Kizuna (horse)

Kizuna
Kizuna at Hanshin racecourse in December 2012
Sire	Deep Impact
Grandsire	Sunday Silence
Dam	Catequil
Damsire	Storm Cat
Sex	Colt
Foaled	5 March 2010
Country	Japan
Colour	Brown
Breeder	North Hills Co Ltd
Owner	Shinji Maeda
Trainer	Shozo Sasaki
Record	13: 7-1-2
Major wins
Mainichi Hai (2013) Kyoto Shimbun Hai (2013) Tokyo Yushun (2013) Prix Niel (2013) Sankei Osaka Hai (2014)
Awards
JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Colt (2013)

Kizuna (Japanese キズナ) (foaled 5 March 2010) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse.

Kizuna is a brown colt with a small white star and white socks on his hind legs, bred in Japan by the North Hills Co Ltd. He was sired by the outstanding Japanese racehorse Deep Impact out of the Canadian-bred mare Catequil. Deep Impact was the Japanese Horse of the Year in 2005 and 2006, winning races including the Tokyo Yushun, Tenno Sho, Arima Kinen and Japan Cup. Catequil had previously produced the Japanese champion filly Phalaenopsis. She was also a half-sister of Pacificus, the dam of Narita Brian and Biwa Hayahide, both of whom were named Japanese Horse of the Year. Kizuna is a Japanese word meaning "bond".

Kizuna began his racing career on 7 October 2012 when he won a race for newcomers over 1800 metres at Kyoto Racecourse. He won another race over the same course and distance on 11 November. The colt was then moved up in class for the Grade 3 Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stake over 2000 metres at Hanshin Racecourse, where he finished third, beaten half a length and a neck by Epiphaneia and Bad Boy.

Kizuna made his three-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Hochi Hai Yayoi Sho at Nakayama Racecourse on 3 March. In a blanket finish, he took fifth place in a field of twelve runners, less than three-quarters of a length behind the winner Camino Tassajara. Three weeks later, Kizuna started the 1/2 favourite for the Grade 3 Mainichi Hai at Hanshin. Ridden by Yutaka Take, he won by three lengths from Geyersworth, with Bad Boy three and a half lengths back in third. Despite being eligible the Satsuki Sho, the first leg of Japanese Triple Crown, Kizuna's connection decided not to field him in the race, but to focus on the Tokyo Yūshun, the Japanese derby.