Vodka (horse)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (July 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,207 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:ウオッカ_(競走馬)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|ウオッカ_(競走馬)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Vodka
2007 Tokyo Yūshun race, Tokyo Racecourse
Sire	Tanino Gimlet
Grandsire	Brian's Time (USA)
Dam	Tanino Sister
Damsire	Rousillon (USA)
Sex	Mare
Foaled	(2004-04-04)April 4, 2004
Died	April 1, 2019(2019-04-01) (aged 14)
Country	Japan
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Country Bokujo
Owner	Yuzo Tanimizu
Trainer	Katsuhiko Sumii
Record	26: 10–5–3
Earnings	793,578,000 JPY $13,147,826 USD
Major wins
Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (2006) Tulip Sho (2007) Tokyo Yūshun (2007) Yasuda Kinen (2008, 2009) Tenno Sho (Autumn) (2008) Victoria Mile (2009) Japan Cup (2009)
Awards
JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Filly (2006) Japanese Champion Older Female (2008, 2009) Japanese Horse of the Year (2008, 2009) JRA Special Award(2007)
Honours
Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame (2011)
Last updated on December 23, 2008

Vodka (ウオッカ, 4 April 2004 – 1 April 2019) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racemare which won the 2007 Group One (GI) Tokyo Yūshun (Japanese Derby), the first filly to win this race in 64 years, as well as the 2009 Japan Cup. She won seven G1 races in Japan and was the highest earning racemare in Thoroughbred history at the time.^[1]

Vodka was foaled on 4 April 2004 at Country Bokujo in Shizunai, Hokkaido. She was a bay mare by the 2002 Tokyo Yushun (Derby) winner, Tanino Gimlet out of Tanino Sister by Rousillon (USA).

Vodka was owned by Yuzo Tanimizu and trained by Katsuhiko Sumii.

In 2006, Vodka won her first race start and was second in the ungraded Kigiku Sho race which was also contested at the Kyoto Racecourse before she won the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies race at the Hanshin Racecourse. Vodka was then awarded the 2006 JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Filly.^[2]

In 2007, Vodka won her first start in the ungraded Elfin Stakes, followed by another win in the G3 Tulip Sho, from Daiwa Scarlet, who finished in second place. At her next start on 8 April, in the G1 Oka Sho (Cherry Blossom Awards), the first race of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown, Daiwa Scarlet relegated Vodka to second place.^[3] Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka would go on to meet a total of four times that year. Daiwa Scarlet bested her in three of those races. One of those contests was not a win for Daiwa Scarlet though, in the 2007 G1 Arima Kinen at Nakayama Racecourse, Daiwa Scarlet finished second to Matsurida Gogh, with Vodka finishing 11th.^[4]

Vodka's next race start was in the G1 Tokyo Yūshun, also known as the Japanese Derby, the second jewel in the Japanese Triple Crown. Fillies are usually entered in the Yushun Himba, also known as the Japanese Oaks, which is the second jewel of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown which is a week before the race, however, in a move that shocked the racing world, Vodka won handily, defeating a field of some of the best three-year-old colts in the country. She became the first filly to win the race in 64 years.^[5]

Vodka was unplaced in her next start before racing in the G1 Shuka Sho, which is the last race of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown races. Daiwa Scarlet won the race, with Vodka finishing in third place.^[6] She was entered in the 2007 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, but was scratched a few hours before the race due to what was thought to be a hip problem. In her next start Vodka finished 4th in the G1 Japan Cup^[7] Vodka subsequently did not place in her last start of the season.

Despite winning the Japanese Derby. She lost to Daiwa Scarlet in Japanese Champion Three Year old Filly, as Vodka never finished above her in the 3 races in which both horses participated, but the achievement in the Derby led to her receiving the JRA Special award (an award given to horses/person achieved special achievements, usually historical records, not awarded every year). Her 9 race starts of the season resulted in 3 wins, 1 second and 1 third place.

In her first start of the season Vodka was unplaced in the G2 Kyoto Kinen. Vodka went to Dubai in the spring of 2008 to race in the G1 Dubai Duty Free on Dubai World Cup Night.^[8] She came in a fast closing fourth. Then upon her return to Japan Vodka narrowly lost the G1 Victoria Mile in May.^[9] She next easily won the G1 Yasuda Kinen in June^[10] and defeated Daiwa Scarlet in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn).^[11] Finally that season even though she was heavily favored, she was unable to win the G1 Japan Cup and came in a close third to Screen Hero.^[12]

During 2008 Vodka had 8 starts for the above 2 wins, 2 seconds in the G1 Victoria Mile and G2 Mainichi Okan; 1 third in the G1 Japan Cup and 1 fourth in the G1 Dubai Duty Free.

