Wakataka (Japanese: ワカタカ, Hepburn: Wakataka; 17 March 1929 – 10 March 1945) was a Japanese Thoroughbred-type racehorse. He competed from 1932 to 1933, recording twelve wins in twenty-one starts. He won the inaugural running of the Tokyo Yushun Dai Kyoso (Japanese Derby) on April 24, 1932, becoming the first horse to win the race. He was a grandson of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough.
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Background
Wakataka was a chestnut horse bred at the Shimosa Imperial Stock Farm (下総御料牧場) in Inba District, Chiba Prefecture. His birth name (幼名) was "Asashin" (朝信). He was sired by Tournesol, a British-bred son of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough who had been imported to Japan; Wakataka was from his first crop. His dam was Taneshin (種信), a Thoroughbred-type mare by the imported stallion Ebor, whose granddam was Mira (ミラ), a foundational broodmare of early Japanese racing. His racing name combines "Waka" (young) with "Taka" (hawk). He was owned by Kenichi Inui, one of the founders of Nakayama Racecourse, and sent into training with Tamazo Higashihara at Nakayama. His regular jockey was Magsaku Hakodate, who rode him in all twenty-one of his races.
Racing career
1932: Three-year-old season
Wakataka debuted on March 26, 1932, at Nakayama Racecourse, finishing fifth. Three weeks later, he won a maiden race at the Meguro Racecourse in Tokyo by ten lengths on a muddy track.
On April 24, he contested the inaugural Tokyo Yushun Dai Kyoso at the Meguro Racecourse, the predecessor of the modern Tōkyō Yūshun. The race was broadcast nationally by NHK Radio 1. Ridden by Magosaku Hakodate, he was the 1.95-to-1 favourite in a field of nineteen. He took the lead from the start and won by four lengths over Otsukayama in a time of 2:45.4 on a heavy track, becoming the first Japanese Derby winner.
He went on to win six more races in 1932, including the Teishitsu Goshoten (Imperial Prize) at Tokyo, the Yokohama Tokubetsu (Yokohama Special) at Yokohama Racecourse, and the Norinsho Shoten Kyoso (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Prize) at Tokyo, setting course records in the latter two.
1933: Four-year-old season
Wakataka won five races in 1933. In his final three starts on December 1, 2, and 3, he carried weights of 71 to 73 kilograms and recorded two wins and one second place over three consecutive days.
Statistics
The following table details all 21 starts of Wakataka's racing career based on historical records from the Nihon Derby 50-nen Shi and Imai 1987.
Post-racing career and death
Following his retirement, Wakataka became a national stallion at the Hidaka Stock Farm (日高種馬牧場). However, as a Thoroughbred-type horse, demand was limited; most of his mares were intermediate breeds used as military horses, and his representative offspring competed in Arab horse races. He was retired from stud duty in 1943 and subsequently used as a riding horse at the Shizunai Agricultural School (静内農学校, now Hokkaido Shizunai High School). He died of chronic pulmonary emphysema on March 10, 1945. His remains were buried beneath the animal memorial monument on the school grounds.
Pedigree
Wakataka is inbred 5 × 5 to Hampton and 5 × 5 to St. Simon (both sire side).
His sire Tournesol was a son of the English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough.
His half-brother Happy Chapel (by an unknown sire) won the Teishitsu Goshoten (Tokyo).