Orewa Matteruze: A Miler Who Won a G1 on His First Try at 1,200 Metres

Curly Angel's best-known son reached the racecourse late, worked his way through Japan's conditions races, and became a G1 winner at a distance he had never tried. Orewa Matteruze was six when he won the 2006 Takamatsunomiya Kinen over 1,200 metres. His first victory had come over 2,000 metres, and much of his education had taken place around a mile. The sprint title was the reward for a long apprenticeship, followed by a remarkably successful change of assignment.

His family offered several possible models. His maternal grandmother Dyna Carle had won the Oaks, his aunt Air Groove had become Horse of the Year, and his full sister Egao o Misete had won two G2 miles. The JBIS pedigree and profile place him precisely in that family: a chestnut son of Sunday Silence and Curly Angel, by Judge Angelucci, foaled at Northern Farm in Hayakita on January 16, 2000. He raced for Yuichi Odagiri and trainer Hidetaka Otonashi, the owner-trainer partnership also associated with his sister.

The name, recorded by the JRA as the Japanese phrase meaning "I'm waiting," suited the timetable that followed. A Japanese JBBA memorial account reports that his development was slow and his later-stage training began only in the spring of his three-year-old season. Registration followed in April. While contemporaries were already contesting the Classics, this exceptionally well-related colt was still approaching his first race.

Twenty-five starts before 1,200 metres

He debuted on May 25, 2003, the day of the Japanese Oaks. The coincidence gave the family history a particular resonance: both Dyna Carle and Air Groove had won that Classic, while Orewa Matteruze was starting in a maiden at Chukyo. In the 2,000-metre race, Yasunari Iwata rode him to eleventh of thirteen. He was second favorite despite having no racing experience. The official chart has him last at the first three recorded turns and twelfth at the fourth, a very different positional picture from the forward-running horse he later became.

Improvement came quickly enough to keep the project moving. Two third places preceded his first win, at Kokura on July 19. With Yutaka Take riding, he beat Mayano Bobby Socks by a neck over 2,000 metres on heavy turf, both horses recording 2:01.5. The result shows him advancing from seventh to fourth before the final straight. His first success therefore required a sustained move and a close finish over a middle distance, rather than an early exhibition of specialist sprint speed.

The next phase was a familiar Japanese route, although it can disappear from an overseas summary built around graded races. He moved through the earnings-based conditions classes: 500-man-shita, 1,000-man-shita and eventually 1,600-man-shita. These labels described eligibility categories, not a purse he had to earn in one afternoon. The JBBA career summary preserves wins such as the Fugaku Sho, Hozukyo Tokubetsu and Kaikoma Tokubetsu alongside repeated seconds. He was accumulating practical experience against increasingly capable horses over several seasons.

A useful dividing point is the Banshun Stakes on May 1, 2005. Over Tokyo's mile, Yoshitomi Shibata placed him fourth and then third through the recorded turns. Carrying 57 kilograms, he beat Jolly Dance, carrying 54, by half a length in 1:32.8. This was a 1,600-man-shita handicap, the last conditions level before open company. The clock and the quality of the performance made a move into graded competition credible, but he had needed until five to reach it.

Only two weeks later, the Keio Hai Spring Cup tested him over 1,400 metres. Asakusa Den'en won in a record 1:20.3; Orewa Matteruze was second in 1:20.7, two and a half lengths behind. Both carried 57 kilograms. Telegnosis was third and the recent Takamatsunomiya winner Admire Max fourth, carrying 58 and 59 respectively. For a horse making his graded debut, this was a substantial arrival. His first attempt at that level had placed him among established short-distance performers without supplying the victory that would make him famous.

The last two steps before Chukyo

His first Yasuda Kinen ended in eleventh behind Asakusa Den'en. When he returned in November, he won the Capital Stakes at Tokyo. Take kept him second through both recorded turns, and he held Focal Point by a nose in 1:32.9 over 1,600 metres. Asakusa Kininaru was another nose away in third. All three carried 56 kilograms. The close finish supplied an open-stakes win and reinforced the mile as his established territory going into 2006.

After a ninth in the Kyoto Kimpai, he was second in the Tokyo Shimbun Hai on January 28. Fuji Silence caught him by a head; both were timed at 1:33.7. Orewa Matteruze carried 56 kilograms against the winner's 55, with Incentive Guy third. The JRA's contemporary race account describes the leaders fighting along the inner part of the course before Fuji Silence swept past outside. The defeat was close, and his ability to take a useful position was already a recurring asset.

