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.