Stellenbosch

Racing career

Before debut

Stellenbosch was born at Northern Farm, located in Abira, Hokkaido. She is currently owned by Shadai Group Owners for about 5 million yen per share, with Katsumi Yoshida as their representative. She was sent into training with Sakae Kunieda.

2023: two-year-old season

Stellenbosch debuted at the Sapporo Racecourse on July 23, 2023, in an 1,800-meter, two-year-old newcomer race on turf, ridden by Takeshi Yokoyama. Although she was the second-favored horse, she won brilliantly by one and a half horse length. Ten weeks later, she raced in a 1-win class race, Saffron Sho. She settled in from behind and then moved up in the final straight but lost by a nose to Spring Nova. Seven weeks later, she raced in another 1-win class race, Akamatsu Sho, with Tom Marquand on her saddle. She settled in midfield this time, and in the final straight, she overtook Teleos Sarah to win by three-quarters of a horse length.

For the last race of her two-year-old season, she was signed up for the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies held at Hanshin Racecourse on December 10. This was her first graded stakes race, the first being a grade one. She was favored 5th in the race with Christophe Lemaire on her saddle. Settling in midfield from the start, she traveled well into the final straight but lost by a neck to Ascoli Piceno, finishing second.

2024: three-year-old season

Stellenbosch entered straight into the Oka Sho, the first leg of the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown. With João Moreira on her saddle, she was the second most favored horse to win the race. She settled in midfield from the start, and in the final straight, she moved out ahead of Ascoli Piceno, winning the race by three-quarters of a horse length. One month later at the Yushun Himba, Keita Tosaki, who took the rein controlled the horse well at the start. He positioned the horse to stay majorly on ninth position. She did get stuck in some traffic, but once the gap was open, she displayed her good turn of foot to take command 300 metres from the line. Unfortunately, the on-rushing Cervinia overtook her in the final 100 metres as she finished in second place on the line. It was decided that she would close the first half in this race and go straight to Shuka Sho in autumn without another prep race.

As the Shuka Sho began, the horse struck a late start from the gate as she traveled along in tenth position. Tosaki then angled her out on the final corner before turning on the jets towards the inside track for the finishing kick. She was improving at a steady rate and got into second place initially before being pinned down by Bond Girl and dropped to third place. At the year-end, Stellenbosch would finish the year with an overseas race, the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse. Her Oka Sho jockey, Moreira, returned, and she was drawn to start the race from the outside gate. During the race, she was pushed and blocked at the back early on. Reaching the final corner, she made a sudden move from the outside and briefly took the lead in the final straight. In the last furlong, she gassed out and dropped to third place whilst she crossed the line. Three days after the race, she returned, underwent quarantine, and prepared for the next season, per Kunieda.

2025: four-year-old season

She faced a tough season this year as she did not start well in the Osaka Hai in April. She failed to secure a good position in the early phase. Near the end, she did not give a good response and fell back to finish in 13th place. She was planned to race in Hong Kong again but pivoted towards the Victoria Mile at Tokyo in May instead. When the race started, Tosaki, who returned as her jockey, could not get a proper start as she ran in the eighth position for the majority of the race. She never improved despite being in a good position at the inside rail, and stayed eighth on the line.

She was rested for three months before resuming her season at the Sapporo Kinen in August. This time she would have a new jockey which was Kenichi Ikezoe. Her bad form continued as she finished in 15th place. Ikezoe said after the race that she was physically good and the preparation was tight. It was just that her mental game was not up to the competition. She finished her season at the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Kyoto Racecourse. Lemaire, who's returning as her jockey after two seasons, calmly propelled her into the middle pack as the gates opened. Reaching the final corner, she lost a bit of balance, which delayed her pace a bit. In the final straight, she lacked the needed kick to move up the order and ended up in tenth place behind the winner, Regaleira.

2026: five-year-old season

In February, due to the retirement of Kunieda, she was transferred into the care of Keisuke Miyata of Miho Training Center. Her first race of the season was not going well as she finished in seventh place at the Nakayama Himba Stakes. Lemaire spoke after the race, "I couldn't get a good position at the start . She stretched out nicely in the straight, but her position was too far back, and she couldn't catch the horses in front.", mentioning her persistent problems of being unable to give responses from the back. On May, she participated in the Epsom Cup, a 1800 metres race in Tokyo. The team believed that the signs of comeback was there in her previous performance. As the gates opened, she made a good start and stayed steady in the middle pack as the race went on. Stellenbosch made a strong run in the straight but was beaten by the winner, Trovatore, by a nose just before the finish line. Tosaki who rode him was overjoyed that she performed well and thought she did made a comeback with that run. Miyata who was positive for her development decided to register her in the Yasuda Kinen next with another jockey, Damian Lane. In the race, Stellenbosch ran well around seventh position, but she was blocked on the inside, failed to respond, and dropped to tenth on the line.

In July, it was announced by Miyata that Stellenbosch would run in the Niigata Kinen in August. As it turned out, the race would get a tough field, as several GI-winning horses such as Durezza, Urban Chic, Cervinia and Rodeo Drive also joined in. When the day came, it was a heavy track they had to run on. Despite this condition, Tosaki, who took the task, started well with the horse and seemed poised to take the lead, but settled into ninth place out of eleven. She chose to go wide in the final straight. She seemed to be accelerating, but her momentum faltered when she joined the inner course, and she sank to last place. Tosaki claimed that the horse did not respond to his command in the end and wondered how her mood was during the crucial moments. This repeating condition sparked questions about her mental game once again.

Racing statistics

The data is based on data available on JBIS Search, and NetKeiba.

Pedigree

She is related to 2023 Hopeful Stakes winner, Regaleira, through Land's Edge.

Land's Edge's half brother is Deep Impact and Black Tide.