Delta Blues

Racing career

Early career until the 2004 Kikuka Sho

Delta Blues was virtually unknown until his victory in the 2004 Kikuka Sho. Before that race, he only managed to get three wins in ten starts. When the gates open, he made an early sprints and tracked the leaders in a good position throughout the race. At the fourth corner, he proceed to advance and surpassed Cosmo Bulk, and held on to the lead from the late surging Hookipa Wave to win by one-and-a-quarters length. From the field, he also defeated Heart's Cry, Company and Suzuka Mambo. Delta Blues continued his good form by placing third in the Japan Cup in November 2004, three lengths behind the eventual Autumn Triple Crown winner, Zenno Rob Roy. He closed the year with a run in the Arima Kinen, where he finished fifth in a race where Zenno Rob Roy broke the speed record which still stands today. At the end of the year, Delta Blues won the Best Horse by Home-Bred Sire JRA award.

Inconsistent form in 2005 and Stayers Stakes title

In this season, Delta Blues placed fifth at the Copa Republica Argentina and eleventh in the Arima Kinen. In between those races, he ran in the Grade Two Stayers Stakes in 3 December. In the race, he lurked around the fourth place for most of times before surged forward on the inside track on the homestretch and caught Er Nova to win the race by a nose margin.

Australian triumph in 2006

At the start of the year, Delta Blues had a rough start. He finished third in the Grade Two Hanshin Daishoten on 19 March where Deep Impact comfortably won four lengths in front of him, and 10th in the Grade One Tenno Sho (Spring) on 30 April. Then, the owner decided to tried him for the overseas campaign in Australia. He started positively in which he finished third in the 2006 Caulfield Cup after racing wide throughout the race. In the 2006 Melbourne Cup, Delta Blues was ridden by Japanese jockey Yasunari Iwata who was the winner of the 2005 19th World Super Jockey Series. Delta Blues won the Melbourne Cup by a nose ahead of Pop Rock, with Maybe Better finishing in third place. Prior to the race, stable spokesman Keita Tanaka characterised Delta Blues as a "lazy horse", and trainer Sumii characterised him as "tough". He finished the season with a sixth-place finish in the Arima Kinen back in Japan.

Winless, hiatus and retirement in 3 years (2007–2009)

For the rest for his career, Delta Blues failed to perform well in the subsequent campaign in which his best finishes was only a fourth-place in the 2007 Hanshin Daishoten. There was an attempt for a title defence in Australia alongside Pop Rock but it was never fulfilled due to Equine Influenza outbreak. In October 2008, he was supposed to start at the Kyoto Daishoten after a prolonged rest on the first half of the campaign but a pitted hole was discovered in his right foreleg, forcing him to withdraw. After a 16th-place finished at the 2009 Meguro Kinen, Delta Blues was being retired and assigned as a riding horse at the Northern Horse Park in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.

Racing form

Delta Blues won six races and placed five times more out of 32 starts. This data is available on JBIS, netkeiba and Racing Australia.

Legend:

Turf

Dirt

All JPN graded race was labeled as "Listed" internationally

Awards

Winner of the 2004 Best Horse by Home-Bred Sire JRA award.

Winner of the 2006–2007 Australian Champion Stayer

Breeding

Delta Blues was sired by Dance in the Dark with the dam Dixie Splash (sire Dixieland Band). The breeder was Northern Farm.

Dance in the Dark won the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), and was the son of "magnificent US-bred Sunday Silence, the ill-fated sire who has been unmatched in Japanese breeding history".

Retirement and death

After his riding career ends, he was sent to the Old Friends Japan, a retirement and retraining facility for racehorses to spent the rest of his life. Delta Blues died due to complications from laminitis there on 8 October 2024. He was 23.

Namesake

Australian rail operator CFCL Australia named locomotive CF4401 after the horse.