Agnes Tachyon

Agnes Tachyon (Japanese: アグネスタキオン, Hepburn: Agunesu Takion; April 13, 1998 – June 22, 2009) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and a Leading sire in Japan. His major wins include the Satsuki Sho, and the Yayoi Sho. He ran undefeated from 2000 until 2001 when a bowed tendon ended his racing career.

He was sired by Sunday Silence and his dam Agnes Flora (by Royal Ski) and was therefore a full-brother to Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Agnes Flight. Agnes Flora won the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and his granddam Agnes Lady won the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks).

The name "Tachyon" is derived from tachyonic particles, hypothetical particles which travel faster than the speed of light.

In 1992, the first year of mother Agnes Flora's , she mated with Sunday Silence, a stallion in his second season who had not yet sired any runners at Shadai. In the following year, 1993, her first foal, a colt, was born.^[3] As successful horses from Sunday Silence begin to emerge, this first foal was named 'Agnes Takao' using Watanabe Takao's name.^[4] Agnes Takao was entrusted to trainer Mitsumasa Hamada, but he could not perform as expected due to inherited leg weaknesses from his mother.^[5][6] The second and third foals by sire Tony Bin were entrusted to Nagahama but also fail to perform similarly.^[5] Then, in 1996, in the fifth year, Sunday Silence was once again chosen as the mating partner.^[4] On March 2, 1997, a chestnut colt, later known as Agnes Flight, was born at Shadai Farm.^[4] In the same year that the fourth foal was born, she again mated with Sunday Silence, resulting in the fifth foal, a chestnut colt, born in 1998. This fifth foal was later known as Agnes Tachyon.^[7]

Agnes Tachyon was undefeated in his four race starts, including Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), before a bowed tendon ended his racing career.^[8] He raced on all four races lead by the jockey, Hiroshi Kawachi.^[1] He was a horse that well known to win the races in different manners such as he sprinted early on the third corner in the Radio Tampa Hai, secured a lead in a poor track condition in the Yayoi Sho and also surged late from fourth position in the Satsuki Sho to snatch the win.^[9][10]

Agnes Tachyon won four races out of four starts. This data is available on JBIS and netkeiba.^[8][1] He raced on turf track in all of his races.

• R indicated that it was a record time finish

Agnes Tachyon was assigned to the stud duty at Shadai Stallion Station. By 2008, he was so prominent in producing great foals such as Daiwa Scarlet and Deep Sky and inaugurated as the leading sire in Japan in this year.^[11] Agnes Tachyon's descendants include:^[12]

Legend:

• c: colt
• f: filly
• bold: grade 1 stakes

Agnes Tachyon died in June 2009 due to heart failure.^[14]

An anthropomorphized version of the horse appears in Umamusume: Pretty Derby as an intellectual young girl with short, messy brown hair, voiced by Sumire Uesaka.^[15] A movie featuring the character titled Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era released in Japan on May 24, 2024.^[16][17]

• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses