kizuna (racehorse)

"Bond, Relationship, Ties". This name was given to him after his owner was given warm words from people around him when he was visiting Dubai for the 2011 Dubai World Cup (he was there for Transcend), which happened two weeks after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. It coincided with Kizuna turning 1 year old.

Japanese racehorse. Sired by Deep Impact and foaled by Catequil. He is a brown horse with a triangle-shaped star marking and socks on all legs but the front left leg.

As the winner of the 2013 Japanese Derby, he is famed for his rivalry with Epiphaneia. He also jointly holds the record for being the winner of the Japanese Derby with the oldest mother at birth (Catequil was then 20 years old, Kizuna shares this record with Minami Homare, winner in 1942).

He is also a very popular sire due to his versatility and consistency, although relatively few are G1 winners, his leading progeny currently being the G1-bereft Deep Bond, the Nice Nature of the Reiwa era. His actual best progeny is Songline (2022-2023 Yasuda Kinen, 2023 Victoria Mile), while his other G1 winners include Justin Milano (2024 Satsuki Sho) and Akai Ito (2021 Queen Elizabeth II Cup).