In January 2011, the Japan Racing Horse Association reported an encouraging change in Tosen Jordan: his troublesome hooves had stabilised, allowing him to train properly and use his ability. He had just won the American Jockey Club Cup. The observation, preserved in the association's contemporary Japanese report, identifies a recurring condition of his success. Before his connections could decide how to beat Japan's best horses, they had to keep him in work long enough to meet them.
That autumn he won the Tenno Sho over 2,000 metres in 1:56.1, a Japanese record, then missed the Japan Cup by a neck over another 400 metres. Those two Tokyo performances required different decisions from different jockeys. They also belonged to a career repeatedly interrupted by physical problems. Following both the preparation and the races explains how a colt absent from the Classics became a serious opponent for Buena Vista, and later remained competitive with Gentildonna.
A Classic prospect who could not run in the Classics
Tosen Jordan was bred by Northern Farm at Hayakita, Hokkaido, and foaled on February 4, 2006. He was a bay son of Jungle Pocket and Every Whisper, a daughter of Northern Taste. His trainer was Yasutoshi Ikee at Ritto and his owner Takaya Shimakawa. The JBIS profile places him in a well-established Japanese breeding operation, with the Derby and Japan Cup winner Jungle Pocket supplying the paternal connection to top-level turf racing.
He was expensive before he had raced. The JRHA sale record gives a price of 170 million yen at the 2007 Select Sale's yearling session. The 178.5 million yen appearing in JBIS and other Japanese accounts includes tax. Both figures describe the same purchase, rather than two different transactions. Expectations therefore preceded his first victory. This highly valued youngster would ultimately race for seven seasons, although his Classic year brought only three starts.
His first four starts all came at 2,000 metres. Sixth on debut at Kyoto on November 1, 2008, he won a Fukushima maiden fifteen days later, then the Habotan Sho and Hopeful Stakes at Nakayama in December. His complete career record shows three consecutive wins before he turned three. The Hopeful was then an ungraded open race. It should not be confused in status with today's G1 bearing that name: JRA's history traces the modern graded event through the relocation and renaming of the Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes in 2014, followed by G1 promotion in 2017.
Second to Break Run Out in the Kyodo News Service Hai over Tokyo's 1,800 metres on February 8, 2009, Jordan had become a credible Classic contender. Twelve days later, a contemporary Sankei Sports report said he had developed a crack in the hoof of his right foreleg. He was being treated at Yamamoto Training Center without ridden exercise. The report still discussed a possible direct return in the Derby; the completed record shows that this did not happen. He missed both spring Classics and did not race again until November.
The Japanese term was rettei. JRA's glossary describes a crack in the hoof wall, distinguishes vertical and horizontal forms, and explains that serious cases may require rest while the hoof grows. It gives a growth rate of only seven to ten millimetres a month. That general explanation does not establish the precise treatment used on Jordan, but it makes the length of a racing interruption comprehensible. For Jordan, that interruption coincided with the few months in which a three-year-old colt can contest the Japanese Classics.
Enough uninterrupted work to climb the classes
Jordan returned with second in the Andromeda Stakes and fourth in the Chunichi Shimbun Hai late in 2009. Another long gap followed before he raced at Hakodate in July 2010. His next winning sequence began in the Isaribi Stakes over 1,800 metres on July 31, continued in Tokyo's 2,000-metre Ireland Trophy in October, and reached graded company in the Copa Republica Argentina on November 7. These were successive steps from a conditions race through open company to a G2, rather than an immediate return to the highest level.
In the 2,500-metre Copa Republica Argentina, Kosei Miura secured a midfield position, settled Jordan along the inside and brought him out to challenge. The JRHA's report from the day describes a progressive move from between the final two turns and a lead taken in the last 100 metres. Carrying a top weight of 57 kilograms, he won in 2:30.0. The association connected that first graded victory directly to the colt whose hoof trouble had cost him the previous year's Classics. By four, he had recovered enough continuity to win three races in succession again.