The Hankyu Hai on February 26 shortened the journey to 1,400 metres at Hanshin. On turf officially rated furyo, the wettest Japanese category, he was favorite but finished third in 1:22.7. Blue Shotgun won, with Cosmo Schindler between them; the first three were separated by successive half-lengths. Orewa Matteruze and the winner carried 56 kilograms, while the runner-up carried 55. He had now placed in graded races at both 1,400 and 1,600 metres. A further reduction in distance would ask a new question of a horse whose previous twenty-five starts had never included 1,200.

A short straight and a neck over Rhein Kraft

The 2006 sprint division was looking for a new leader. In its Takamatsunomiya Kinen report, the JRA put the race in the context of Durandal and Admire Max leaving the turf. Symboli Gran started favorite, with Rhein Kraft and She Is Tosho also strongly supported. Orewa Matteruze was fourth choice. His lack of a graded win was clear, but the market still placed him among the principal contenders: this was an experienced, improving short-distance horse trying a new distance, rather than an entirely unknown outsider.

Chukyo itself needs to be imagined as it was in March 2006. The JRA's course history explains that the old circuit was relatively flat and compact, with a 313.8-metre straight. Reconstruction lengthened that straight to 412.5 metres and introduced a major uphill section before the course reopened in March 2012. Orewa Matteruze won on the earlier layout. A modern video or course diagram can give an overseas reader the wrong physical setting for this particular performance.

On March 26, Shibata let Gallant Arrow, Copano Fujin and Precise Machine go ahead, settling his mount around fifth or sixth. The JRA account describes him finding a pocket among the forward runners around the third and fourth turns, conserving ground before coming through an opening in the straight. Rhein Kraft chased him to the line. Orewa Matteruze held her by a neck in 1:08.0, with She Is Tosho another length and three-quarters behind. It was an economical, well-positioned ride that used his established racing habits at a faster, shorter assignment.

The official finishing order and weights give the comparison its full scale. Orewa Matteruze carried 57 kilograms, while the two mares behind him carried 55. Precise Machine was fourth and Native Heart fifth. The contemporaneous Japan Racing Journal records the same narrow margin and eighteen-runner field, using the English name Rhein Kraft. After twenty-five races of preparation at other distances, Orewa Matteruze had won a G1 on his first attempt at 1,200 metres. The result showed how readily his tactical speed could be transferred; the neck margin also shows how closely the leading mare tested him.

A G2 under 59 kilograms

His next start took him back to Tokyo for the race in which he had first announced himself as a graded performer. The Keio Hai Spring Cup on May 13, 2006 was over 1,400 metres on slightly heavy turf. Shibata used a more direct approach than at Chukyo: Orewa Matteruze led at both recorded turns and won in 1:21.8. Incentive Guy finished two lengths behind, with Telegnosis third. The winner carried 59 kilograms against 57 for the runner-up and 58 for the third.

This second victory is especially valuable when assessing the first. Chukyo had rewarded a covered position behind the speed; Tokyo rewarded controlling the race from the front. The distances and going differed, and the G1 winner now carried a substantial burden. His successful spring covered both 1,200 and 1,400 metres, supported by a longer record of mile form. A narrow championship victory was followed by a clear G2 success, giving the peak more substance than the single headline alone conveys.

The attempt to extend that spring to the Yasuda Kinen failed. He started favorite at Tokyo on June 4 but finished tenth, 1.2 seconds behind the Hong Kong-trained Bullish Luck. The chart places him third at both turns before he lost ground in the finish. The favorable position that had helped in the shorter races was insufficient against this international mile field. His earlier mile wins remained real achievements, but they did not guarantee the same level of success in the division's central spring championship.

There were no further wins. His later record included an unsuccessful dirt experiment in the 2007 February Stakes, where he finished last of sixteen. He was fifth when defending the Takamatsunomiya, then third in the 2007 Keio Hai, only a tenth of a second behind Eishin Dover. Second, first and third across three consecutive Keio Hai appearances form a particularly useful measure of his sustained 1,400-metre ability. The JRA records his deregistration on November 14, 2007. He retired with nine wins, eight seconds and five thirds from thirty-eight starts.

Hana's Goal changes the stud book

At East Stud in Urakawa, Orewa Matteruze brought together a domestic sprint G1 and the Dyna Carle family. His full sister had died in 2000 without a broodmare career; through him, the Sunday Silence-Curly Angel combination gained a direct opportunity to produce another generation. These were different branches of the same family story. His offspring would be his own production record, carrying the speed he had demonstrated after years of patient development.

