Draft:Seiun Sky

Seiun Sky (セイウンスカイ; April 26, 1995 - August 16, 2011) was a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse. His major wins include the Satsuki Sho and Kikka Sho of 1998, two of the Triple Crown in Japan.

1998: three-year old season
Seiun Sky ran his first race on January 5 at a debut race for four year olds held at Nakayama Racecourse over a distance of 1600 meters, with Koji Tokuyoshi as his jockey. He was the fifth most favored to win but comfortably scored a victory with a 6 length lead. He also then won the Junior Cup, where he held on to the lead for the entire race, finishing the race with a 5 length lead against the 2nd place.

He was then entered in to the Yayoi Sho, which was the first graded race for the horse. He was the third most favored to win behind King Halo and Special Week, who would be considered rqo of the "big three" of their generation alongside Seiun Sky. Seiun Sky became the front runner in that race and kept the lead for most of the way, but was caught up by Special Week at the final slope, ultimately finishing at second place. Following the horse's defeat, the horse's main jockey was switched from Tokuyoshi to Norihiro Yokoyama.

Seiun Sky was then entered in to the Satsuki Sho, where the horse kept its second place position among the pack until the fourth corner, where he overtook the frontrunner and took the lead, holding on to it until the finishing line, winning the Satsuki Sho with a half-length lead against King Halo.

Racing form
The following racing form is based on information available on netkeiba.com.

Legend:


 * Notes: