Blast Onepiece

Foaled on 2 April 2015, Blast Onepiece was bred by Northern Farm, one of the central operations in the modern Japanese Thoroughbred industry. He is by Harbinger, a son of Dansili, and out of the King Kamehameha mare Tsurumaru Onepiece. His pedigree therefore combined an international sire line with one of Japan’s most influential domestic breeding lines.

Tsurumaru Onepiece is also the dam of several other named runners, including Ho O Peaceful, I’m In and Ropa Chic. Ho O Peaceful’s recorded successes include the 2022 Tomoe Sho.

Blast Onepiece raced for Silk Racing Co. Ltd., with ownership divided into 500 shares priced at ¥40,000 each. Masahiro Otake trained him at Miho throughout his career. Physically, he was an unusually large Thoroughbred, appearing at the races at weights ranging from approximately 520 to 550 kilograms.

Blast Onepiece’s unbeaten record ended in the Tokyo Yushun, or Japanese Derby, on 27 May. He finished fifth of 18 behind Wagnerian over 2,400 metres at Tokyo. Although he did not win the race that defines Japan’s classic generation, his position in a full Derby field kept him among the season’s leading colts.

After the Derby, he returned in the Niigata Kinen on 2 September. Facing older competition over 2,000 metres, he won the Grade 3 event from Maitres d’Art. The victory was a significant autumn turning point: it restored his winning momentum and showed that he could succeed outside races restricted to his own age group.

His next appearance brought another classic examination in the Kikuka Sho, the Japanese St Leger, at Kyoto on 21 October. The 3,000-metre distance was the longest he encountered during his career. He finished fourth of 18 behind Fierement, again performing creditably at the highest level without securing a classic victory.

Those Derby and Kikuka Sho results made his subsequent breakthrough all the more important. Blast Onepiece entered Japan’s year-end championship race as a talented three-year-old with two graded wins, but still seeking his first Grade 1 success.

Blast Onepiece began his four-year-old season with sixth place behind Al Ain in the Osaka Hai at Hanshin, followed by eighth in the Meguro Kinen at Tokyo. He revived his season in the Sapporo Kinen on 18 August, winning the 2,000-metre Grade 2 contest from Sungrazer. Yuga Kawada replaced Ikezoe for the ride.

The Sapporo victory was his first win since the Arima Kinen and confirmed that he remained a leading older horse. It also preceded an international assignment in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on 6 October. Racing over 2,400 metres on soft ground, he finished 11th of 12 behind Waldgeist. Kiseki was another Japanese runner in the field.

The European result did not match his domestic achievements, but the campaign expanded the scope of a career otherwise conducted in Japan. It also marked the only overseas appearance in his recorded 18-start career.

Blast Onepiece returned at six in the 2021 Naruo Kinen at Chukyo. Ridden by Yasunari Iwata, he finished third of 13 behind Unicorn Lion over 2,000 metres. It was his only placing outside his seven victories and showed that he could still compete prominently in graded company after an extended career at the top level.

His final recorded appearance came in the Sapporo Kinen on 22 August 2021. Returning to the race he had won two years earlier, he finished fifth of 13 behind Sodashi, with Loves Only You also among the field.

He retired with seven wins from 18 starts. His victories covered turf distances from 1,800 to 2,500 metres and were achieved at Tokyo, Hanshin, Niigata, Sapporo and Nakayama. Kenichi Ikezoe was his regular jockey during his emergence and championship season, while Yuga Kawada partnered him for the Sapporo Kinen and American Jockey Club Cup victories. Yasunari Iwata rode him in both starts of his final season.

Blast Onepiece’s career is anchored by his 2018 Arima Kinen victory, but the results around it give a fuller measure of his quality. He won graded races in three consecutive seasons, defeated older horses as a three-year-old, remained successful after his championship year and earned more than ¥589 million in JRA prize-money.

His record also reflects considerable range. He began with consecutive wins at 1,800 and 2,400 metres, became a graded winner over 1,800 metres, defeated older opposition over 2,000 metres, and reached his peak over the Arima Kinen’s 2,500 metres. Although he did not win one of the three-year-old classics, his year-end Grand Prix success and JRA award secured his standing among the most accomplished Japanese colts of 2018.

As a retired stallion, he remains a high-class representative of Harbinger’s Japanese progeny and an important modern runner associated with Northern Farm, Masahiro Otake and Silk Racing’s syndication model. Above all, he is remembered as the imposing three-year-old who converted a promising graded-race campaign into victory on one of Japanese racing’s largest stages.

• netkeiba: Blast Onepiece profile, pedigree and record
• JBIS-Search: Blast Onepiece
• Wikipedia: Blast Onepiece
• netkeiba: 2017 Tokyo two-year-old race
• netkeiba: 2018 Yurikamome Sho
• netkeiba: 2018 Mainichi Hai
• netkeiba: 2018 Tokyo Yushun
• netkeiba: 2018 Niigata Kinen
• netkeiba: 2018 Kikuka Sho
• netkeiba: 2018 Arima Kinen
• netkeiba: 2019 Sapporo Kinen
• netkeiba: 2019 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
• netkeiba: 2020 American Jockey Club Cup
• netkeiba: 2021 Naruo Kinen
• netkeiba: 2021 Sapporo Kinen