The most consequential early runner was Hana's Goal, born in 2009 from his first crop. Her JBIS record identifies her dam as Shanghai Jell, by Shanghai, and her breeder as Fuji Farm in Ogifushi. Trained by Kazuhiro Kato for M. Tabart, she won the 2012 Tulip Sho and the 2013 Kyoto Himba Stakes, both over 1,600 metres. Her emergence gave his stud career a conspicuous performer at the distance over which he had built much of his own foundation.

A Japanese breeder interview after the Tulip Sho explains how that mating came about. Fuji Farm president Kazuo Fujii said he had visited East Stud repeatedly before selecting Orewa Matteruze, valuing his pedigree, racing record and muscular physique. He also emphasized Shanghai Jell's own speed: she had won a JRA dirt sprint. This was a breeder matching two particular horses, with evidence about the mare as well as the stallion. The interview makes the production of Hana's Goal more intelligible than a pedigree line by itself.

There was a measurable commercial response. In a February 2013 visit to East Stud, manager Daisuke Aoki recalled that demand had been slow early in the previous covering season, then became busy from late April through June. Hana's Goal's graded victory and strong performances by sale horses were identified as reasons. The report also described a horse who had become calmer after earlier restlessness, and noted that his fee had remained broadly steady while interest increased. It captures breeders responding to runners, rather than simply rewarding a famous maternal family.

His stud opportunity ended just as that response was developing. He had covered 113 mares in 2012, the largest book of his career, according to the JBBA memorial. During the 2013 season he developed the condition reported in Japanese as yoisho, or wobbler syndrome, and covering stopped. He died at East Stud on October 30, 2013, aged thirteen. The JRA announcement carried by Radio NIKKEI confirms severe disease and the date; the syndicate chairman described the loss as coming while expectations for his offspring were rising.

Hana's Goal supplied the international result the following spring. On April 26, 2014, Nash Rawiller rode her to victory in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick over 1,400 metres. The JAIRS result notice records 1:24.64 and a two-length margin over Weary, with Tiger Tees third. She carried 57 kilograms, two fewer than those males. Orewa Matteruze had never raced overseas himself. A daughter from his first crop took his name onto an Australian G1 result, at the same distance as the Tokyo race he had won under 59 kilograms.

Egao o Misete: Two Hanshin Miles and a Place Among the Leading Mares

At Hanshin, Egao o Misete won two G2 races over 1,600 metres in less than three months. The first was restricted to fillies and mares; the second brought her into an open field against males as well. At Kyoto, she also finished close behind the leaders in two of Japan's major races for females over longer distances. That combination makes her an interesting guide to the late-1990s Japanese turf programme: a mare whose best victories came at a mile, but whose strongest G1 placing came over 2,200 metres.

Her name means "Show me a smile." For Japanese racing followers it also carries the memory of the fire at Yamamoto Training Center in February 2000, in which she died while still in training. The loss belongs in her story. So do the opponents she beat, the weight differences in those encounters, and the races in which she nearly matched more celebrated mares. Those details recover the competitive career behind a name often encountered through an account of the tragedy.

Two Hanshin miles, two different fields

The Hanshin Himba Tokubetsu on December 20, 1998 was the first of her graded victories. It was a G2 over 1,600 metres on turf, held near the end of the year. Egao o Misete, ridden by Ryo Takahashi, carried 53 kilograms and won in 1:34.7 on good going. She was sixth favorite in a field of thirteen. The runner-up, Admire Sunday, carried the same weight and finished two lengths behind; Sugino Cutie was third. This was a clear success against her own sex, achieved before the end of her three-year-old season.

Kyoei March, the previous year's Oka Sho winner, was fourth in that race and carried 57 kilograms. The distinction helps place the result accurately. Egao o Misete had beaten an established Classic winner, but under conditions that gave her a four-kilogram advantage. Race records provide both pieces of information. Remembering the opponent while dropping the weights would overstate the comparison; remembering only the allowance would overlook the fact that she had actually won a high-class race by a useful margin.

She returned to Hanshin for the Milers Cup on March 7, 1999. Hiroshi Kawachi took the ride, and she was seventh favorite among fourteen runners. On slightly heavy turf she won in 1:35.6, defeating Kyoei March by three-quarters of a length. This time Egao o Misete carried 54 kilograms and Kyoei March 57. Keiun Viking finished third. It was a second G2 mile victory at the same course, but in a contest open to both sexes rather than a repeat of the female-only assignment.

