Mayano Top Gun

Mayano Top Gun
March 9, 1996
Sire	Brian's Time
Grandsire	Roberto
Dam	Alp Me Please
Damsire	Blushing Groom
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	24 March 1992[1]
Country	Japan
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Etsuo Kawakami
Owner	Yu Tadokoro
Trainer	Masahiro Sakaguchi
Record	21: 8-4-5[2]
Earnings	810,039,000 JPY
Major wins
Kikuka Sho (1995) Arima Kinen (1995) Takarazuka Kinen (1996) Hanshin Daishoten (1997) Tenno Sho (Spring) (1997)
Awards
Japanese Horse of the Year (1995) JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Colt (1995)
Last updated on February 22, 2010

Mayano Top Gun (マヤノトップガン, March 24, 1992 - November 3, 2019) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. His wins included the Kikuka Sho, Arima Kinen, Takarazuka Kinen, Hanshin Daishoten and Tenno Sho. In 1995, he was awarded the JRA Award Horse of the Year and Best Three-year-old Colt.

Mayano Top Gun was a chestnut horse with a white blaze and a long white stocking on his left foreleg bred in Japan by Etsuo Kawakami. He was sired by the American stallion Brian's Time, who finished second in the Preakness Stakes in 1988 before becoming a highly successful breeding stallion in Japan. His dam Alp Me Please was sired by Blushing Groom and was a half-sister of the Grand Prix de Paris winner Swink: as a descendant of the broodmare Sonrisa, she was also a distant relative of the Belmont Stakes winner Ruler on Ice.^[3]

Mayano Top Gun began his career racing on dirt and won three of his nine races in the early part of 1995. He was then switched to turf being placed twice at Grade II level in September and October. He emerged as top class performer in the late autumn, winning the Kikuka Sho over 3000 metres at Kyoto on 5 November. In December he contested one of Japan's most prestigious weight-for-age races, the Arima Kinen over 2500 metres at Nakayama and won from Taiki Blizzard and Sakura Chitose O.

In March 1996, Mayano Top Gun was matched against the 1993 Japanese Horse of the Year Narita Brian in the Hanshin Daishoten and was beaten into second place. In June at Kyoto he recorded his biggest success as a four-year-old when he won the Takarazuka Kinen over 2200 metres, beating Sunday Branch and the mare Dance Partner. Later in the year he finished second to Bubble Gum Fellow in the Autumn edition of the Tenno Sho.

In March 1997, Mayano Top Gun won the Hanshin Daishoten from Big Symbol and Gigaton. A month later he contested the Spring edition of the Tenno Sho over 3200 metres at Kyoto. He won from Sakura Laurel (winner of the race in 1996) with Marvelous Sunday in third place.

In 1995, Mayano Top Gun was voted Japanese Horse of the Year and Best Three-year-old Colt.