page_title: Kitasan Black
section_title: 2016: four-year-old season
hierarchical_section_title: Kitasan Black / Racing career / 2016: four-year-old season
caption_attribution_description: English: Saburō Kitajima. 日本語: 北島三郎（第76回菊花賞表彰式）。投稿者が撮影および編集
context_page_description: Kitasan Black is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and prospective sire. In a three-year track career he won twelve of his twenty races including seven Grade 1 events, won four JRA Awards and set the record for prize money won in Japan. He was a stayer who has produced most of his best performances over distances of 2400 metres or further. Unraced as a juvenile in 2014 he proved himself one of the best colts of his generation in Japan in the following year with wins in the Spring Stakes, St Lite Kinen and Kikuka Sho as well as third-place finishes in the Satsuki Sho and the Arima Kinen. He continued his good form in the first half of 2016 with a win in the spring edition of the Tenno Sho and a close third in the Takarazuka Kinen. He returned to the track in autumn to win the Kyoto Daishoten and the Japan Cup. His performances in 2016 saw him being voted Japanese Horse of the Year. In the following year he added four more G1 wins and was again named Horse of the Year.
context_section_description: In 2016 the veteran Yutaka Take took over as Kitasan Black's regular jockey. The colt began his four-year-old campaign in a strong renewal of the Grade II Osaka Hai over 2000 metres at Hanshin Racecourse on 3 April. He led from the start and looked likely to win before being caught in the final strides and beaten a neck into second place by Ambitious (who was carrying 2 kg less) with the next four places being filled by Shonan Pandora, Lovely Day, Isla Bonita (2014 Satsuki Sho) and Nuovo Record (Yushun Himba).
  On 1 May Kitasan Black moved back up in distance for the spring edition of the Grade I Tenno Sho over 3200 metres at Kyoto and started second favourite behind Gold Actor. The other sixteen runners included Cheval Grand (Hanshin Daishoten), Fame Game (runner-up in the 2015 race), Albert (Stayers Stakes), Sounds of Earth and Toho Jackal (2014 Kikuka Sho). Kitasan Black disputed the lead from the start and held on to win by a nose from the 98/1 outsider Curren Mirotic after a "nail-biting duel" over the last 150 metres. Take, who was winning the race for the seventh time said "I was intending to settle him in a good position after the start. He ran an ideal race, he responded beautifully. He’s not the type with an enormous burst of speed, so we made an early bid. It was so close but I’m glad he never gave up and stretched the way he did". On his next start the colt was then one of seventeen horses invited to contest the Takarazuka Kinen over 2200 metres at Hanshin on 26 June. In another close finish he took third place, beaten a neck and a nose by Marialite and the odds-on favourite Duramente after leading until the final strides.
  On 10 October Kitasan Black returned from a three and a half month absence for the Grade II Kyoto Daishoten and started 4/5 favourite against eight opponents headed by Lovely Day and Sounds of Earth. After racing in second place he took the lead in the straight and won the race by a neck from the outsider Admire Deus with Lovely Day and Sounds of Earth in third and fourth. The 36th running of the Japan Cup over 2400 metres at Tokyo on 27 November attracted a field of seventeen runners and Kitasan Black was made the 2.8/1 favourite. Before the race Take said "I’m not cooking up any special strategies... I’m going to do my best to answer the fans’ expectations as a representative of Japan". The overseas contingent comprised Nightflower (Preis von Europa) and Iquitos (Grosser Preis von Baden) from Germany and Erupt (Grand Prix de Paris, Canadian International Stakes) from France. The leading Japanese contenders included Real Steel (who had won the (Dubai Turf in March), Gold Actor, Dee Majesty (Satsuki Sho), Sounds of Earth, Cheval Grand and the filly Rouge Buck. Kitasan Black led from the start, established a clear lead entering the straight and stayed on strongly in the closing stages to win by two and a half lengths from Sounds of Earth. Take, who was winning the race for a record fourth time described the winner as "perhaps the strongest [horse] I've ever experienced". Shimizu indicated that the horse would end his season in the Arima Kinen before being campaigned internationally in 2017 saying "He did everything we asked him to do in the workouts so I was confident of his form. The jockey unleashed him at just the right time. You can’t help but consider Dubai and the Arc as they are natural fits for him".
  For his final run of the year, Kitasan Black was again aimed at the Arima Kinen and in the poll to determine the final line up, he topped the voting with over 130,000 votes. In the race he was ridden by Lemaire and started the 2.7/1 second choice in the betting behind the three-year-old Satono Diamond in a field of sixteen. Breaking quickly from an inside draw, Kitasan Black settled in second place behind the outsider Maltese Apogee before moving into the lead entering the straight. He turned back a sustained challenge from Gold Actor but was caught in the final strides and beaten a neck by Satono Diamond.
caption: Kitasan Black's owner Saburo Kitajima
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