Vodka’s successive wins in the Yasuda Kinen triplicated what had only been achieved twice before, by Sweet Sue in 1952 and 1953 and by Yamanin Zephyr in 1992 and 1993. In the 2009 running, another photo finish decided the winner, in which the five-year-old mare Vodka on her third Japan Cup try with the French jockey Christophe Lemaire won by a nose over the 2008 Kikuka Sho winner Oken Bruce Lee, in a time of 2 minutes and 22.4 seconds, the third-fastest Japan Cup ever run at the standard 2,400-meter distance. Vodka's win would make her the second highest earning racehorse in Japan. Vodka placed 4th in the 2007 running to Admire Moon and 3rd in the 2008 running to Screen Hero, in which the latter ran 13th in the 2009 race. Vodka had a nosebleed during the Japan Cup and was prohibited from racing for a month following her triumphant Japan Cup run according to Japan Racing Association rules.

Her 7 race starts of the season resulted in 3 wins, 1 second and 1 third placing. Vodka was voted Horse of the Year, for the second consecutive year and became the first female to win the title twice.

Vodka had her first start on the synthetic Tapeta Footings surface in the Dubai International Racing Carnival Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G2), after racing exclusively on turf in each of her previous 25 starts. In this race she finished eighth and was retired from racing altogether following another nasal bleeding attack.^[13]

Her main jockeys included Hirofumi Shii, who rode her in four wins, and Yutaka Take, in three wins. In her final two races Vodka was ridden by Frenchman Christophe Lemaire, who rode her in the Japan Cup victory.

Vodka finished her racing career with a total 10 wins in 22 races in Japan, with wins in seven grade I races, including the 2006 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, the 2007 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), the 2008 Yasuda Kinen and Tenno Sho (Autumn), the 2009 Victoria Mile, Yasuda Kinen and Japan Cup. She equalled the record of the Japanese Triple Crown winners Symboli Rudolf and Deep Impact, as well as T.M.Opera O, for the most grade 1 races won in Japan.

Vodka was inducted into the Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame in 2011.

Vodka was retired from racing in 2010 and was shipped from Dubai to Ireland to be mated to the 2009 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Sea the Stars at the Aga Khan's Gilltown Stud in County Kildare. On 2 May 2011 Vodka foaled a brown colt as a result of this mating.^[14] She was subsequently bred back to Sea the Stars, resulting in the following named foals:^[15]

• Volare (colt foaled 2011)
• Case by Case (filly foaled 2012)
• Tanino Urban Sea (filly foaled 2013) – winner in Japan^[16]

She was also bred to Frankel, producing Tanino Frankel (colt foaled 2015) - placed at Grade III Nakayama Kimpai.

Vodka died on 1 April 2019, from laminitis in Newmarket, Suffolk.^[17] She was 14 years old.

Below data is based on data available on JBIS Search^[18] and netkeiba.com.^[19]

