Narita Taishin

Narita Taishin (Japanese: ナリタタイシン; 10 June 1990 – 13 April 2020) was a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse. He was best known for winning the Satsuki Shō in 1993. Narita Taishin was part of the "BNW" trio along with Biwa Hayahide and Winning Ticket that were rivals challenging for the Japanese Triple Crown.

Narita Taishin made his racing debut at Sapporo Racecourse in July 1992. He managed only a fifth place finish, and afterwards was rested for several months to ease fatigue in his legs. He returned to racing in October at Fukushima Racecourse, where he won his first race.^[2] He continued with more ungraded races, including finishing second at both the Fukushima Sansai Stakes at Fukushima Racecourse and the Senryo Stakes at Hanshin Racecourse. At the end of the year, he was entered in to the Radio Tampa Hai Sansai Stakes, his first graded stakes event. Narita Taishin won the race, marking his first major victory.^[2]

Narita Taishin's 1993 season began at the Grade II Shinzan Kinen in January, where he finished second to Amber Lion. In March, Narita Taishin was entered in to the Yayoi Sho in preparation for entering the Triple Crown races. Beginning at this race, Yutaka Take was hired as Narita Taishin's jockey. Narita Taishin finished second again, this time losing to Winning Ticket, who would become one of his chief rivals during the Triple Crown.^[2]

Narita Taishin's next race was the Satsuki Shō, the first leg of the Triple Crown. He entered this race as the third favorite, behind Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide, who had just come off winning the Wakaba Stakes. In the race, Narita Taishin stayed near the back for most of the race, but in the final straight charged through the field and narrowly took victory over Biwa Hayahide, with the official margin being a neck.^[3] At the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Tōkyō Yūshun, he once again entered as the third favorite behind Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide. Here, he was unable to complete his charge through the field and finished third behind Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide.^[2]

After the Tōkyō Yūshun, Narita Taishin's schedule was reduced to prepare for the Kikuka-shō in November. In July, Narita Taishin was entered in to the Grade II Takamatsunomiya Kinen, but came second behind Longchamp Boy.^[2] In autumn, health issues began to plague Narita Taishin. The horse suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage during training, which cancelled plans to race him in the Kyoto Shimbun Hai against Winning Ticket as a preparation race. Narita Taishin was still entered in to the Kikuka-shō, but with the effects of the injury still lingering, he was not competitive in the race and finished 17th - second-to-last in the 18-horse field.^[4] His rivals Biwa Hayahide and Winning Ticket finished first and third, respectively.

Narita Taishin's four-year-old season began with a victory at the Meguro Kinen in February. With this success, he was entered in to the Tenno Sho in April. He finished second, 1+1⁄4 lengths behind Biwa Hayahide.^[5] The promising start to Narita Taishin's 1994 season ended with more injuries. Shortly after the Tenno Sho, it was discovered that Narita Taishin had a minor fracture in his right-hind leg, which forced him out of competition for several months. He was scheduled to return at the Kyōto Daishōten in October, but intestinal issues forced him out again. Just before the autumn Tenno Sho, he developed tendinitis, another injury that would take months to recover from.^[4]

Narita Taishin finally returned to racing at the 1995 Takarazuka Kinen, over 13 months since his last race appearance. With no racing in so long, Narita Taishin's racing condition was poor, and he finished 16th in the 17-horse field. Preparations were made to run him in further races, but during training for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, tendinitis occurred again, and Narita Taishin was retired from racing.^[4]

Narita Taishin ran in 15 races taking four victories, including a Grade I victory in the Satsuki Shō.^[6]

Narita Taishin was retired to stud in 1995 after his failed racing comeback. He did not produce any graded stakes winners, but did have some offspring that won allowance races. His most successful offspring by career earnings were Thurston Girl and Garnet City.^[7] However, his performance as a sire did not meet expectations, and he was retired from stud in 2003.^[4] He lived the rest of his life at the JRA's Hidaka Training and Research Center in Hidaka, Hokkaido. He died 13 April 2020 at age 29 due to complications from age.^[8]

An anthropomorphized version of Narita Taishin appears in the Japanese media franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Keiko Watanabe.^[9]