Pretty Cast – The Mare Who Stole the Emperor’s Prize

In Japanese racing history, few winners of the Tenno Sho (Autumn), Japan’s Emperor’s Prize feel as unlikely – or as unforgettable – as Pretty Cast. On paper she was an ordinary staying mare with a modest record. On one November afternoon in 1980, she turned Tokyo Racecourse into a stage for one of the most audacious front-running performances the Tenno Sho (Autumn) has ever seen.

Bloodlines: A small mare with a giant pedigree

Pretty Cast (Japanese-registered as プリテイキャスト) was born on March 20, 1975, at Yoshida Farm in Hayakita, Hokkaido. She was a bay mare by Cover Up II, a U.S.-bred stallion imported to Japan who, under the racing name Seikan, had a modest race career but later became an outstanding sire of stayers and classic horses. From his Hokkaido base he sired major winners such as Ryuzuki (Satsuki Sho and Arima Kinen) and Kashu Chikara (Tenno Sho (Spring)). Pretty Cast inherited that staying blood from her sire’s side.

Her dam was on a completely different level of fame. Typecast, a daughter of Prince John, was a tough American racemare who started 57 times for 21 wins, and in 1972 she was crowned the Eclipse Award Champion Older Female. She was precisely the kind of mare most people expected to remain in the United States as an elite broodmare. However, when her owner and breeder Fletcher Jones died in a plane crash, his horses were dispersed at auction. Yoshida Farm’s Shigeo Yoshida traveled to the U.S. and bought Typecast for what was then a record price for a broodmare – reported at around US$725,000 (roughly ¥220 million at the time), a staggering figure by 1970s standards.

Typecast was imported to Japan as a foundation mare for the farm. From such bloodlines, expectations naturally ran high. When one of her foals, a rather small but bright-eyed bay filly, was selected by owner Hisanari Takada, he named her Pretty Cast, evoking an image of a delicate, charming presence – a name that would later clash brilliantly with the brutal way she would win her greatest race.

A difficult pupil: Slow to mature and mentally fragile

Pretty Cast entered the Tokyo yard of trainer Tatsuo Ishikuri at the end of 1976. To the trainer’s surprise, the filly who walked into his stable was a lot lighter and narrower than the strong-bodied youngster he remembered from the farm. Concerned that she might be ill, Ishikuri even had her blood tested. The results were normal – physically she was fine – but mentally, and in terms of racing manners, she would prove to be a challenge.

Her debut finally came on November 6, 1977, in a maiden race over 1600 meters at Tokyo. She left the gate only to be squeezed between rivals and lost her position completely, finishing sixth. The incident left a scar. Pretty Cast began to shy away from other horses, and her subsequent races as a three-year-old were mostly disappointing performances, beaten by large margins despite the talent her connections believed she had.

She remained winless through the end of 1977 and into early 1978, struggling both on dirt and turf. Jockey Tomio Yokoyama, who rode her frequently in those days, later admitted that even he was running out of ideas. The filly was honest enough but nervous, and she seemed to lose heart when crowded or restrained.

Breakthrough in the north: the first win

In May 1978 the stable decided on a change of scenery. Pretty Cast was shipped to Niigata and fitted with blinkers for the first time, hoping to help her focus. On May 20, 1978, in a 2000-meter turf maiden race held the day before the Japanese Oaks, she finally broke through, winning under jockey Kazumi Tokuyoshi. The new headgear seemed to help: once allowed to roll along, she showed the staying power her pedigree promised.

That summer she was sent even farther north to Hakodate and Sapporo. Back with Yokoyama in the saddle, Pretty Cast began to blossom, winning two allowance races – the Yukawa Tokubetsu and the Goryokaku Tokubetsu – and finishing second in the Doshin Hai. Step by step she graduated from obscure maiden to promising staying mare.

