Almond Eye was one of the standout Japanese mares of her generation, a bay daughter of Lord Kanaloa and Fusaichi Pandora foaled on 10 March 2015. Bred by Northern Farm, raced in the colours of Silk Racing Co. Ltd., and trained at Miho by Sakae Kunieda, she combined an elite modern pedigree with top-level results on the track. She was also notable as a syndicate runner, offered in 500 shares at ¥60,000 each, a detail that underlines how widely anticipated her racing career was within Japan’s ownership culture.
Her pedigree carried both speed and class. Almond Eye came from the first crop of foals sired by Lord Kanaloa, while her dam Fusaichi Pandora brought further depth to the page as a daughter of Sunday Silence. That cross produced an exceptional middle-distance mare, and Almond Eye quickly justified the promise of her breeding. Ridden by Christophe Lemaire, and often seen in a black hood with a white shadow roll, she developed into one of the defining Japanese horses of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Almond Eye’s record stood at 15 starts for 11 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third, with major victories including the 2018 Shinzan Kinen, the 2018 and 2020 Japan Cups, the 2019 Dubai Turf, the 2019 and 2020 Tenno Sho (Autumn), and the 2020 Victoria Mile. Those wins show both her versatility and her consistency at the highest level, from domestic championship races in Japan to international success in Dubai. Her repeated top-level victories across multiple seasons marked her out not just as a brilliant filly, but as a mare able to sustain excellence beyond her classic year.
The Japan Cup became especially central to her story. Winning it in 2018 announced her as a major force, and capturing it again in 2020 helped define the closing phase of her career. Along the way she amassed total earnings of ¥1,915,263,900, including ¥1,519,563,000 in JRA earnings and a further US$3,600,000 in the UAE, figures that reflect both her longevity and her ability to deliver on the biggest stages.
Now retired, Almond Eye remains a significant figure in recent Japanese racing history: a high-class homebred from Northern Farm, a flagship performer for Silk Racing, and a mare whose race record and earnings place her among the most accomplished Japanese runners of her era. Her career neatly joined pedigree strength, elite stable support, and sustained championship performance.
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