Equinox, the world's highest-rated racehorse, has been retired to stud after success in the Nov. 26 Japan Cup (G1).
The 4-year-old secured his sixth top-level victory in a row when beating 17 rivals in front of 85,000 people at Tokyo Racecourse, and he will now join his sire Kitasan Black at Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido.
Not a bad way to sign off...
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 30, 2023
Happy retirement to the brilliant Equinox, will who stand at Shadai Stallion Station after a memorable and top-class racing career 🇯🇵#イクイノックス | #競馬 | @netkeiba pic.twitter.com/VSKry1OPTP
Perez: Equinox Rallies for Scintillating Japan Cup Victory
Equinox's stud fee has yet to be determined, but his second career follows a sensational stint on the racecourse. Trained by Tetsuya Kimura, the striking colt was beaten on his first two starts as a 3-year-old when going down by a length and a neck in the Satsuki Sho Japanese Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and Japanese Derby (G1).
However, after his narrow defeat to Do Deuce in the Japanese Derby, he was never beaten again. Equinox defeated the 2022 Dubai Turf winner Panthalassa in the 2022 Tenno Sho Autumn (G1) to record his first group 1 success, and he followed up that breakthrough victory with success in the Arima Kinen (G1).
A first start outside of Japan yielded a stunning performance in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1T) in March and was topped by further wins this year in Japan in the Takarazuka Kinen (G1) and Tenno Sho Autumn before his final start, in which he beat the star 3-year-old filly Liberty Island by four lengths.
Christophe Lemaire rode him in all 10 of his starts, in which Equinox earned the equivalent of $15,930,077.