The next goal was black-type company. In the Queen Stakes at Sapporo, her first attempt at a graded race, she finished a disappointing eighth. But in an open class race at Kyoto afterward she improved sharply, running fourth behind Hokuto Boy, the previous year’s Tenno Sho (Autumn) winner. That effort earned her a place in the Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ Cup at Kyoto later that autumn.

In the 1978 Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ Cup (then still a race for three- and four-year-old fillies and mares), Pretty Cast was sent off third favorite. She started poorly, lingered near the back, and closed strongly in the stretch – but fell short and finished fourth behind Lead Swallow. For her connections it was bittersweet: evidence that she could compete with good fillies, but also a reminder that her weak starts and mental quirks might always hold her back.

She closed out 1978 with a victory in the Christmas Handicap at Tokyo under jockey Masato Shibata, entering the new season as an open-class mare with still more questions than answers.

Frustration and perseverance in 1979

The 1979 campaign almost broke everyone’s patience. Now officially a five-year-old under the Japanese system, Pretty Cast was aimed at major middle-distance and staying races, but the results were dismal. She finished far back in the Tokyo Shimbun Hai, the spring edition of the Meguro Kinen, and the Nakayama Himba Stakes, then tailed off last in both the Tanigawadake Stakes and the Niigata Daishoten.

At one point, early retirement to become a broodmare was seriously considered. However, after being dropped in class for the Sapporo summer meeting and back under Yokoyama’s guidance, she revived: second in the Doshin Hai, victory in the HBC Hai, and another second in the Daisetsu Handicap. Her staying power had not disappeared; it merely needed the right conditions and front-running tactics.

Trainer Ishikuri and Yoshida Farm changed their minds. Perhaps, they thought, Pretty Cast was a late bloomer like her dam Typecast, who had peaked at seven. They postponed her retirement and kept her in training for the 1980 season, even as she turned six – an age when many mares in Japan were already in the breeding shed.

1980: from hard-knocking mare to Tenno Sho contender

The new decade began quietly. Pretty Cast ran fifth in both the Haru no Hayaume Sho and the Hatsufuji Sho, and then won the Kintei Sho on dirt for her sixth career victory. She returned to turf for the Diamond Stakes, a long-distance race over 3200 meters at Tokyo. Sent off at 8th choice in a field of 13, she seized the lead down the backstretch and simply never came back, leaving her rivals seven lengths behind. It was her first graded stakes win and a hint of what would come later that year.

The Diamond Stakes performance encouraged her connections to take a shot at the Tenno Sho (Spring), one of Japan’s “Eight Major Races” and a 3200-meter marathon at Kyoto. This time, however, the tactic failed. Facing proven stayers and unable to dictate the pace as she liked, Pretty Cast faded badly and finished far behind winner Nichido Taro. For many observers, it looked like she had been exposed as a useful but second-tier long-distance mare.

But her owner and trainer remained stubborn. Every summer Pretty Cast seemed to find her form in Hokkaido, so they sent her north again. At Sapporo she ran second in the Sapporo Nikkei Sho and the Sapporo Kinen, both as favorite, before struggling on heavy ground in the Hakodate Kinen. Even so, Ishikuri decided to press on toward the biggest target of all: the 1980 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo, at that time still held over 3200 meters.

Setting the stage: the 1980 Tenno Sho (Autumn)

The 1980 edition of the Tenno Sho (Autumn) assembled a strong field of stayers and middle-distance stars. The favorite was Katsurano Haiseiko, the previous year’s Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner, fresh off an impressive victory in the autumn Meguro Kinen. Another leading contender was Hoyoyo Boy, a talented late-developing horse making his first appearance in one of the Eight Major Races. Popular mare Silk Skii, coming off a striking win in the Kyoto Daishoten and a good second to Katsurano Haiseiko in the Meguro Kinen, drew strong support from fans who believed in the old “every nine years a mare wins the Tenno Sho” jinx.