Date	Racecourse	Race	Grade	Distance (condition)	Entry	HN	Odds (Favored)	Finish	Time	Margins	Jockey	Winner (Runner-up)
2006 – two-year-old season
Oct 29	Kyoto	2yo Newcomer		1,600 m (Firm)	13	4	3.3 (2)	1st	1:35.0	-0.6	Katsuma Sameshima	(Lace Doll)
Nov 12	Kyoto	Kigiku Sho	ALW	1,800 m (Firm)	8	7	3.0 (2)	2nd	1:49.5	0.2	Hirofumi Shii	Meiner Soliste
Dec 3	Hanshin	Hanshin JF	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	2	11.1 (4)	1st	1:33.1[a]	-0.0	Hirofumi Shii	(Aston Machan)
2007 – three-year-old season
Feb 3	Kyoto	Elfin Stakes	OP	1,600 m (Firm)	9	9	1.7 (1)	1st	1:33.7	-0.5	Hirofumi Shii	(Nishino Manamusume)
Mar 3	Hanshin	Tulip Sho	3	1,600 m (Firm)	16	11	1.4 (1)	1st	1:33.7	-0.0	Hirofumi Shii	(Daiwa Scarlet)
Apr 8	Hanshin	Oka Sho	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	14	1.4 (1)	2nd	1:33.9	0.2	Hirofumi Shii	Daiwa Scarlet
May 27	Tokyo	Japan Derby	1	2,400 m (Firm)	18	3	10.5 (3)	1st	2:24.5	-0.5	Hirofumi Shii	(Asakusa Kings)
Jun 24	Hanshin	Takarazuka Kinen	1	2,200 m (Good)	18	2	3.5 (1)	8th	2:14.0	1.6	Hirofumi Shii	Admire Moon
Oct 14	Kyoto	Shuka Sho	1	2,000 m (Firm)	18	16	2.7 (1)	3rd	1:59.3	0.2	Hirofumi Shii	Daiwa Scarlet
Nov 11	Kyoto	QEII Cup	1	2,200 m (Firm)	14	3	-- (--)	Scr	--	--	Hirofumi Shii	Daiwa Scarlet
Nov 25	Tokyo	Japan Cup	1	2,400 m (Firm)	18	11	6.1 (2)	4th	2:24.9	0.2	Hirofumi Shii	Admire Moon
Dec 23	Nakayama	Arima Kinen	1	2,500 m (Good)	16	16	6.9 (3)	11th	2:35.7	2.1	Hirofumi Shii	Matsurida Gogh
2008 – four-year-old season
Feb 23	Kyoto	Kyōto Kinen	2	2,200 m (Firm)	16	16	3.4 (2)	6th	2:13.9	0.3	Hirofumi Shii	Admire Aura
Mar 29	Nad Al Sheba	Dubai Duty Free	1	1,777 m (Good)	16	12	-- (--)	4th	1:46.6	--	Yutaka Take	Jay Peg
May 18	Tokyo	Victoria Mile	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	9	2.1 (1)	2nd	1:33.8	0.1	Yutaka Take	Asian Winds
Jun 8	Tokyo	Yasuda Kinen	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	5	4.1 (2)	1st	1:32.7	-0.6	Yasunari Iwata	(Armada)
Oct 12	Tokyo	Mainichi Okan	2	1,800 m (Firm)	16	3	1.5 (1)	2nd	1:44.6	0.0	Yutaka Take	Super Hornet
Nov 2	Tokyo	Tenno Sho (Autumn)	1	2,000 m (Firm)	17	14	2.7 (1)	1st	1:57.2[a]	-0.0	Yutaka Take	(Daiwa Scarlet)
Nov 30	Tokyo	Japan Cup	1	2,400 m (Firm)	18	4	3.7 (2)	3rd	2:25.7	0.2	Yasunari Iwata	Screen Hero
2009 – five-year-old season
Mar 5	Nad Al Sheba	Jebel Hatta	2	1,777 m (Firm)	16	7	-- (--)	5th	1:49.2	--	Yutaka Take	Balius
Mar 28	Nad Al Sheba	Dubai Duty Free	1	1,777 m (Good)	16	3	-- (--)	7th	1:48.7	--	Yutaka Take	Gladiatorus
May 17	Tokyo	Victoria Mile	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	6	1.7 (1)	1st	1:32.4	-1.2	Yutaka Take	(Bravo Daisy)
Jun 7	Tokyo	Yasuda Kinen	1	1,600 m (Firm)	18	3	1.8 (1)	1st	1:33.5	-0.1	Yutaka Take	(Deep Sky)
Oct 11	Tokyo	Mainichi Okan	2	1,800 m (Firm)	11	6	1.3 (1)	2nd	1:45.5	0.2	Yutaka Take	Company
Nov 1	Tokyo	Tenno Sho (Autumn)	1	2,000 m (Firm)	18	7	2.1 (1)	3rd	1:57.5	0.3	Yutaka Take	Company
Nov 29	Tokyo	Japan Cup	1	2,400 m (Firm)	18	5	3.6 (1)	1st	2:22.4	-0.0	Christophe Lemaire	(Oken Bruce Lee)
2010 – six-year-old season
Mar 4	Meydan	Al Maktoum Challenge	2	2,000 m (Standard)	14	8	-- (--)	8th	--	--	Christophe Lemaire	(Red Desire)

Legend:
  Turf   All Weather

Notes:

Pedigree of Vodka (JPN), bay mare, 2004

Sire Tanino Gimlet (JPN) B. 1999	*Brian's Time (USA) 1985	Roberto	Hail to Reason
			Bramalea
		Kelley's Day	Graustark
			Golden Trail
	Tanino Crystal 1988	*Crystal Palace (FR)	Caro
			Hermieres
		*Tanino Sea-Bird (USA)	Sea-Bird
			Flaxen
Dam Tanino Sister (JPN) Ch. 1993	*Rousillon (USA) 1981	Riverman	Never Bend
			River Lady
		Belle Dorine	Marshua's Dancer
			Palsy Walsy
	Energy Tosho 1987	Tosho Boy	*Tesco Boy (GB)
			*Social Butterfly (USA) 1963
		Cornice Tosho	Dandy Lute (FR)
			Rose Tosho (Family: 3-l)

An anthropomorphized version of Vodka appears in the multimedia franchise Uma Musume Pretty Derby.^[20][21]

• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses
• List of racehorses

• Vodka Becomes Japan's Highest Earning Mare