His first G1 appearance produced fifth in the 2010 Arima Kinen. The following January, Hiroyuki Uchida rode him in the 2,200-metre American Jockey Club Cup at Nakayama. Miyabi Ranveli led through an opening 1,000 metres of 63.4 seconds; Jordan travelled fifth, advanced before the final turn and won by three-quarters of a length. The same JRHA account that praised his improved hoof condition also recorded how calmly he followed that slow pace. His developing strength could be used from a manageable position, without a frantic opening to help him.
The spring brought a separate problem. Jordan was withdrawn from the March 20 Hanshin Daishoten, with the JRA announcement reported by Radio Nikkei specifying right-shoulder lameness. It would be inaccurate to attribute every interruption to his hooves. When he next raced, he finished ninth in the June Takarazuka Kinen with Nicola Pinna aboard. A stable could have a horse back at the races while still some way from the performance it hoped to obtain.
At Sapporo on August 21, Yuichi Fukunaga gave him a forward position in the G2 Sapporo Kinen. Jordan won the 2,000-metre race by a nose from Axion in 2:00.4 on good turf; Red Desire was half a length farther back. The official chart shows him close to the leaders throughout. The margin was tiny, but the result supplied a recent graded success before Tokyo. He arrived at the autumn Tenno Sho with three G2 victories across distances from 2,000 to 2,500 metres, alongside two unsuccessful G1 attempts.
Two Tokyo races, two jockeys' solutions
The Tenno Sho on October 30 contained seven previous G1 winners, as the JRHA's contemporary English account noted. The opposition included Buena Vista, Eishin Flash, Rose Kingdom and Earnestly. Jordan was seventh favourite. His victory also gave Shimakawa his first G1 success. For a sale graduate with a substantial purchase price and an interrupted early career, this was the point at which the original investment and the stable's persistence reached the sport's highest domestic grade.
Silport led through 1,000 metres in 56.5 seconds. Jordan was eleventh at the first recorded turn and eleventh again at the last, according to JRA's result and race account. Pinna brought him through to win by half a length from Dark Shadow, with Pelusa third and Buena Vista fourth. On good turf, carrying 58 kilograms, he completed the distance in 1:56.1. That lowered the Japanese record set by Vodka in the 2008 renewal by more than a second. Equinox would later lower the mark again, running 1:55.2 in the 2023 renewal.
Pinna's explanation is especially useful because he had thought Jordan wanted a longer distance. In the post-race interviews, he said the very fast pace suited the horse and allowed him to conserve his effort farther back. Ikee similarly explained that a contest of stamina offered a better chance than a battle of sharp acceleration. The trainer recognised an opportunity as the pace developed. These were assessments of this horse's particular strengths, made by the men responsible for preparing and riding him.
Read in that light, the record illustrates sustained speed in a demanding race. Silport's opening split belongs to the leader, not to Jordan individually. Pinna kept Jordan behind the early contest, then used his stamina to finish while others were weakening. The race's first and second kilometres took 56.5 and 59.6 seconds respectively. Jordan's own estimated last 600 metres was 34.2. Those figures describe different measurements; combining them into an imaginary personal set of splits would obscure the way the race was actually run.
Four weeks later, Craig Williams faced a different problem in the Japan Cup. He had repeatedly watched the Tenno Sho on DVD and discussed Jordan's habits and tactics with Pinna. In Williams's account after the race, he explained that he originally expected to sit fourth or fifth. When Mission Approved took the lead, he anticipated a slow pace and instead placed Jordan second. The extra distance was welcome, but it did not justify waiting in the same position that had worked in October. The two visiting jockeys shared information; Williams then adapted to the race in front of him.
The Japan Cup chart records an opening 1,000 metres of 61.8 seconds, more than five seconds slower than the Tenno Sho's first kilometre. Jordan tracked the leader from his outside draw and was third at the final turn. Buena Vista caught him by a neck, with both timed at 2:24.2; Jaguar Mail finished another length and three-quarters behind. Jordan carried 57 kilograms against the mare's 55 under the race conditions. Danedream, the favourite, finished sixth, with Shareta seventh.