Pretty Cast, despite her Diamond Stakes win, was largely dismissed. In the field of eleven she went off at 8th favorite. Many saw her as a tough, honest mare, but not one who could beat the country’s best males at weight-for-age. Even her own trainer spoke modestly before the race, saying that with a favorable pace perhaps she could finish third.

Strategically, though, Ishikuri had a card to play. A key rival, the front-running horse Hashi Harry, had been withdrawn. That left the race without an obvious pace-setter. Pretty Cast, who sulked when restrained but showed her best form when allowed to roll along in front, suddenly looked like the only natural leader in the field.

The great escape: Pretty Cast’s legendary runaway

The ground on that November day at Tokyo was officially “heavy” after earlier rain – energy-sapping conditions over two laps of the vast 3200-meter course. Jockey Masato Shibata knew that if he could get Pretty Cast to the front cleanly, he should simply let her run.

For a mare known for poor starts, she broke almost perfectly. Seizing the lead within the first strides, she opened up a clear margin going into the first turn. No rival went with her. Perhaps they expected her to come back; perhaps they feared burning out their own mounts in the demanding ground. Whatever the reason, by the time the field passed the stands for the first time, Pretty Cast was already many lengths in front, ears pricked, galloping freely.

Then something remarkable happened. As the field settled and the others tried to steady for the long trip, Pretty Cast refused to slow down. Her dam Typecast had been notorious for her fierce temperament, and here the daughter showed the same streak: she simply ignored Shibata’s attempts to rate her and continued at her own rhythm. Down the backstretch on the second circuit the gap stretched to what television cameras later estimated at more than one hundred meters. From the grandstand, it looked as though she were in a race of her own.

Behind her, the favorites were paralyzed. Jockey Hiroshi Kawachi on Katsurano Haiseiko, Kazuhiko Kato on Hoyoyo Boy, and others spent precious time watching each other instead of the runaway leader. Some expected someone else to move first; others assumed the mare would inevitably tire and come back. Further back in the pack, veteran riders like Tomio Yokoyama on Mejiro Phantom – who knew Pretty Cast well from earlier days – began to worry. He reportedly urged others, “Someone go after her,” and when no one did, he and Yukio Okabe on Aranas Z tried to mount a belated chase.

By then, it was almost too late. As Pretty Cast swung into the final turn, the television broadcast showed only her: a solitary bay mare far in advance of the rest, kicking up clods of heavy ground. Only in the final 200 meters did she begin to shorten stride. From the stands the closing pack finally appeared in the same frame, Mejiro Phantom in particular making up ground with every stride.

But the line arrived first. Pretty Cast, hanging on grimly, crossed the finish seven lengths clear of Mejiro Phantom. The official time was 3 minutes 28.1 seconds, a slow time reflecting the deep ground, but the visual impression of the race – that incredible, almost reckless solo flight – burned itself into the memories of everyone watching.

Fuji TV commentator Takeshi Moriyama’s excited call in the final furlong has since become part of Japanese racing culture. As Mejiro Phantom tried in vain to close, he repeatedly cried out that the others would “never catch her,” and when Pretty Cast reached the post he famously shouted that she had “left them all – every single one of them – far, far behind.” It was not just a win; it was a story.

With that victory, Pretty Cast became the 82nd winner of the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and, significantly, the last mare ever to win the race at its old distance of 3200 meters. In later years the autumn Tenno Sho would be shortened to 2000 meters and repositioned as a middle-distance championship, making her runaway victory a kind of closing chapter for the race’s staying-era history.

After the summit: Arima Kinen and retirement

After the Tenno Sho, connections pointed Pretty Cast toward the year-end Arima Kinen. Public opinion, however, remained skeptical. Many fans dismissed her big win as a “fluke of pace and heavy ground” rather than proof that she was truly superior to the male stars.

