Maurice (horse)

Maurice
Maurice at Tokyo Racecourse in June 2015
Sire	Screen Hero
Grandsire	Grass Wonder
Dam	Mejiro Frances
Damsire	Carnegie
Sex	Horse
Foaled	2 March 2011
Country	Japan
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Togawa Bokujo
Owner	Kazumi Yoshida
Trainer	Naohiro Yoshida Noriyuki Hori
Record	18: 11-2-1
Earnings	¥313,008,000
Major wins
Lord Derby Challenge Trophy (2015) Yasuda Kinen (2015) Mile Championship (2015) Hong Kong Mile (2015) Champions Mile (2016) Tenno Sho autumn (2016) Hong Kong Cup (2016)
Awards
Japanese Horse of the Year (2015) JRA Award for Best Sprinter or Miler (2015) JRA Special Award (2016) Top-rated Japanese horse (2016)

Maurice, (Japanese: モーリス, foaled 2 March 2011) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing promise as a two-year-old he disappointed in 2014, being well-beaten in all four of his races. In 2015 he emerged as one of the best milers in the world with an unbeaten record of six wins from six races. After two minor wins early in the year he recorded his first important success in the Lord Derby Challenge Trophy before taking the Grade I Yasuda Kinen. He returned in autumn to win the Mile Championship and then defeated a strong international field in the Hong Kong Mile. His performances in 2015 saw him named Best Japanese Sprinter or Miler and Japanese Horse of the Year. In the following year he won the Champions Mile before moving up i distance in the autumn to win the Tenno Sho and the Hong Kong Cup.

Maurice is a bay horse with a white star and four white socks bred in Japan by the Togawa Bokujo.

He is from the first crop of foals sired by Screen Hero, the winner of the 2008 Japan Cup: others from the same crop have included the Arima Kinen winner Gold Actor. Maurice's dam Mejiro Frances showed no ability on the track, failing to win or place in eight starts, but has produced three minor winners. She was a great-granddaughter of Mejiro Bosatsu whose other descendants have included the Yushun Himba winner Mejiro Dober.

In 2013, the two-year-old colt was put up for auction at the Hokkaido Breeders' Association sale and was bought for ¥10,500,000 by Kazumi Yoshida of Northern Farm. The colt was sent into training with Naohiro Yoshida.

Maurice made his racecourse debut in a contest for previously unraced horses over 1400 metres at Kyoto Racecourse on 6 October and won in a record time of 1:20.6. He was then moved up in class for the Grade II Keio Hei Nisan Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse in November. Ridden by the British jockey Ryan Moore he started the 1/2 favourite but finished sixth of the fourteen runners behind Karada Legend. He ended the season by winning a race over 1400 metres at Hanshin Racecourse on 23 December.