That second place is essential to assessing the autumn. Jordan had nearly won a second championship from close to the pace after taking his first from farther back. Williams said the horse had fought back when challenged and credited the strength of Buena Vista. Together, the two rides show the value of positioning a stamina-rich horse according to the speed of the race. The October victory depended on exploiting a very fast contest; November demonstrated that he could also make his presence felt when the opening stages were much quieter.
The champion still had to be brought back
Jordan finished fifth in the Arima Kinen to end 2011, then returned the next spring with third in the Osaka Hai. On April 29, 2012, Yasunari Iwata rode him over Kyoto's 3,200 metres in the spring Tenno Sho. Beat Black won by four lengths, while Jordan finished two lengths ahead of Win Variation in second. All three carried 58 kilograms. Jordan's estimated final 600 metres, 34.0 seconds, was considerably faster than the winner's 36.5, but the front-running winner had already established a decisive advantage. The 2,000-metre record holder had stayed well enough to head the pursuit over a further 1,200 metres.
His preparation then broke down again. Before the 2012 autumn Tenno Sho, Ikee explained the missing months: a fetlock problem had ruled out the Takarazuka, and a hoof crack had prevented the planned Sapporo Kinen appearance. The trainer said the hoof had recovered, but that Jordan generally did little in his work after a layoff and might need another race or two to reach his previous autumn's condition. The distinction was between having the ability and having had the preparation to express it.
After Jordan finished thirteenth in that defence, Ikee gave a more specific explanation ahead of the Japan Cup. His November assessment was that discomfort associated with the treated hoof had kept the horse from producing his performance. He had still seemed short of a full effort in one workout, with improvement in the next. This is the trainer's contemporary interpretation, rather than a diagnosis reconstructed from the result. Jordan improved to sixth in the Japan Cup, but the extended disruption had prevented a repeat of his exceptional 2011 autumn.
A year later, aged seven and eleventh favourite, he was back near the front of the Japan Cup. William Buick rode him to third on November 24, 2013. Gentildonna beat Denim And Ruby by a nose, with Jordan a neck farther back; all three were timed at 2:26.1. The opening kilometre took 62.4 seconds and Jordan travelled second for much of the race. His old capacity to remain competitive from a forward position resurfaced in another slowly opened Tokyo championship, two years after the narrow defeat by Buena Vista.
In a December 2013 interview, Ikee pointed back to the earlier Japan Cup second and said that a horse of Jordan's ability could produce such a run when his condition was right. The subsequent Arima brought fourteenth, and there were no further victories. His last start was fourteenth in the 2014 Japan Cup. The retirement announcement set December 5 as the removal of his racing registration and named Breeders' Stallion Station as his next home. He finished with nine wins from thirty starts, four graded victories and one G1.
A different breeding option in the Sunday Silence era
When Jordan arrived at Breeders' Stallion Station in December 2014, the appeal included his female family and the absence of Sunday Silence from his pedigree. The breeders' association's arrival report quoted the station explaining that this offered attractive mating possibilities. His half-brother Tosen Homareboshi was by Deep Impact; Jordan, by Jungle Pocket, supplied a different combination from the same dam. In a population with many Sunday Silence descendants, the distinction had practical significance for choosing mares, rather than merely adding another name to a sire list.
The following February, the station's stallion parade presented Jordan in the same establishment as his sire. The family connection could be seen in the flesh: Jungle Pocket remained there, and Tosen Homareboshi was also among the stallions introduced. Jordan's first books were substantial. JBIS records 102 mares covered in 2015, 121 in 2016, 100 in 2017 and 98 in 2018, followed by 30 in 2019. Those are mares covered, not numbers of foals or runners. The decline shows how his commercial opportunity changed after the early support.
One later outlet for his influence was Cils Blancs, out of the Sunday Silence mare Glacier Blue. JRA's profile of the son notes third in the 2023 Diamond Stakes and second in the 2024 Stayers Stakes. The latter race was over 3,600 metres at Nakayama: his official record lists Tom Marquand aboard and a time of 3:46.7. A mating of Jordan to a Sunday Silence daughter had produced a runner competing near the head of Japan's longest-distance graded division, a concrete continuation of the breeding opportunity his new stud had identified.
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