Vodka (horse) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids 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 super famous Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. She was a special kind of horse called a mare (a female horse). Vodka made history in 2007 by winning the Group One (GI) Tokyo Yūshun, also known as the Japanese Derby. This was a huge deal because she was the first female horse to win that race in 64 years! She also won the important 2009 Japan Cup. Overall, Vodka won seven top-level (G1) races in Japan. At one point, she was the highest-earning female racehorse ever!

Tanino Gimlet, Vodka's dad, was also a famous racehorse.

About Vodka's Family
Vodka's Amazing Racing Career
Vodka's Life After Racing
Vodka in Pop Culture
See also

About Vodka's Family

Vodka was born on April 4, 2004, at a place called Country Bokujo in Shizunai, Hokkaido, Japan. She was a beautiful bay mare, which means she had a reddish-brown body with a black mane and tail.

Her dad was a famous horse named Tanino Gimlet. He also won the Tokyo Yushun (Derby) in 2002. Vodka's mom was named Tanino Sister, and her mom's dad was Rousillon from the USA.

Vodka's Amazing Racing Career

Vodka was owned by Yuzo Tanimizu and trained by Katsuhiko Sumii. She was known for her powerful running style.

Vodka at Two Years Old: 2006

When Vodka was two years old, she started her racing journey.

She won her very first race!
She came in second in another race called the Kigiku Sho at Kyoto Racecourse.
Her biggest win that year was the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies race at Hanshin Racecourse. This was a major win for young female horses.

Because of her great performance, Vodka received the 2006 JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Filly. This award recognized her as the best young female racehorse in Japan.

Vodka at Three Years Old: 2007

In 2007, Vodka continued to impress everyone.

She won her first race of the year, the Elfin Stakes.
She then won the G3 Tulip Sho, beating another strong horse named Daiwa Scarlet.
On April 8, she raced in the G1 Oka Sho (Cherry Blossom Awards). This was the first race in a series for top female horses called the Japanese Filly Triple Crown. In this race, Daiwa Scarlet beat Vodka, who finished second.

Vodka and Daiwa Scarlet raced against each other four times that year. Daiwa Scarlet won three of those races. However, in one big race, the 2007 G1 Arima Kinen, neither of them won. Daiwa Scarlet came in second, and Vodka finished 11th.

Making History at the Japanese Derby

Vodka's next race was the G1 Tokyo Yūshun, also known as the Japanese Derby. This is one of the most important races in Japan for three-year-old horses. Usually, female horses race in a different event called the Japanese Oaks. But Vodka's team decided to enter her in the Derby against the best male horses.

This decision surprised many people, but Vodka proved them wrong! She won the race easily, beating many strong male colts. She became the first female horse to win the Japanese Derby in 64 years, which was an incredible achievement!

After her Derby win, Vodka didn't place in her next race. She then competed in the G1 Shuka Sho, the final race of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown. Daiwa Scarlet won this race, and Vodka finished third.

Vodka was supposed to race in the 2007 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, but she had to pull out because of a hip problem. In her next race, the G1 Japan Cup, she finished fourth. She didn't place in her last race of the season.

Even though she won the Japanese Derby, Vodka didn't win the Japanese Champion Three-Year-Old Filly award. This was because Daiwa Scarlet finished ahead of her in the other races they ran together. However, her amazing Derby win earned her a special award called the JRA Special Award. This award is given to horses who achieve something truly historic.

In 2007, Vodka raced 9 times. She won 3 races, came in second once, and third once.

Vodka at Four Years Old: 2008

In 2008, Vodka started her season without placing in the G2 Kyoto Kinen.

She traveled all the way to Dubai to race in the G1 Dubai Duty Free. She finished a strong fourth in this international race.
After returning to Japan, she just barely lost the G1 Victoria Mile in May.
She then easily won the G1 Yasuda Kinen in June.
She also beat her rival, Daiwa Scarlet, in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn).
Finally, she was a favorite to win the G1 Japan Cup, but she finished a close third.

In 2008, Vodka raced 8 times. She had 2 wins, 2 second-place finishes (in the G1 Victoria Mile and G2 Mainichi Okan), 1 third-place finish (in the G1 Japan Cup), and 1 fourth-place finish (in the G1 Dubai Duty Free).

Vodka at Five Years Old: 2009

Vodka's wins in the Yasuda Kinen were very special. She won it two years in a row (2008 and 2009), which had only been done twice before by other horses.

In the 2009 Japan Cup, Vodka made another amazing comeback. This was her third time trying to win the Japan Cup. With French jockey Christophe Lemaire riding her, she won by just a tiny bit (a "nose") over another horse named Oken Bruce Lee. Her winning time was super fast, one of the fastest ever for the Japan Cup! This win made her the second-highest earning racehorse in Japan's history.

After her Japan Cup win, Vodka had a nosebleed. Because of this, the rules of the Japan Racing Association meant she couldn't race for a month.

In 2009, Vodka raced 7 times. She had 3 wins, 1 second-place finish, and 1 third-place finish. For the second year in a row, Vodka was voted Japanese Horse of the Year. She was the first female horse ever to win this top award twice!

Vodka at Six Years Old: 2010

In 2010, Vodka raced for the first time on a special artificial track called Tapeta Footings in Dubai. Before this, all her 25 races had been on grass. She finished eighth in this race. After another nosebleed, Vodka was retired from racing.

Her main jockeys (the riders) were Hirofumi Shii, who rode her to four wins, and Yutaka Take, who rode her to three wins. In her last two races, including her Japan Cup victory, she was ridden by Christophe Lemaire.

Vodka finished her racing career with 10 wins out of 22 races in Japan. She won seven G1 races, including:

The 2006 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies
The 2007 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby)
The 2008 Yasuda Kinen
The 2008 Tenno Sho (Autumn)
The 2009 Victoria Mile
The 2009 Yasuda Kinen
The 2009 Japan Cup

She even tied the record for the most G1 wins in Japan with other legendary horses like Symboli Rudolf and Deep Impact.

In 2011, Vodka was honored by being added to the Japan Racing Association Hall of Fame. This is a special place for the most famous and successful horses in Japanese racing history.

Vodka's Life After Racing

After retiring from racing in 2010, Vodka moved to Ireland. There, she became a mother! She had foals with famous male horses.

On May 2, 2011, she had a brown baby boy (colt) with a horse named Sea the Stars.
She also had other foals with Sea the Stars, including a colt named Volare (born 2011) and two fillies (girl horses) named Case by Case (born 2012) and Tanino Urban Sea (born 2013). Tanino Urban Sea even won races in Japan!
Vodka also had a colt named Tanino Frankel (born 2015) with another famous horse named Frankel.

Sadly, Vodka passed away on April 1, 2019, in Newmarket, Suffolk, when she was 14 years old. She died from a hoof problem called laminitis.

Vodka in Pop Culture

Vodka is so famous that she even appears in a popular Japanese cartoon and game series called Uma Musume Pretty Derby. In this series, famous racehorses are shown as cute anime girls!