Cesario (horse)

Cesario (Japanese: シーザリオ, March 31, 2002 – February 27, 2021) was a champion Japanese thoroughbred racehorse who won the Yushun Himba and American Oaks in 2005.

Background
Cesario's sire Special Week was also a champion horse which won Tokyo Yushun in 1998, as well as Tenno Sho (Spring), Tenno Sho (Autumn) and Japan Cup in 1999. Her dam, Kirov Premiere, a horse bred in Britain and trained in Ireland, also had good performance on turf which won the Group 3 race Rutgers Handicap in 1993.

The horse is named after the alias used by the main character of the Shakespeare play ''Twelfth Night. ''

2004: Two-year-old season
Cesario started her racing career by a maiden race over 1600 meters held at Hanshin Racecourse on December 25. Ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga.

2005: Three-year-old season
Cesario began her second season by a 2000 meters race Kanchiku Sho, she won over Admire Fuji by a neck. Two months later she moved up in class and set Grade III Flower Cup over 1800 metres at Nakayama Racecourse. She won her first graded race by two and half lengths, and also broke the record of the race. After becoming a graded race winner, her next race was Oka Sho, the first race of Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown. Meanwhile, as Fukunaga announced to ride Rhein Kraft in the same race, Cesario's Jockey was changed to Minoru Yoshida. In this race, she was beaten by Rhein Kraft by a head.

Later, she raced in the second leg of Triple Crown, which was the Grade I race Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) held at Tokyo Racecourse. As her main rival Rhein Kraft chose to join NHK Mile Cup at this point of time, Cesario could be ridden by Fukunaga once again in the race. She finished the last three furlongs in 33.3 seconds, winning her first Grade I champion by a neck.

Cesario's trainer Katsuhiko Sumii announced the plan of joining American Oaks. After a one-month break, she arrived at Hollywood Park on 20 June to compete with several strong rivals such as unbeaten horse Melhor Ainda, Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1,000 Guineas) winner Silver Cup and Oaks d'Italia runner up Hallowed Dream. Cesario won by four lengths and broke the record by 1:59.03, becoming the first Japanese trained three-year-old horse winning oversea Grade 1 race. Because of the great performance in this race, Cesario was described as "Japanese Super Star" by a local race commenter.

After returning to Japan, Cesario originally planned to come back to America and participated the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf held at Belmont Park in November. However, she showed symptoms Suspensory, causing the plans to be scrapped.

For her efforts on winning the two Oaks title, Cesario was given the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Filly and JRA Award for Best Horse By Home-bred Sire.

2006: Four-year-old Season
In the beginning of 2006, as Cesario showed a good recovery, Sumii planned to let her race in the inaugural Grade I race Victoria Mile. However, the horse developed symptoms of Suspensory Desmitis again. As a result, Carrot Club decided to retire her to become a broodmare in order to avoid any future risk.

Breeding record
Cesario was retired to become a broodmare at Northern Farm. As of 2024, she had produced twelve named foals and ten winners including three Group 1 race champions:


 * Twelfth Night, a dark bay coat, foaled in 2007, sired by King Kamehameha. Won one race.
 * Viola, brown filly, 2008, by King Kamehameha. Did not perform in any race.
 * Epiphaneia, bay colt, 2010, by Symboli Kris S. Won six races including Group 1 Kikuka Sho and Japan Cup. Later sired the first undefeated Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown horse Daring Tact and three Group 1 races winner Efforia.
 * Rosalind, dark bay filly, 2011, by Symboli Kris S. Failed to win in six races. Later produced Grade 2 Aoba Sho and Copa Republica Argentina winner.
 * Claudio, bay coat, later gelded, 2012, by Harbinger. Won one race.
 * Leontes, dark bay coat, 2013, by King Kamehameha. Won two races including Group 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes.
 * Globe Theatre, dark bay coat, 2014, by King Kamehameha. Won seven races.
 * Celia, brown filly, 2015 by King Kamehameha. Won two races.
 * Saturnalia, dark bay coat, 2016, by Lord Kanaloa. Won six races including Group 1 Hopeful Stakes and Satsuki Sho.
 * First Folio, chestnut filly, 2017, by King Kamehameha. Won four races.
 * Lupercalia, bay coat, 2018, by Maurice. Won two races. Active.
 * Tempest, dark bay coat, 2020, by Lord Kanaloa. Won one race. Active.

Racing statistics
Below data is based on data available on JBIS Search, netkeiba.com, and Equibase.

Legend:

Death
On 27 February 2021, Cesario died because of hemorrhagic shock caused by arterial rupture in uterus during pregnancy.