Daiwa Major

Daiwa Major is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. A horse who excelled at distances of , he won the Satsuki Shō, the first leg of the Japanese Triple Crown in 2004. His greatest success, however, came later in his career when he won several of Japan's most important weight-for-age races including the Tennō Shō, the Yasuda Kinen and two runnings of the Mile Championship. He was twice named Japan's champion miler. Daiwa Major made a successful start to his stud career, siring a Group One winner in his first crop. Background Daiwa Major is a chestnut horse with a white blaze bred by the Shadai Farm in Hokkaido. He is an unusually large Thoroughbred, standing 16 hands 2½ inches high and weighing more than 530 kilograms during his racing career. He was sired by Sunday Silence, who won the 1989 Kentucky Derby, before retiring to stud in Japan where he was champion sire on thirteen consecutive occasions. His dam, Scarlet Bouquet, was a successful racemare, winning four times at Group Three level, who produced several other winners, most notably the filly Daiwa Scarlet. As a descendant of the American broodmare Your Hostess, she came from the same branch of Thoroughbred family 4-d which produced Majestic Prince, Secreto and Real Quiet. The horse was trained throughout his racing career by Hiroyuki Uehara. Racing career 2003: two-year-old season The racing career of Daiwa Major began on 27 December at Nakayama Racecourse where he contested a one-mile event for previously unraced horses. He finished second of the twelve runners, two lengths behind the winner.