The changing rider and conditions are useful parts of the story. Takahashi had delivered the December victory on good ground; Kawachi delivered the March victory on a softer surface. Their mare succeeded in both. The runner-up was also a significant recurring opponent, linking the two performances without making them identical. Egao o Misete's reputation as a miler rested on repeat achievement at this level, rather than on a single favorable result that was never reproduced.

Neither race should be relocated to suit a modern reader's mental calendar. In this period the Hanshin race for females was a December mile, and the Milers Cup was a March event at Hanshin. Reading the original dates, distances and venues is particularly valuable when following a Japanese horse from decades ago: familiar race names can survive substantial changes of programme. In Egao o Misete's case, both graded wins were earned on Hanshin turf at the same distance, within one winter and early spring.

How a Classic trial winner became that miler

Egao o Misete was born on May 27, 1995, at Northern Farm in Hayakita, Hokkaido. The JBIS profile records her as a dark chestnut daughter of Sunday Silence and Curly Angel. Yuichi Odagiri owned her, and Hidetaka Otonashi trained her at Ritto. Her maternal grandsire was Judge Angelucci. The pedigree combined a sire transforming Japanese turf racing with a female family already firmly established in the country's breeding history.

Her name was a readily understandable Japanese phrase, rather than a conventional grand-sounding racing title. A report published on the day of her death singled out that accessible naming as part of her appeal. It is reasonable to translate the phrase for an overseas reader; it is not evidence that the horse herself possessed a particular human emotion. The name gave fans a simple expression to remember and say aloud while the results supplied a sporting reason to follow her.

Japan's age convention can make the record appear a year later than it was. Contemporary charts label her four in 1998 and five in 1999. Those are three and four in modern international terms. Japanese horses were then counted as one at birth. Thus the December G2 winner was still a three-year-old, and her March Milers Cup success came early in her four-year-old season. This was a young mare establishing herself against older runners, not a late-career discovery.

Her route into that position included a successful attempt to reach the Classics. In the Sweet Pea Stakes at Tokyo on May 10, 1998, she won over 1,800 metres with Yoshitomi Shibata riding. Carrying 54 kilograms, she defeated Dantsu Princess by a length and a quarter in 1:48.3. She was third favorite. The race was an open stakes event, not a graded race, so it belongs beside her two G2 victories without being counted as a third graded success.

The next step was the Oaks. The JRA's official result shows how abruptly the task changed: Egao o Misete finished fifteenth over Tokyo's 2,400 metres as Erimo Excel won the Classic. The corner positions place her near the front through much of the race, before that final placing. A trial victory had earned her a place in the discussion, but it did not establish that the longer Classic distance was her best assignment. Her subsequent career would develop through a wider range of opportunities.

At the other end of 1998, the Shuka Sho result provided a different assessment. She finished fourth at Kyoto over 2,000 metres, ridden by Hirofumi Shii, only 0.4 seconds behind Phalaenopsis. Narita Luna Park and Air Deja Vu took the intervening places. Egao o Misete had started as the eleventh favorite, yet finished ahead of Oaks winner Erimo Excel. The result did not reverse the Oaks; it demonstrated a more competitive performance at a different course and a shorter distance in the autumn.

That distinction is central to her development. Her three-year-old season included both a heavy Classic defeat and a close finish in another major race. December then supplied her first graded victory. Treating the whole season as either disappointment or uninterrupted progress would flatten it. The actual sequence shows a filly who could perform well in strong company without being the dominant member of her generation, and who found an important winning opportunity at a mile.

The mares who kept testing her

Winning the Milers Cup did not produce an easy passage through the rest of 1999. The Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo put her into a deeper international mile field. Air Jihad won ahead of Grass Wonder, and Egao o Misete finished sixth in 1:34.0, 0.7 seconds behind the winner. She was eleventh favorite and carried 56 kilograms. Her place in that field is a useful ceiling on claims made from the March victory: she was a serious graded miler, but she did not win the country's principal spring mile championship.

Two weeks later she was back at Hanshin, now over 2,000 metres in the Mermaid Stakes. On heavy turf, Erimo Excel won in 2:03.6. Egao o Misete finished third in 2:04.0, behind Kikuno Scarlet, with Takahashi riding again. Both Egao o Misete and Erimo Excel carried 56 kilograms. The Oaks winner therefore remained an active part of her sporting environment beyond the Classic season, meeting her again in the older fillies' and mares' programme.

