Leo Durban

Leo Durban (レオダーバン, Hepburn: Reo Dāban, foaled 25 April 1988) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Kikuka-shō in 1991. His total earnings were 213,166,200 JPY before retiring.^[1]

Leo Durban was a bay horse born on April 25, 1998, foaled by Shirutiku, one of Dancer's Image's foal. He was sired by Maruzensky, an undefeated Japanese racehorse who was a son of Nijinsky.^[2]

Leo Durban made his debut race on December 2 at the Nakayama Racecourse. He was the second favorite and finished 1st by three and a half length.^[3] On his next race, he ran on a dirt race and was the favorite horse among the twelve runners but finished 4th.^[4]

In his second season, he competed in the Yamazakura Sho, an allowance race where he was the favorite and finished first with a stunning five lengths.^[4][5][6] He then competed next in Aoba Sho, which was an open race at the time, and won against Ibukino Unkai.^[4][5] His next race was the Tōkyō Yūshun, with him being the second favorite. He ultimately finished 2nd with three lengths behind the Satsuki Shō winner and the favorite horse, Tokai Teio.^[7] Leo Durban's jockey, Yukio Okabe, later commented that "even if Takayuki Yasuda (Tokai Teio's jockey) made 3 or 4 mistakes, I still could not have beaten him."^[8]

His owner then decided to run him in the St Lite Kinen, with the horse being in the single bracket number 8 and horse number 13. Although he was the most popular among the other horses, he finished in 3rd place, behind Strong Kaiser and Twin Turbo.^[9] At the Kikuka-shō, he finally achieved victory again and won by one and a half length.^[10] At that moment, the announcer, Kiyoshi Sugimoto shouted, "Leo in the horse world too!" This became a famous commentary and his victory became memorable to the horse racing fans. Despite this, his victory was criticized as a "burglary" due to Tokai Teio's absence and his defeat in the Derby. He then developed tendonitis and this forced him to take a long hiatus.^[11]

After a long break, Leo Durban ran in Arima Kinen in his third season where he finished in 13th place.^[4]

Leo Durban started his last season at the American Jockey Club Cup, where he placed in 8th. After the race, his tendonitis reoccurred and was subsequently retired.^[11]

In Leo Durban's racing career, he ran in a total of 9 races, placing 1st four times.^[4][5]

Unlike his father, Leo Durban's foals were unsuccessful, with his leading progeny—A.P. Burst—only placing 2nd on the 2000 Elm Stakes. He had sired 185 horses in total.^[12][2][13]

After he left the Toyosato Stallion Center in August 2001, he returned to his birthplace, the Hayata Farm. Unfortunately, the said farm had gone bankrupt, and was unable to support the horses financially. Subsequently, his owner, Ryuu Tanaka, decided to take him despite his arrest due to suspicion of tax evasion. This led to his whereabouts left unknown.^[11][14]