In the fan voting for Arima Kinen she ranked only 21st and therefore did not qualify through the ballot, entering instead as a recommended runner. In the race itself, she could not reproduce her Tenno Sho heroics. With Sakura Shingeki making the running, Pretty Cast was never able to get comfortable on the pace and faded badly, finishing last, more than four seconds behind winner Hoyoyo Boy.

That final disappointment did little to tarnish her legend. Her Tenno Sho victory secured her the Yushun Sho Award (later JRA Award) for Best Older Filly or Mare of 1980, beating out fellow mares Silk Skii and Agnes Lady by a wide margin in the voting. Shortly afterward she was retired from racing and returned to Yoshida Farm as a broodmare.

Broodmare years: a famous son without a famous record

As a broodmare, Pretty Cast did not achieve the kind of success her pedigree might have suggested. Between 1982 and 1992 she produced eight named foals. Several failed to make the races at all; those that did had modest records. Her most famous offspring, though, wrote his own curious chapter in Japanese racing.

Her seventh foal, the dark bay colt Steel Cast (by Magnitude), was born in 1991. On paper he was hardly a star. Across his long career he made 69 starts for 4 wins, three of them in JRA races and one in regional racing after being transferred to the local NAR circuit. His overall record – 69 starts, 4 wins, with central-racing figures of 38 starts and 3 wins – looks like that of a sturdy but ordinary galloper.

Yet for one afternoon in 1994 he electrified the racing world. Entered in the 55th Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) against the mighty Narita Brian, who was aiming to complete the Triple Crown, Steel Cast was sent off at enormous odds. Jockey Koichi Tsunoda, aware of his stamina and mindful of his dam’s legend, sent him straight to the front. Down the long Kyoto backstretch Steel Cast opened up a huge lead, echoing his mother’s Tenno Sho tactics, and for a moment the crowd dared to imagine a miracle repeat of 1980.

It was not to be. In the final 200 meters the early exertions caught up with him, and he faded to finish fourteenth while Narita Brian stormed home to complete his historic Triple Crown. But the race call by legendary announcer Kiyoshi Sugimoto repeatedly invoked Pretty Cast’s name, turning Steel Cast’s bold, doomed escape into a nostalgic homage: the son briefly revived the memory of that famous runaway at Tokyo.

Pretty Cast’s other foals, including Ken Cast, who later won multiple races on local circuits, did not reach major stakes level. As a broodmare she is remembered more for the romance of her bloodlines and for Steel Cast’s storytelling value than for producing champions.

Last days and legacy

Pretty Cast spent her retirement at Yoshida Farm. In June 1995, at the age of twenty, she was diagnosed with advanced laryngeal cancer. With no realistic hope of recovery and to spare her increasing suffering, the decision was made to euthanize her on June 28, 1995. She was twenty-one by Japanese counting.

On the bare numbers, she retired with a record of 41 starts, 8 wins, 6 seconds, and 1 third, earning about ¥173 million – roughly equivalent to several hundred million yen in today’s money when adjusted for inflation. It is a good record, but hardly comparable to the dominant champions of her era. What elevated her to cult status was not consistency, but that single, outrageous afternoon when everything clicked: fitness, tactics, the absence of a true front-runner, and a field that fatally underestimated her courage.

For overseas fans discovering Japanese racing, Pretty Cast’s story offers a different kind of legend from the polished greatness of horses like Deep Impact or Orfevre. She represents the unpredictable side of racing – the day when a mare with a difficult temperament and an uneven record seizes control of a major race, runs exactly as her blood tells her to run, and leaves a grandstand full of people staring at the gap on the track and asking, “Did that really just happen?”

Today, whenever Japanese fans talk about “dai-nige” – the huge, almost reckless front-running escape – Pretty Cast’s name still comes up. Her Tenno Sho (Autumn) remains a race that not only decided a title, but also captured the essence of why people fall in love with horse racing in the first place: because sometimes, against all logic, a small mare with a stubborn heart outruns the entire established order and writes her own chapter in history.