Their next important comparison came in the Fuchu Himba Stakes on October 17. Egao o Misete was favorite at Tokyo over 1,800 metres, ridden by Masayoshi Ebina. Erimo Excel beat her by half a length, their times 1:47.5 and 1:47.6. The winner carried 56 kilograms and the runner-up 55. This was a close defeat rather than a win to be excused into existence, but it showed that Egao o Misete was still competing near the front of a strong female division in the autumn.

There is a coherent pattern across those encounters. Kyoei March gave her graded mile victories a recognizable standard; Erimo Excel repeatedly tested her over intermediate distances. These were different comparisons, and Egao o Misete did not enjoy the same success in both. Against Erimo Excel she lost the Oaks, finished ahead in the Shuka Sho, then finished behind again in the Mermaid and Fuchu Himba. The sequence gives texture to a career otherwise easy to compress into two wins and a tragedy.

Her strongest G1 placing came next, in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup on November 14, 1999. Over Kyoto's outer 2,200-metre course, Mejiro Dober won in 2:13.5. Fusaichi Airedale was three-quarters of a length behind, and Egao o Misete followed another half-length back in third, timed at 2:13.7. Ebina rode her, and she carried 56 kilograms, the same as the winner. The younger runner-up carried 54. These are small but meaningful distinctions in a closely grouped finish.

She also finished ahead of Phalaenopsis and Erimo Excel that afternoon. This does not make her superior to them across their careers. It does establish that, in a major championship at a distance beyond her winning miles, she could finish immediately behind Mejiro Dober and contend with leading mares from more than one age group. The race broadens the evidence for her ability. Calling her only a miler leaves out one of her most accomplished performances.

The year ended less successfully. She was favorite when defending her Hanshin title in December, but finished ninth. Her JRA career record then closes with fourteenth in the Tokyo Shimbun Hai on January 30, 2000. That was her nineteenth start. Across those nineteen races she won four times, finished second once and third three times. She had achieved two G2 wins and a G1 placing, while still experiencing the reversals common to horses campaigning repeatedly in strong company.

Curly Angel's daughter, and a younger brother

The family relationship is worth setting out carefully. Egao o Misete's mother, Curly Angel, was a daughter of Judge Angelucci and Dyna Carle. Dyna Carle was therefore Egao o Misete's maternal grandmother. Reading a Japanese female family as a sequence of famous names can obscure these actual steps. Here the important link runs through Curly Angel, whose own offspring would include a younger full brother to Egao o Misete.

That brother was Orewa Matteruze, born on January 16, 2000. He shared both Sunday Silence and Curly Angel with her. He also raced for Odagiri, was bred by Northern Farm and trained by Otonashi. In 2006 he won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen over 1,200 metres and the Keio Hai Spring Cup over 1,400 metres. He extended the family's success into sprinting, whereas his sister's graded victories had both come over 1,600 metres.

This is a sibling connection, not a descendant line from Egao o Misete. She never reached a broodmare career. Her brother's later achievements are relevant to the family and to the same owner-trainer partnership, but they should not be credited as her production record. For overseas readers encountering her in a pedigree discussion, that difference is especially useful: the continuing branch belongs to her mother and brother, while her own contribution was made on the racecourse.

Otonashi's official retirement profile published by the JRA in February 2025 lists both horses among the graded winners of a long training career. His licence dated from 1995. Egao o Misete's victories thus belong to the early years of a stable that later became associated with many major winners. Orewa Matteruze's 2006 successes appear in the same record several seasons later, giving the family connection a concrete place in the trainer's professional history as well.

Before those later events, the family had already suffered its loss. Egao o Misete died in the Yamamoto Training Center fire in the early hours of February 11, 2000. The contemporary netkeiba report said she had gone there after the Tokyo Shimbun Hai and was being prepared for a possible Nakayama Himba Stakes appearance the following month. She was five by modern age reckoning; reports using the old Japanese system called her six. Her career ended through the fire, not through an announced retirement after her final race.

The dates leave one precise connection between the sister and brother: Orewa Matteruze had been born less than a month before she died. His racing victories were still years away. They could not restore her opportunity to race again or become a broodmare, but they would put the same parents, owner and trainer back into major-race results. Egao o Misete's own winning entries remain the Sweet Pea Stakes and, above all, those two Hanshin miles: December 1998 with Takahashi, March 1999 with Kawachi.