2) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. Net Dreamers. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
12. ^ "トーセンラー引退、種牡馬に | 競馬ニュース" [Tosen Ra retires to become a stud] (in Japanese). netkeiba. Net Dreamers. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
13. ^ Ogino, Hitoshi & Takahashi, Akio (1 June 2014). "ja:生粋の京都巧者トーセンラーが東京で一発を狙う" [Tosen Ra, a Kyoto native and skilled player, aims for a big win in Tokyo] (in Japanese). keibalab.jp. Do innovation Co., Ltd. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
14. ^ Shimada, Akihiro (22 November 2014). "ja:連覇目指す京都の鬼か、快速3歳か。「二強」が激突するマイルCSを占う。（島田明宏）" [Will it be the Kyoto demon aiming for a consecutive victory, or the speedy three-year-old? We look ahead to the Mile Championship, where the two strongest horses will clash] (in Japanese). Number. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
15. ^ Ogino, Hitoshi & Takahashi, Akio (21 December 2014). "ja:震災を乗り越え愛された個性派トーセンラー" [Tosen Ra, the unique character who overcame the earthquake and was loved] (in Japanese). keibalab.jp. Do innovation. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
16. ^ "Race Records | Tosen Ra(JPN) | JBIS-Search". www.jbis.jp. Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
17. ^ "トーセンラーがブリーダーズ･スタリオン･ステーションに移動 | 馬産地ニュース | 競走馬のふるさと案内所" [Tosen Ra moves to Breeders Stallion Station] (in Japanese). uma-furusato.com. JBBA. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
18. ^ "トーセンラーがエスティファームへと移動 国内シャトル種牡馬として活躍 | 競馬ニュース" (in Japanese). netkeiba. NET DREAMERS, Co., Ltd. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
19. ^ "Record | Stallion Reports | Tosen Ra(JPN) | JBIS-Search". www.jbis.jp. Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association. Retrieved 29 January 2026.