El Condor Pasa (horse)

El Condor Pasa (Japanese: エルコンドルパサー, March 17, 1995 – July 16, 2002) was an American-bred, Japanese-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and breeding stallion. He won eight of his eleven races, coming second in the other three. In 1998 he won the NHK Mile Cup and the Japan Cup. In the following year he was campaigned in Europe where he placed second at the Prix d'Ispahan and then won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Prix Foy before finishing second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. After his tour in France, he retired at the end of 1999. He was retired to stud starting in 2000, but died after three seasons following unsuccessful colic surgery. During his time as a stud, he sired major winners Vermilion, Alondite, and Song of Wind. El Condor Pasa has been described as the best Japanese racehorse of the 20th century, holding the highest Timeform by a Japanese flat racing thoroughbred until Equinox matched it over 20 years later.

On March 17, 1995, Saddler's Gal gave birth to a colt, the future El Condor Pasa, at Lane's End Farm's Oak Tree Branch. When the colt was 4 months old, he was inspected by trainer Yoshitaka Ninomiya, who reported that he was a very ordinary horse. He was first brought to Japan in January of 1996, when he was 10 months old, in order to begin training on Kimura farm. He was moved to the Miho training center in 1997 when he was two. The week of his debut, jockey Hitoshi Matoba rode El Condor Pasa during training, and was so impressed that he asked to be El Condor Pasa's jockey for his debut race.

El Condor Pasa was a dark bay horse with a large white star bred in Kentucky by his Japanese owner Takashi Watanabe. His sire, Kingmambo, was a highly successful breeding stallion. His progeny included the British Classic winners Light Shift, Russian Rhythm, King's Best, Henrythenavigator, Virginia Waters and Rule of Law as well as major winners in Japan, France (Divine Proportions) and the United States (Lemon Drop Kid).^[1] Watanabe sent the horse into training with Yoshi Ninomiya, who operated a small stable with only ten horses.^[2]

El Condor Pasa was named after the Peruvian musical play of the same name, as Watanabe had a peer in his alma meter (Keio University) that he respected that spent time in Peru; as well as expanding his sire's partial name (Mambo) to mean "South American music" in general.^[3][4] This was not the first horse Watanabe named "El Condor Pasa", as he owned another horse of the same name several years prior who suffered a fatal injury that required euthanization before he could make his debut.^[5][6]

El Condor Pasa made his debut as a two year old on November 8th, 1997, in a 1600m dirt race at Tokyo Racecourse. This race was chosen by his trainer due to his belief that El Condor Pasa was not yet ready for a longer race on turf. He started as the favorite, tied with another American bred horse named Stealth Shot. Because El Condor Pasa had not practiced enough with the gate, he started significantly behind the other horses. Despite having such a bad start, he made his way from the back to the front by waiting in the back and then sprinting to the front on the entrance to the straight for a remarkable first win and his only win as a two year old.

In January of 1998, El Condor Pasa had his second race on a 1800m dirt race at Nakayama Racecourse. He entered the race as the favorite. He started late, in the same way that he did in his debut. He and Matoba performed the same strategy and won once again in spite of his bad start. After this race, his trainer told Matoba that he would no longer be El Condor Pasa’s jockey as El Condor Pasa would likely race against Grass Wonder, another horse that Matoba rode, in races soon. Matoba requested one more race with El Condor Pasa, saying that he did not trust another jockey to ride El Condor Pasa yet based on his maturity. Ninomiya agreed and granted Matoba one more race with El Condor Pasa.

He would win three more races after that, culminating in a win in the Group One NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on 17 May. After a summer break he returned in October and was tried beyond a mile for the first time, finishing second to Silence Suzuka in the Mainichi Okan. Despite losing his unbeaten record he started 5/1 third favourite for the Japan Cup over one and a half miles on 29 November. Ridden by Masayoshi Ebina, he took the lead in the straight and won by two and a half lengths over the mare Air Groove and the favourite Special Week.^[7] His win was enthusiastically received by the crowd of 146,879 and his trainer described the winner as "a hero... he has a huge heart".^[2]

In 1999, El Condor Pasa was sent to France where he was trained with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as his objective. On his first European outing he finished second to Croco Rouge in the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp Racecourse in May. Two months later he faced opponents from France, Germany and Britain in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Ebina sent the colt into the lead in the straight and he drew clear to win by two and a half lengths from Tiger Hill and Dream Well, with Sagamix and Borgia among those unplaced.^[8] On his final trial for the Arc, he defeated Borgia and Croco Rouge in the Prix Foy at Longchamp in September. On 3 October, El Condor Pasa started the 18/5 second favourite for the Arc behind Montjeu, the three-year-old winner of both the Prix du Jockey Club and Irish Derby. El Condor Pasa led from the start and broke clear of the field in the straight to establish a three-length advantage. Montjeu emerged as his only challenger, and although El Condor Pasa rallied when the French colt drew alongside him, he was overtaken in the last hundred metres and beaten by half a length. The first two were six lengths clear of the third placed Croco Rouge.^[9]

The following racing form is based on information available on JBIS search,^[10] netkeiba.com,^[11] and racingpost.com.^[12]

El Condor Pasa was named Japanese Champion Three-year-old Colt for 1998. Despite never running in Japan during the following year,^[25] El Condor Pasa's performances in France led to his being voted the 1999 Japanese Champion Older Horse and Japanese Horse of the Year.^[26]

In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated El Condor Pasa the best racehorse trained in Japan in the 20th century.^[27]

El Condor Pasa was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion at the Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido. In July 2002, the horse became gravely ill with horse colic. El Condor Pasa underwent surgery but died at 9.10 p.m. on 16 July.^[26]

His three crops of foals contained several major winners including Vermilion (Japan Cup Dirt, February Stakes), Song of Wind (Kikuka Shō), Tokai Trick (Hanshin Daishoten) and Alondite (Japan Cup Dirt).^[28]

An anthropomorphized version of El Condor Pasa appears in the media franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Minami Takahashi.^[29]

In the Steel Ball Run arc of the anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, EI Condor Pasa is a 7-year-old Appaloosa ridden by a minor antagonist Mrs. Robinson. Both the horse and the rider is named after the Peruvian folk song, El Condor Pasa, cover by Simon & Garfunkel. The horse's name might also be in tribute to the real-life horse El Condor Pasa.^[30]

• El Condor Pasa was inbred 3 × 4 to the stallion Northern Dancer, meaning that Northern Dancer appears once in the third generation and once in the fourth generation of his pedigree.